Syria denies role in Al Houla massacre

Damascus - The Syrian government denied on Sunday its forces were responsible for killing 92 people, a third of them children, in the central city of Al Houla as Arab and Western states accused it of a massacre.

The government was “not at all” responsible for the massacre in the central town of Al Houla that sparked an international outcry, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Al Makdissi said.

Blaming “terrorists” for the killings on Friday and Saturday, the spokesman said the government had opened an investigation.

Al Makdissi added that UN-Arab envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, was expected to arrive in Damascus on Monday, although there was no confirmation from the peace envoy’s spokesman.

“We are under strict instructions not to disclose travel plans,” said Ahmad Fawzi in Geneva.

The rebel Free Syrian Army warned that unless the international community took concrete action it would no longer be bound by Annan’s UN-backed peace plan that was supposed to start with a ceasefire last month.

Al Makdissi called for a return to “dialogue and the negotiation table” after people took to the streets in dozens of towns and cities across Syria on Saturday to denounce the Al Houla killings and call for the fall of the regime.