In a war theatre stained with gruesome history and tales of ongoing bloody conflicts, it takes nothing less than a massacre to stab the entire world into incredulous consciousness to sit up and take notice. A small town Houla in Syria became an open cemetery on Friday, the images of which horrified and sickened the entire world. Children, women, men, no one was spared. Out of the 104 killed, 32 were children under the age of ten. With throats slit and shot at point blank range, these bodies of innocent children, laid side by side in some places, presented indelible, gut-wrenching and heartbreaking images of a conflict that has gone so beyond the recognised boundaries of the rules of engagement, it is time the world took a collective stance to put an end to the bloodshed. Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League peace envoy, on his arrival in Damascus on Monday to meet the top leadership, expressed shock and grief over the ‘tragic events’ in the central Syrian town. Without singling anyone out, Mr Annan called on “everyone with a gun” in Syria to heed his message for the indiscriminate bloodshed to cease at once. The Security Council’s request to the head of the UN observer mission in Syria for a briefing on the Houla tragedy underscores the need for an unbiased and thorough analysis in the midst of contradictory accusations against each other by the two protagonists in the conflict. While the Syrian government headed by Bashar al-Assad blames ‘terrorists’, the opposition pins the blame on the Shabbiha militia, loyal to Assad. Reportedly, after an anti-government protest, people — innocent and armed both — were shelled, and subsequently, butchered. The Syrian government, despite denials and explanations, has been accused of gross human rights violations and of using heavy artillery in civilian populated areas in violation of the terms of the Annan-brokered ceasefire. Before the country becomes embroiled in a full-blown civil war, Damascus and the opposition must agree to Mr Annan’s six-point plan, which could provide the basis for a peaceful political solution. Unfortunately, the Free Syrian Army’s unwillingness to commit to the ceasefire is most unhelpful. When a struggle against a long standing government begins, justified cause withstanding, there comes a time, sooner rather than later, when the line between right and wrong is blurred, and the stench of blood shed by both insurgents and government forces intensifies to the extent that the world is perforce moved to take notice. The Syrian conflict has reached that point as the Houla massacre shows. Unfortunately too, the world stands divided between ‘east’ and ‘west’ after the UN resolution to protect civilians became the Trojan horse for a NATO-assisted regime change in Libya. Hence the reservations of Russia and China, and the impasse in the UN Security Council. Nevertheless, a via media between the warring sides must soon be found else many more Houlas could be waiting in the wings. *