By the CNN Wire Staff updated 6:22 PM EDT, Thu June 21, 2012

New Syrian 'massacres' reported as Jordan grants pilot asylum

(CNN) -- A Syrian military pilot flew to Jordan and was granted asylum Thursday, a day after the United States warned members of the Syrian military they could face international criminal prosecution for attacks on civilians.

The defection came as the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported at least 115 people killed Thursday, including 10 children.

Some of the deaths came in "massacres" in two cities, the group said.

The Syrian government reported 20 "army, law enforcement and civilian martyrs" buried Thursday.

A ship carrying military helicopters to Syria is returning to Russia but will ultimately deliver the shipment to Syria, Russia announced.

Part of an international row over Russia arming Syria, the ship was forced to turn back after a British company withdrew its insurance coverage due to the nature of the cargo.

Russia announced that it was carrying "Syrian attack helicopters," state-run news agency Ria Novosti reported.

"The ship was carrying air defense systems which can only be used to repel foreign aggression," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

It carried three repaired Syrian helicopters that will still be sent to Syria, the reports said. The ship has been flying a Curacao flag, but it will be switched to a Russian flag "in order to avoid a possible detention of the ship," the state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Many world leaders have slammed Russia for arming Syria, but Russian officials insist that they want an end to the conflict.

The dead in the latest violence Thursday included 18 killed in a "massacre" in the town of Inkhel and 12 in a massacre in Douma in the Damascus suburbs, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

There were reports that many more bodies could be buried under rubble of destroyed buildings in Inkhel, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Two other groups -- the Syrian Network for Human Rights, based in London, and the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies in Syria -- issued a report saying the Syrian military shelled Inkhel for three hours and then raided homes, carrying out "extrajudicial executions" against three people, "while four others were slaughtered with knives," and snipers killed two more people.

By mid-morning, when the raids were over, the military killed three mourners headed to the cemetery, the groups said.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, another opposition group, added that at least 15 homes were damaged or destroyed in the regime's bombardment of the town. The raids were carried out by the pro-government Shabiha militias, the group said.

In addition to the 18 killed, 60 other civilians were wounded, the commission said.

"The humanitarian condition in the city of Inkhel is extremely miserable," the group said, adding that there is no hospital and the wounded have nowhere to go. "Mass exodus is being reported; families are fleeing their houses."

There was no mention of Inkhel on Syrian state-run news agency SANA as of Thursday evening.

Since the uprising began in March 2011, violence has killed more than 15,000 people in Syria, including 10,480 civilians, 3,715 soldiers and 830 defectors, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The United Nations has said that at least 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

In Hama on Thursday, regime forces launched a campaign of arrests, taking 150 people to an Air Force intelligence office, where they were being subjected to severe torture, the Local Coordination Committees said.

CNN cannot confirm specific reports of violence in Syria because the government has restricted access by international journalists.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said one of its teams tried to enter the old city of Homs, but gunfire in the area forced the team to turn back.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime blames "armed terrorist groups" for the violence in the country.

Elsewhere Thursday, Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, called on Syria to probe the recent deaths of five citizen journalists killed in shelling in Syria.

"I condemn the deaths of Ammar Mohamed Zado, Ahmed Adnan al-Ashlaq, Lawrence Fahmy al-Naimi, Bassel al-Shahade and Ahmed al-Assam, citizen journalists who lost their lives while trying to inform the Syrian people of the tragic events taking place in their country," she said in a written statement.

The defecting military pilot who landed in his jet in Jordan had requested political asylum, the Jordanian government said.

Syria identified him as Col. Hassan Mirei al-Hamadeh. Jordan did not immediately give his name.

The pilot is "considered a fugitive from the service, a traitor to his country and to his military honor," the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a banner shown on Syrian state TV. Punishment actions "will be taken against him according to the laws and regulations," the banner said.

On state-run news agency SANA, the defense ministry said discussions were under way with Jordan for the return of the aircraft.

Both Syria and Jordan said the plane was a Russian-made MiG-21.

Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said, "We welcome this pilot's decision to do the right thing. We have long called for the military and members of the Syrian regime to defect and abandon their positions rather than be complicit in the regime's atrocities.

"This is just one of countless instances where Syrians, including members of the security forces, have rejected the horrific actions of the Assad regime, and it certainly will not be the last."

Syria said it had lost contact with an aircraft that was on a training flight near Syria's southern border.

Throughout the 15-month conflict in Syria, numerous members of the military have defected, some of them joining the rebel Free Syrian Army.

Thousands of civilians also have fled to neighboring nations, including Jordan.

The defection came less than a day after the U.S. ambassador to Syria announced that members of the Syrian military taking part in attacks on civilians could one day face international criminal prosecution.

U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford announced Wednesday that "the United States and the international community will work with the Syrian people to locate the military members responsible" for attacks on civilians, and will "hold them accountable."

In a post on Facebook, Ford -- who has been in the United States since the U.S. Embassy closed in February -- cited the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which indicted 161 people, including members of the military, "for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity against non-combatants and combatants."

"Members of the Syrian military should reconsider their support for a regime that is losing the battle," he added. "The Assad regime cannot outlast the desire of Syrian people for a democratic state.

"The officers and soldiers of the Syrian military have a choice to make. Do they want to expose themselves to criminal prosecution by supporting the barbaric actions of the Assad regime against the Syrian people? Or do they want to help secure the role of the professional military in a democratic Syria by supporting the Syrian people and their transition to an inclusive, tolerant and representative democracy that respects human rights and equal, fair treatment for all components of the Syrian nation?"

In neighboring countries, there is widespread condemnation for al-Assad, the Pew Research Center reported Thursday.

The vast majority of respondents in Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey want him to step down, the organization's Pew Global Attitudes Project found from a survey. In Lebanon, the population was more split, with just a slight majority wanting him to step down.

The survey was taken between March and April, well before a massacre in the town of Houla that sparked more international fury against the regime.

CNN's Josh Levs, Caroline Faraj, Joe Sterling and Adele Ghssoub contributed to this report.

 

Send Comments
Your comments will be added to the article that you write about, so include the article title