Opposition rallies in Syria are part of the mass protest movement in Arab countries - the "Arab Spring." Since 1963, the country was ruled by the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (Ba'ath). Bashir al-Assad succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, as president. The elections were held in the form of a referendum, during which it was proposed to answer the question whether citizens approve of the only candidate - B. Assad - as president.
In January 2011, mass anti-government protests began unhappy with the irremovability of the ruling party and the actual dictatorship of the Asad family. Along with peaceful forms of protest (processions and hunger strikes), the protesters used fights with the police, arson of government institutions and other illegal acts.
The government used troops to suppress the riots. There were cases of the shooting of soldiers who refused to shoot at civilians. On the side of the "Free Army of Syria" (armed rebel groups) went to the regular army. The militarized Islamist groups also joined her.
As the intensity of the struggle grew, fierceness grew on both sides. As a result of hostilities, civilians died, and both sides tried to use their death for propaganda purposes. On May 25, 2012, there were reports in the world media about the deaths of over 90 civilians in the Syrian village of Al-Houla, including over 30 children. Subsequently, it turned out that 108 people were killed.
From the very beginning, the UN Human Rights Committee blamed the deaths on Bashir al-Assad, saying that people were victims of shelling by government forces. However, the investigation showed that shrapnel wounds caused the death of only 20 people. The rest were either shot at close range or killed.
The Syrian government said it had nothing to do with the deaths of civilians, since its army did not occupy the village, and blamed the killing of the Islamists. Further investigation of the tragedy by UN observers gives reason to believe that in this case the government is telling the truth. Islamists may be interested in disrupting peace negotiations between both sides of the conflict under the leadership of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
