As the crackdown on protesters in Syria worsens, international officials should push to end the violence by setting up a UN inquiry and imposing sanctions on those responsible for the bloodshed within the Syrian government.On Friday, Syrian officers opened fire on protesters in 14 separate towns, killing at least 76, and possibly as many as 112, according to lists compiled by local human rights activists.
“The hospital's five operating rooms are occupied,” said a doctor working at al-Barr Hospital in Homs, a town where many of the killings took place. “Most of the patients have bullet wounds to the chest. All the bullets are real. No rubber bullets at all. Protesters and neighbors are standing around the hospital to prevent security forces from entering and taking the wounded - like we heard happened in other hospitals.”
After this type of carnage, it is no longer enough to condemn the violence. The international community needs to take action and protect the protesters.
