Maan Massacre

On December 24, 2012, it was reported, anti-government Jihadists conquered "large parts" of the tiny Alawi (Alawite-dominated) town of Maan. What happened over the following week is not certain, but by January 1, 2013 anti-Alawite activists were trying to explain 23 massacred civilians, including seven children. Reportedly, the victims were beheaded and their bodies were burned. The opposition says Alawite Shabiha militias did the dirty work, and the victims were from the Sunni minority in the town. This allows them to avoid the bad impression created after the last alleged Shabiha massacre following a rebel conquest of an Alawite town, at Aqrab 2-3 weeks earlier. There, the 150 or so alleged victims were acknowledged as Alawites, and the rebel cover story quickly fell apart.

Location, Context, Conquest
Maan (Arabic: معان) is located here on Google maps. It seems to be a very small town of only a few thousand people, set amid expansive fields. It's about three miles east of Morek (which straddles the main north-south highway connecting Damascus and Aleppo). Maan is also about 12 miles northeast of Halfaya, conquered by rebels around Dec. 20th, and the reginal power station there knocked out of commission on the 26th.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on the 21st: "Opposition sources said rebels had won some territory in the strategic southern town of Morek and were surrounding the Alawite town of al-Tleisia. They were also planning to take the town of Maan, arguing that the army was present there and in al-Tleisia and was hindering their advance on nearby Morek

Three days later, it seems, they moved; the SOHR would report that "Jihadists" took "large parts" of the small town in fighting that killed 20 soldiers (or "Shabiha") and 11 rebel fighters. They apparently held the town for two days; Maan was reportedly re-taken by government forces on the 26th, as part of their announced and successful offensive in the region. ABC, Australia, Dec. 27: Elsewhere, the army took control of three Alawite villages in the central province of Hama, among them Maan, large swathes of which were overrun by jihadists two days earlier, the watchdog said.

It was six days later the massacre was reported. It's not certain at the moment whether there was or was not a second rebel assault in those days.

The Jihadists
As Naharnet Newsdesk passed on:
 * Alongside other radical Islamist groups, al-Nusra Front seized parts of the village of Maan, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding at least 11 rebel fighters and 20 regime troops were killed.

Al-Nusrah front, aka Jabhat Al-Nusra, active in Syria for over a year, had just been listed by the United States as a terrorist group, a direct offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Their black flag was seen over the alleged bakery in nearby Halfaya that was shelled in the alleged Halfaya Bakery Bombing on Dec. 23. That they would also be operating around Maan in those days is not surprising.

Another among the "other radical Islamist groups" involved is suggested by a Youtube video posted December 25 that might be from the fight for Maan. It shows shooting across a field from behind stone walls, and many, many cries of Allahu Akbar. Title/description Google-trans: "Free Sham address Hbihh (Shabiha) village gloss upper Hama, Part of a battle Ahrar Brigades Sham and Martyrs Brigades and the Al-Hamza against Hbihh (Shabiha) village upper meanings in the northern Hama 24 \ 12 \ 2012 have been killed some Shabiha led to Ostchhad some Mujahideen may God have mercy on them." The town isn't specified.

This might refer to Ahrar Al-Sham, the "Free Men of Greater Syria." According to the Wikipedia page, they are a network of Salafist fighters centered mostly in Idilb, but also Aleppo and Hama provinces. Interestingly, just two days before the Maan attack, on December 22, Ahrar joined with 11 other groups (but not apparently Al-Nusrah, officially) in the new "Syrian Islamic Front," with Ahrar Al-Sham member Abu 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Suri appointed spokesman.

Spiegel
Reports on this are not immediately plentiful. German language Der Spiegel had the first prominent report: (Google translated from German with attempted grammar fixes) on January 1, 2013:
 * Opponents of the regime reported on Tuesday that members of the Shabiha militia in the village of Maan, in Hama province, have beheaded 23 people. The fighters are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad.
 * According to the reports, those killed included the few Sunni families who lived in the village. Also seven children were reportedly killed. The corpses were set on fire, so that some of them could not be identified. It's difficult to independently verify opposition reports, because the Syrian government has imposed a media blockade.
 * The massacre is said to have begun after rebels attacked on Monday government roadblocks and troops in the region. These then called the militia fighters.

So the alleged massacre came after rebel attacks on checkpoints, which could explain why the Shabiha would be called in to massacre Sunni families in retaliation. But it must be noted that this only happened once armed fighters had also, as not mentioned here, reportedly taken physical control of the town after announcing plans to do so.

LCC and SOHR
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says nothing about معان (Maan) on its Facebook page running back to Dec. 29. The main site says nothing as of Jan. 2, only carrying so many reports.

The Local Coordination Committees, however, mention the event. Syria Today 1-1-2013 (Jan. 2)
 * By the end of Tuesday, the LCC was able to document 136 martyrs, including 6 women and 16 children. 42 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 44 in Hama, including 23 martyrs from the village of Maan and 16 from Hasraya; 15 martyrs were reported in Deir Ezzor, including 9 unidentified martyrs in the village of Hatla; 12 martyrs in Homs, including an entire family from Deir Baalba; 8 in Daraa; 9 in Aleppo; 4 in Idlib; 1 in Lattakia; and 1 in Raqqa.

No details on that follow.

Arabic Sources
Forthcoming (see talk page)

Open Questions
Some of these open questions may be closed, or narrowed, in time.

So far, we have the activists' word as evidence for the following:
 * that there was a massacre in this Alawi town
 * that the victims were the Alawi town's Sunnis and not some of its Alawites
 * that Alawite Shabiha, and not the anti-Alawi Jihadists, did the killing

So far, we seem to have very little word from activists at all, outside Arabic sources, about what happened. We hope to learn more about their evidence.

The main open question should be obvious, but there are others. It's not even certain the bodies exist. In the possible precedent at Aqrab, the majority of a believed 200 Alawite captives were reported dead, but then it seemed they were still alive, or at least might be. This could be a pattern recurring here; the threat over the hostages is announced as realized, it becomes clear that's not true yet, is never retracted publicly, stays held like a dagger waiting to become true until negotiations go their way.

If what this horrible report to DerSpiegel describes really exists, it would be extremely difficult to get verification or confirmation as to the victims' identities. With heads gone and bodies burnt, their faces, teeth, and perhaps fingerprints could not be compared to, say, some missing Alawite families. Conversely, a conclusive match with any missing Sunnis is unlikely to happen. The chances of anyone running DNA tests also seem slim.