UN observers find 13 bound corpses

BEIRUT

Take bold steps now, not tomorrow, Annan tells Syrian President al-Assad. REUTERS photo

U.N. observers have reportedly discovered 13 bound corpses in eastern Syria yesterday, many of them apparently shot execution-style, while U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to act immediately to end the bloodshed, warning Syria had reached a “tipping point.”

The latest killings apparently happened in Deir ez-Zor province. The corpses were found with their hands tied behind their backs, according to a statement by the U.N. mission, the Associated Press said. Some appeared to have been shot in the head from a close distance. The head of the U.N. observer team, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, said he was “deeply disturbed by this appalling and inexcusable act.”

Violence also continued elsewhere unabated. Syrian forces bombarded rebel-held areas in the same province where the Houla killings occurred, although no casualties were immediately reported, activists said. On May 29 alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 98 people were killed across Syria, Agence France-Presse reported.

Annan urged the government and all government-backed militias to stop all military operations and show maximum restraint. “I appealed to [al-Assad] for bold steps now -- not tomorrow, now -- to create momentum for the implementation of the plan. We are at a tipping point,” he said on May 29.