Syrian flag (Creative Commons)

The stance against sending troops to Syria came after French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that he would be open to military intervention if given support from the United Nations’ Security Council, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several Western countries such as the U.S., Australia, Canada, the U.K., France and Germany have expelled Syrian diplomats in response to the massacre.

The Associated Press reported that the Obama administration would continue to support Syria by lending non-lethal assistance in the form of food and medicine, but remains opposed to military action. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the removal of diplomats was a show of solidarity with the international community’s “absolute disgust” with President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

According to CNN, Russia has chastised the decision to expel Syrian diplomats, calling the move “counterproductive.” But the bloody event of last Friday only stepped up pressure on Russia, a key Syrian ally, to hasten the removal of Assad from power. The U.N. retrieved accounts from survivors and witnesses claiming that pro-government forces went on a house-to-house killing spree.

“The dramatic situation forces the [U.N.] Security Council to be firmer against Syrian authorities and to stay united,” French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Leaders in Moscow and Beijing have both vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions denouncing Assad’s regime. A foreign ministry spokesman in China urged all sides to consider U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s ceasefire proposal and end the conflict through negotiation, according to Agence France-Presse.

“China opposes military intervention in Syria and opposes regime change by force,” Liu Weimin told reporters in Beijing.

The bloodshed continued days after last week’s massacre. U.N. observers announced Wednesday the discovery of 13 bound corpses in eastern Syria, many of them apparently shot execution-style, according to Fox News. The Syrian government denied its troops orchestrated the killings and blamed the act on “armed terrorists.”

The Guardian reported that the U.N.’s Human Rights Council has scheduled a special meeting for Friday to address the Houla massacre.

Activists claim as many as 13,000 people have died since the uprising began, according to The AP. The U.N. placed the death toll at 9,000 as of March, one year to the revolt.

Click here to read more of Neon Tommy's ongoing coverage of the events in Syria.

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