video transcript

Amateur video out of Syria appears to show UN monitors caught up in the violence in Syria. The video which could not be independently verified by Reuters , was reportedly shot May 15th in Khan Sheikhoun. At least 21 civilians were killed in that attack which happened during a funeral. Six UN monitors were forced to spend the night with the rebels who pledged that they were protecting them. The six monitors and their vehicles were released the next day. Video obtained by Reuters shows the monitors welcomed by their colleagues. Citizens plea for help. They tell monitors that their situation is dire. The northern town has been a hotbed for anti-Assad protests and continues to witness rising levels of violence as the Syrian army engages in gunbattles with rebels seeking to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Parts of the town have been turned into a wasteland. Rebel forces try to protect what they can. The U.N. says that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began last March. The government blames the violence on foreign backed insurgents that it says have killed more than 2,600 members of its security forces. Some five weeks into a U.N. backed ceasefire in Syria the violence rages on. Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters