Talk:Deir Baalba Massacre

April 2/3: Two Versions
The inset image, recently re-cycled as a false support for the Adra massacre, was already run in April 2012 with this article (French, derived from a SANA report) translated:
 * Homs / A terrorist group has carried out a massacre against number of citizens in a previously removed farm in the district of Deir Baalbé in Homs.The terrorists committed their crime with composure before mutilating the bodies of victims in the farm that has been transformed into a place of torture, where authorities found sharp metal tools and chemicals to make explosives.

Documents.sy re-posts the same image with a caption (Arabic) to similar effect, dated April 3. The still image testifies to only six or seven victims (minimum number), looking intact, laid head first in the corner of a room.

Opposition records (VDC, LCC) show no deaths this day, so it may be this is an April 2 incident. They reported a massacre then, with 13 killed (mutilated) by intense shelling. LCC summary, April 2:
 * A horrific and terrifying massacre was confirmed in Deir B’alba on Monday, in which the regime’s forces used heavy artillery against the residents, killing and wounding many of them, including children. The wounded are in very critical condition. This footage is of the dead and wounded immediately after the attack. One of the men’s legs are blown off and he is breathing his last breaths while residents try to revive him and treat the other wounded residents in cars, because there is no way to get to a hospital
 * Rebels were there to help them. Video (haven't watched, but looks disgusting): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwndmg7Q0Rc
 * Homs: 13 martyrs fell due to the violent shelling on Deir Baalba neighborhood, and 2 houses were destroyed. A large number of people are escaping the area.

VDC list - 4 Der Baalba martyrs April 2, all men. Khaled Msheeal Zakria Mohamad Yehia Obed killed by shelling, Abdul hadi Alshalli and Omar Saeed Kanaan by field execution. Checking April 1-3 adds nothing. That's all they have for this incident, apparently. LCC's April 2 report seems to be their source - Both "Khaled Mashee'l" and "Young man Zakareya Obaid" are the two men named as "martyred due to the shelling on Deir Baalba neighborhood." The rest of the 13 killed by "shelling" and/or those massacred aren't properly listed, then. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:47, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Overview
VDC records show 160 victims of this multi-day massacre of April 7-11. There was preceding violence from April 2 forward, but masses were murdered only during a murky reign of terror peaking with 50 people field executed each day the 9th and 10th. The victims as listed were 135 listed as adult male (although this may be inaccurate, see below), 17 women, 4 girls, 4 boys, mainly from a handful of hard-hit families. (see below) Since this page coniders the broader span back to April 2, this larger list covers that too, adding only 19 for a total of 179 dead, massacre victims and other.

By-day: April 1-6, shooting and shelling, 0-5 a day. The 7th forward, field execution and torture appear and the numbers pick up. 7th=9 8th=16 9th=51 (1 non-civilian) 10th=55 (all civ) 11th=30 (all civ) then back down to 0-5 per day the 12th forward. 7-8-9 field execution, almost totally. Shelling helps kill some on the 10th, but executions continue and on the 11th it's all that again.

Names of note: Kanaan x11, Al-Sheikh x10, Al-Naser x7, Al-Haijan x4, Al-Ali x6, Al-Taleb x4, Faour x3, Rajab x8, Al-Abbas (see below), and Suleiman mainly in connection with Al-Abbas. Many families full of unnamed members like From Alnaser Family 4 or From Al-Ali family 6, both listed as "adult male" like all members of unidentified families. This is sometimes shorthand for "we weren't told all the ages and genders."

The hardest-hit family by far is the Al-Abbas family: the VDC lists '58 Abbas/Abas/Alabas martyrs in these days in Deir Baalba, from a variety of sub-families someone kept singling out (two entries on that list of 60 are coincidence). Almost all of them (49) are properly named men, like Mamoun Sulieman Abas ("His body was found in a stable for the animals"). But there's Ilaf Ali Abas child-male (no age or details given) and Inaam Al-Abbas, adult female, executed the 11th with videos (haven't watched - v1 v2). Some have interesting notes, but it seems most, like Ilaf, don't.

April 8: Found in a Barn
This list of 14 martyrs from Deir Baalba, 12 al-Abbas men, an Abbas woman (Inaam Abdelrahman Abas), and another man (Khalaf Alaskar), all listed as executed on April 8.

Apparently there were two more, and activists only stumbled on these bodies four days later. The LCC daily report of April 12 shares no imagery from the site but explains:
 * 16 corpses from the same family, including one of a woman, were found dumped in a barn. The victims had been killed by various means: slaughter, execution by machete, and gunshots to the mouth. The names of the martyrs are: Suleiman Rahmoun Al-Abbas; Amer, Maamoun, Mohamad, and Ahmad Suleiman Al-Abbas; Ali Mohamad Al-Abbas; Adnan Dibo Al-Abbas; Taha and Imad Abdel Karim Al-Abbas; Said, Walid, Abdel Khalil, and Abdel Kafi Mohamad Al-Abbas; Mohamad Walid Al-Abbas; Walid Taha Al-Abbas; and Ina'am Abdel Rahman Al-Abbas.

That doesn't even list Mr. Alaskar, meaning the collective tally is 19. Note the unusual vagueness over who killed them. "Various means" rebels know all about are cited.

