MOSCOW. July 16 (Interfax) - Moscow condemns the killings of civilians in the Syrian community of Tremseh and demands that these events be thoroughly investigated, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"We strongly condemn this bloody heinous deed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in reply to a question from Interfax on Friday.
"Not meaning to prejudge the results of an investigation into this crime, on which we insist, we would like to stress: we have no doubts that this heinous deed benefits forces that are not seeking peace but are persistently trying to raise seeds of inter-religious enmity and civil conflict on Syrian soil and that do not care about the Syrian people's grief and sufferings," he said.
"The latest massacre once again occurred during a serious discussion at the UN Security Council, this time around on Russia's and Western countries' draft resolutions regarding the extension of the mandate of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria, which will normally expire on July 21, 2012," Lukashevich said.
"Moscow was saddened to learn about another mass killing of Syrian peaceful civilians shot by unidentified savages point-blank in a village near the city of Hama," he said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry information, the latest massacre left from 50 to 100 people dead. "Just as in the previous cases in al-Hula and al-Khubairah, the parties to the Syrian conflict are laying the blame on each other," Lukashevich said.
He once again called on the conflicting parties to immediately stop bloodshed and armed violence against civilians.
"In order to put an end to the tragic excesses of this kind, it is necessary to comply with the commitments demanding that all parties, including external players, contribute to a peaceful settlement in Syria, based on UN/Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan's well-known plan," he said.
The Syrian opposition has stated that more than 200 people were killed when the government forces used artillery and aviation against civilians in Tremseh. Head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria Gen. Robert Mood of Norway has confirmed that the government forces used heavy weaponry in Tremseh.
Meanwhile, AFP reported citing a Syrian opposition activist that most of those killed in an exchange of fire near Tremseh were not civilians but fighters of the Free Syrian Army, an armed opposition group.
Following the Tremseh massacre, the U.S., France, and the UK have called for passing a resolution on Syria based on Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which allows for external armed intervention in a conflict to maintain international peace.