Al-Shaddadi Petroluem Company Massacre

Feb. 12, 2013: Non-Sunni civilians - "tens" of them - were reportedly slaughtered after Jabhat Al-Nusra took over a Syrian Petroleum Company building in Al-Shaddadi, Hasakah province (far northeast of Syria). Five of these sectarian murders were shown on video that took five days to get to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), who denounced the criminal act on February 17. They posted the video (see inset) and noted it was not clear if the victims were "civilians, security guards working for the company or if they were part of the regime forces." Their clothing appears mostly military, but religion was clearly a factor, as SOHR reported:
 * The footage indicates that they were executed for sectarian motives, with the fighters and cameraman repeating that those killed are shi'ites, infidels, and pigs.

Furthermore, SOHR passed on reports of many more executions, of people who were clearly civilian, in this complex. "The SOHR also reported that there was information that tens of Syrian Petroleum workers were killed by the rebels after al-Nusra took over the management buildings and the workers' residential quarters." These too were likely motivated by sectarian differences, and are less proudly shown (there seem to be no videos of these others).

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