Detailed reports of a door-to-door mass killing by pro-government forces in the Syrian countryside emerged on Thursday, June 7, as unarmed United Nations monitors were blocked and then shot at trying to get to the scene, fueling international condemnation of the government of President Bashar Assad, The Wall Street Journal reported. At least 78 people were slaughtered by pro-regime militants in the farming hamlet of Qabir on the outskirts of the embattled central city of Hama. U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan expressed “horror and condemnation” at the reports and said “we cannot allow mass killing to become part of everyday reality in Syria.” The White House accused the Syrian government of orchestrating “the outrageous targeted killings of civilians, including women and children,” and said the violence shows Assad “has no credibility and only further underscores the illegitimate and immoral nature of his rule.”