Al-Bayda Massacre

This horrendous reported massacre of at least 50-100+ civilians, including women and children, by the Syrian military and "Shabiha," was said to have occurred in al-Bayda, (here on Google maps) in the mountains 5-6 km south of coastal Baniyas. It's closely related to and sometimes confused with the larger next-day Baniyas massacre in the nearby Ras al-Nabi' district. These are both in coastal Tartous province, the Alawite-dominated part of the country, but are both Sunni-dominated and, as usual, surrounded by Alawite villages. The massacre(s) occurring there are said, therefore, to be part of the supposed cleansing of Sunnis from the Alawite area of the country, a motive claimed previously for massacres in Homs and Hama province to the east (see Haswiyeh massacre, for example). Until May, Tartous has seen little if any such mass violence like that to the east, but it seems the pattern is migrating.

Interestingly, as in many other such cases, the massacre came just after a battle between rebel and regime forces, where rebels ambushed a group of loyalist fighters (alternately given as soldiers or "Shabiha"), killing 7 and taking some 30 prisoner. It was this, most agree, that brought the larger army presence of later in the day who "cleansed" al-Bayda of the militants or, alternately, rampaged around killing scores of innocents just for being Sunni. The numbers of dead reported by different activists range wildly from around 50 to 400 or more, with the lower end of the scale being far more likely. Whether killed soldiers/Shabiha or rebel fighters are included in any of the tallies is unclear, but opposition reports make it sound like all victims are civilian, and there is strong evidence saying at least some victims were, and included women and children.

One clue is how a certain Sunni family - al-Biassi (various spellings) - was singled out, with a reported 36 members of all ages killed. This was headed by sheikh Omar al-Biassi, 63, the imam of al-Bayda's main mosque. He was a government loyalist, most agree, a rejector of the violent uprising, a member of the National Reconciliation Commission, and "a known advocate of interfaith dialogue and national unity." He was reportedly a rebellion/protest supporter at one time, but had apparently run afoul of the rebels, and was previously reported by them as killed by the Syrian army - charges Sheikh Omar denied on national TV. This time, it was proven with a rebel ("citizen journalist") photo. At least one source says he was tasked, on the morning of May 2, with negotiating with rebels for the release of the captive soldiers/Shabiha - a request that was answered with a resounding "no" and the massacre of him and his family, as well as his sister's family. Activist "Ahmad" told Reuters, for a late-May report, how "the Biyasi family suffered some of the worst losses, with 36 documented deaths," all or most of them visually verified by Ahmed himself. As to why the regime killed its own loyalists here, Ahmad didn't explain; "even though he always opposed the protests, they still killed him." Presumably, Ahmad would have us believe, the reason was the sheikh's religion alone. (see Talk: The Imam and his Family for more detail on this.)

See the discussion page for at least a bit more information on a number of sub-issues with this incident.