Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Syrian regime isbr carrying out a massacre of civilians especially of children and thebr elderly. He added that the Syrian government were not the only ones tobr carry out the massacre but that Iran and Hezbollah were aiding inbr their efforts as well. Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz accused Syrianbr President Bashar Assad of committing genocide during his crackdown onbr a 15-month uprising. Mofaz also criticized Russia for arming Damascusbr and repeated Israel's demand for international military interventionbr to topple Assad, akin to last year's campaign in Libya. Israel hasbr until recently been slow to call for Assad's fall, wary of worseningbr the turmoil in Syria - the two countries are enemies but have been inbr a mostly stable stand-off for decades. With hourly media reports inbr Israel of Syrian civilian deaths, public anger has been growing andbr Israeli officials have been stepping up their criticism.