army, but it was shabiha, they say, who plunsdered the town at night, committing most of the murders. villagers also blame shabiha for wednesday's massacre in qubair and the killing of nearly 80 men, women and children. >> it's a coordinated effort. >> andrew tabler says the syrian army, estimated nearly 300,000, is a strong internal force, but as the uprising spreads, it needs help from the shabiha, long used as gangsters for the regime. >> this is not a new concept. they're just being used in a new way. and that is to reassert fear in these areas, to try to convince people who have been out in the streets for 15 or 16 months to go home. >> reporter: the shabiha also give the assad regime cover, allowing the government to blame these massacres on terrorism and foreign influences. so far the only peace process the international community has come up with is clearly failing. jim? >> axelrod: whit johnson in washington, thank you. in afghanistan today, a suicide bomber dressed in a berkea killed four french soldiers and wounded five others. since pakistan closed the khyber pass border c

came men without uniforms, enforcers known here as shabiha who went house to house, killing everyone they could find. one family of four escaped, we were told, who-to-what they thought was the safety of the mosque only to be hunted down and killed. showing the burned holy books, this local man said "this is completely inhuman, how can we defend ourselves against this?" so much evidence had been destroyed or removed that it may be impossible to verify the accounts or ever prove who the killers were. in this room we were told seven children were gunned down. the bodies were gone today but the bloodstains and bullet holes remained. >> pelley: elizabeth palmer is back from the village and now in so t syrian capital of damascus. elizabeth, why were these people targetd? >> we never got a straight answer about that. there was one member of the anti-regime free syrian army in the town when we were there so it's possible the village was known for anti-regime sympathies. i can tell you that everybody died... who died was sunni. they tend to be anti-regime and they blamed the killing on people

the syrian government still has enough firepower, still has enough militia groups, still has this shabihandous amount of damage. >> when we talk about russia, one of the things i have been told as we watch these u.n. security counsel meetings, i'm getting all these messages from other diplomats saying russia is really isolated, under pressure, the evidence of massacre, the attacks on u.n. monitors, u.n. monitors being blocked, that's really isolating russia but now hillary clinton has just pushed back on a russian claim that the weapons that as you point out are still being supplied to assad are somehow unrelated to these protests and are not being used against the rebels and she's basically saying in a conference just now in washington that that's nonsense. so the whole administration diplomacy is rooted in the fact they think they can get russia to finally signal to assad he doesn't have russian support but that isn't happening, is it? >> reporter: well, russia's giving very mixed messages. at some stage it's saying that it doesn't mind if the assad regime is removed, that it's not put

smell of human flesh burning, said a man who told how he had watched syrian government troops in sha shabiha -- these are the government-sponsored gangs, militia, gunmen, attack his village as he hit in his family olive grove. it was like a ghost town, he told the reporter. senator mccain and i have been explicit for some period of time. we have been both to turkey and lebanon to talk to leaders of the opposition and people in the refugee camps, and they simply say to us as americans you are our only hope, this from a people whose government has been determined in its antiamerican posture, the outside government, and yet people now turn to us as they always do in a time of crisis around the world and say this is what america is about. america has a moral government that cares about people's right to life and liberty, and we will not be saved unless you get involved. i hope the latest events move our government to go beyond words to actions and immediately -- and again, senator mccain and i have talked about actions we support, arms to the opposition fighters, training of the opposition fight

smell of human flesh burning, said a man who told how he had watched syrian government troops in sha shabiha -- these are the government-sponsored gangs, militia, gunmen, attack his village as he hit in his family olive grove. it was like a ghost town, he told the reporter. senator mccain and i have been explicit for some period of time. we have been both to turkey and lebanon to talk to leaders of the opposition and people in the refugee camps, and they simply say to us as americans you are our only hope, this from a people whose government has been determined in its antiamerican posture, the outside government, and yet people now turn to us as they always do in a time of crisis around the world and say this is what america is about. america has a moral government that cares about people's right to life and liberty, and we will not be saved unless you get involved. i hope the latest events move our government to go beyond words to actions and immediately -- and again, senator mccain and i have talked about actions we support, arms to the opposition fighters, training of the opposition fight