Talk:Khalidiya Massacre

Opposition/Western Narrative
A report in the Guardian filed by Damien Pearse explained "Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khaldiya neighbourhood at around 8pm on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses with families inside were destroyed. "We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads," said Waleed, a resident of Khaldiya.  Activists provided Pearse various possible reasons for the stragely deadly onslaught; perhaps it was anger over "a wave of army defections in Homs, or to set an example for other rebel neighbourhoods. But one was sure the plan would backfire: "It does not seem that they get it. Even if they kill 10 million of us, the people will not stop until we topple him."

Syrian/Government Narrative
(forthcoming)

Timing
February 1's LCC daily report includes this note:
 * On the 02nd of February, 1982 the Syrian regime led by "Hafez Al-Assad" along with his younger brother Rifaat Al-Assad have carried out a massacre in the city of Hama which last 27 days. Syria has lost almost 40,000 souls while more than 100,000 people either displaced, imprisoned or missing....

So one might expect big things about then. The same's day's report noted "Hama: Activists dyed many streets in the city red in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre. This led fire trucks to come to the area to wash off the streets." Someone would soon be painting messages in blood, but apparently not on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd until late.

It seems the breakthrough echo of the Hama massacre would come a bit offset from 30 years, more fitted to the political timeline that it was hoped could lead to military support for the rebel cause. As Pearse's report noted, "It was not immediately clear what had prompted Syrian forces to launch," or, rather, would prompt them to launch "such an intense bombardment, just as diplomats at the security council were discussing the draft resolution supporting the Arab League demand for Assad to step aside."

The clues suggest the deaths occurred and were first reported late on the 3rd, Friday night: Pearse heard the shelling began "at around 8pm on Friday," and the LCC's daily reports show what seem to be the first, unexplained, videos of martyrs in numbers like seen on the 4th, described here as "slaughtered." The broad tally and reports were public early on the 4th (on my end, U.S. Pacific time, Quinn's Guardian report is dated Feb. 3), just in time to color the meetings as they commenced, or perhaps a bit too late for that, depending on just when the meeting happened. Apparently France's foreign minister had time in advance to decide the new massacre was a crime against humanity and to announce "those who block the adoption of such a resolution," to force Assad's resignation over it, "are taking a grave historical responsibility". --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:39, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Location
Khalidiya district - here on Wikimapia - is a good-sized one just north of the center of Homs, and stretching a bit north nearly to the outskirts. As for where within it this shelling happened, that's not yet clear. Even as for where the bodies were collected and displayed (after removal from the rubble?) all I can really say at the moment is a place, or places, with buildings. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:36, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Death Toll
Guardian, Pearse: "Death tolls cited by activists and opposition groups ranged from 217 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in Assad's crackdown on protests..." "The death toll is now at least 217 people killed in Homs, 138 of them killed in the Khaldiya district," Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters, citing witnesses. ... The opposition Syrian National Council said 260 civilians were killed, describing it as "one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria". It said it believed Assad's forces were preparing for similar attacks around Damascus and in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.

United for a Free Syria reported "While armed forces targeted regions across Syria, according to Al Arabiya News, the death toll in Homs alone is over 370 killed and 1,300 wounded..." They also crow therein "Damascus Denies Responsibility for Deaths of More than 400 Civilians ahead of U.N. Vote," linking to the Pearse report cited above as citing 217-260, including a subset of 138. It's not clear what 370 or over 400 might refer to other than a mid-point between 217-260 plus 138. --Caustic Logic (talk) 08:39, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

The Local Coordination Committees provide daily summaries with, usually, a by-province death toll. Feb. 1: "The number of martyrs today has risen to 70 so far including 14 martyrs from the Free Syrian Army, 2 ladies and 2 children. 36 martyrs in Wady Barada (Damascus suburbs), 14 in Homs..." Feb. 2: no daily summary - widespread shooting and shelling and numerous martyrs, but apparently nothing major yet. Feb. 3: No summary in the usual spot. Further down, what sounds like an intermediary tally from early in a normal day: " The number of martyrs has risen to 31 thus far, including, 3 children and 3 defected soldiers, 7 in Idlib, 9 in Darya (Damascus Suburbs), 5 in Aleppo,6 in Hama, 2 in Homs, 1 in Daraa, 1 in Rankous (Damascus Suburbs)." The first videos of what seems to be our massacre, large numbers of mostly adult male shelled people, laid out in a morgue, at night it seems, are posted with this entry but with no explanation or reflection in the text report. Feb. 4: "The final number of martyrs fell on Saturday is 206, including 181 in Homs, 16 in Damascus Suburbs, 5 in Idlib, 3 in Daraa and one in Hama." And there's the text explanation for people who died, apparently, overnight. Feb. 5: "The number of martyrs thus far today has risen to 36, among them 5 children and 2 women. 22 martyrs in Homs, 6 in Idlib, 5 in the Damascus Suburbs, 2 in Daraa, and 1 in Aleppo"

Strictly Male Victims?
The opposition Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria (VDC) martyrs database, reportedly informed by the LCC's reports, helps solidify this picture of a dramatic one day spike in fatalities.Each entry has a name, and some might have valuable little clues beyond that. That's interesting. Only eight of these people are listed as the broad category women and children. To 129 men killed by this random shelling, on homes, with families inside ... meaning perhaps mostly childless homosexual couples? No ... I didn't save the links, but further searches break it down yet again: Male children = 8 (I'll check ages later), with zero slots left for females, child or adult. Only allowed to adopt male children but in small numbers? No ...
 * All 11 Martyrs from Homs, Feb. 2 and 3 combined.
 * All 174 martyrs from Homs, Feb. 4 (two pages - the rest are under "end")
 * Just Khalidiya = 137 (again, two pages)
 * All those who are adult male = 129 (still not one page)

Gender-segregated or gender-exclusive captives would explain this little-noted feature perfectly. Adding some male filghter victims, perhaps a majority of the dead in fact, and some extra peripheral victims of mixed gender and age in other areas of Homs. But in Khalidiya only the males and almost totally adult ones were pre-sorted for this overwhelming end. By the same token, the activist story does not explain the breakdown. Pearse heard "Residents said ... at least 36 houses with families inside were destroyed. ""We were sitting inside our house ..." said Waleed, a resident of Khaldiya." If people were in their homes and attacked that way, where did their women and girls go? Did they all survive somehow, or were their deaths completely unreported? Some might have been sent away to safer locales as things got more violent, but this is, apparently, a 100% absence, with no small sampling pool as an excuse. It should be noted VDC entries often have the males reported first and the females added months and thousands of martyrs later. But in this case, the slot you'd expect was never filled in, even when going for huge numbers was clearly the main point. Either men alone were "living" in the hit places, or the women and girls living their were chosen for some other fate. And I don't think even "smart bomb" shells can manage that. --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:31, 2 December 2013 (UTC)

Names of interest among these men, that ring a bell from prior research, mainly losing family members to other recent random massacres (links and notes later): Hassan Mohammed Chuirtani, Nader Nabih Mando, Shaker Mohammed Akkash, Osama Nader Akkash, Tariq Alloush, Loay Alloush, Mohammed al-Homsi (AM shelling), Khalid Guenbazo, Abdul Rahman Guenbazo, Abdul Ghani al-Abed, Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Kader al-Abed, Faraj Ayoub al-Ezzo, Hossam Al-Ezzo  Qutaiba Ahmed al-Ezzo, Faraj Ayoub al-Ezzo, Mohamed Khaled Al-Asaad, Mohammed Rateb Dib al-masri ... --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:31, 2 December 2013 (UTC)