Al-Bayda Massacre

This horrendous massacre of at least 50 women and children, as reported, 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. Reports suggest an overall death toll of over 100, but the details of even the allegations were not immediately clear.

This coastal area in Tartous province has seen little if any such mass-killings, which have plagued Hama province to the east. It bears the reported hallmarks of the exact phenomenon moving west. Rural villages, reportedly all Sunni, attacked en masse, people killed indiscriminately in their homes, shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, often burnt, and left behind for rebel videographers to find. Interestingly, as in many other such cases from out east, the attack came just after a battle between rebel and regime forces that the rebels may have won. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports:
 * The area by the village was the site of earlier clashes today between rebels and regime forces, leading to the death of 6 regime forces and the injury of no less than 20 others, no reports yet on the number of rebels killed.

Rebels say the attack happened that night, apparently for revenge, and after a re-grouping period. Or perhaps the battle was a bit later than they suggest, and the massacre a bit earlier, so that the one led right into the other. That seems to have happened with the Houla massacre and the battle of Taldou, about 50 km southeast of al-Bayda.

According to German news agency DPA, the "earlier clashes" were an attack on a bus:
 * Activists said troops attacked al-Bayda after a bus carrying pro-regime militants, known as Shabiha, was attacked, killing at least seven and wounding more than 30.

The predominant sect of the attacked village is of interest - this is in the Alawite-dominated part of the country, but both al-Bayda and nearby Baniyas are said to be Sunni-dominated. 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 (see Haswiyeh massacre)

See the discussion page for at least a bit more information.