LCC Reports Narrative
This section will combine all references to Deir Baalba in the daily reports of the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, April 2 to 12. All along the way are reports of mass death in Khalidiya and Bayada, and between these northern districts, by April 2 already they reported northern town Teir Maalah had "approximately 8,000 refugees arrived last night, ... several thousand more are expected."
 * Syria News - April 2, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) videos: Homs | Deir B’alba - A horrific and terrifying massacre was confirmed in Deir B’alba on Monday, in which the regime’s forces used heavy artillery against the residents, killing and wounding many of them, including children. The wounded are in very critical condition. This footage is of the dead and wounded immediately after the attack. One of the men’s legs are blown off and he is breathing his last breaths while residents try to revive him and treat the other wounded residents in cars, because there is no way to get to a hospital - (location unclear, but similar to above) A man and his wife with severe injuries in the legs because of the random bombardment - Homs: Families Flee Deir Baalba . Text: 150 martyrs in Syria, ... 120 were martyred in Homs among them 75 unidentified bodies were found in Homsa Hospital - Homs: Khaled Mashee'l was martyred in Deir Baalba as a result of shelling by regime forces - Homs: Heavy rocket shelling is reported in the Deir Baalba neighborhood, and there are sounds of explosions all over the area. - Homs: 13 martyrs fell due to the violent shelling on Deir Baalba neighborhood, and 2 houses were destroyed. A large number of people are escaping the area. - Homs: Young man Zakareya Obaid was martyred due to the shelling on Deir Baalba neighborhood.


 * Syria News - April 3, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: Der Balbeh Mohammad Faraj Hamid was shot in the chest by Assad's sniper. Text: 74 martyrs ... 21 martyrs fell in Homs (nothing relevant)

Homs: Sabee Abdel Rahman Shahada, 26, was martyred during the regime army's shelling in Deir Baalba - Residents of Deir Baalbah are stripped from their clothes while under fire of bullets.They may be dead now. Abu Mohammed, activist in #Homs, says: Don't know if these people are dead or alive. Don't know if this world has any humanity left."
 * Syria News - April 4, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: Homs: Martyr Abdel Hadi Al-Ahmad, from Deir Baalba Homs: Martyr Raffeeq Wajeeh Joueali (Deir Balba, shot by a sniper) Text: 61 martyrs ... 26 martyrs were reported in Homs


 * Syria News - April 5, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Text: The number of martyrs in Syria today as risen to 77, they are distributed as follows: 32 martyrs in Homs, 22 martyrs in Idlib, 17 martyrs in Hama, 4 martyrs in Douma in Damascus Suburbs and two martyrs in Aleppo Suburbs. Homs: Heavy artillery and mortar shelling, as well as heavy machinegun fire, are targeting the areas of Qosour, Ghouta, Houret Al-Shayah, and Qarabees. (but again no Deir Baalba mention.)


 * Syria News - April 6, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)


 * Syria News - April 7, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)


 * Syria News - April 8, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: Assad Bombs Deir Baalbh 8-April-12 Dictator Continues Destruction as World Watches. Text: 69 martyrs ... 19 matyrs in Homs - Homs: Another massacre was committed by the regime's army in the Deir Baalbeh neighborhood, where 9 women and children were killed in the room of a house across the Faculty of Petrochemistry. They were then shot from close distance. - Homs: Heavy shelling continues in the Deir Baalba district for the tenth day in a row, and eye-witnesses say that more than 100 people have been martyred and more than 1000 fled the area, in addition to destroying dozens of houses since the start of the military campaign. - Homs: Heavy shelling is reported in Deir Baalba, and a number of homes have been completely destroyed.


 * Syria News - April 9, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: (nothing relevant) Text: The number of martyrs has risen to 160, ... 52 in Homs - Homs: Renewal of the violent shelling of the Deir Baalbeh neighborhood.


 * Syria News - April 10, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: Homs: The Martyr Abd Al-Rahman Al-Hallak- Dier Ba’albah Text: 101 martyrs ... 56 in Homs - Homs: Syrian regime didn't have enough of the massacres which committed in Homs so it punishes the city that got out despite all constraint to demand freedom with blood. A mass grave was found out by residents today in Deir B'alba neighborhood of 37 martyrs, among them there are children, women and 2 whole families. Their names are: AbdulAlim Kan'an, Ahmad Mohamad Kan'an, Ridha Khaled Kan'an, Ayman Mohamad Kan'an, Bashir Abdo Kan'an, Amina Kan'an, male child Ahmad Kan'an, male child Khaldoun Sleiman, male child Ayman Hamza, female child Rahaf Sleiman, Jassem Alhamid, Zuhair and Ayman Alomar, Nawwaf Al-Amin, Mahmoud Alhamid, Mutia Alnasser, Khaled, Ahmad, Asma, and Suhair Alnabhan, Mohamad Abbas and his 3 children, Walid Abbas, his wife Ghada Al-Othman and their child. A whole family of 6 persons from Al Ali, another family of 5 persons from Al Heijan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJRB1efZvI4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdauOxipm70 - Ahmed Al-Bazazi was murdered by Assad in Deir Ba'alba-Homs-Syria 11th April,2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFEHuJNFhv8. Text: The number of martyrs has risen to 100, most were from the Deir Baalba massacre in the second consecutive day and including 2 women, 4 children, and 5 defected soldiers; who were lost earlier and it was confirmed today that they were martyred: 57 martyrs in Homs - Homs: Deir Baalbah: The brutal crimes of the regime continue and just today 38 corpses were found after they were slaughtered by the regime's forces. This comes after the 37 civilians who were martyred yesterday under the ruins of homes in the same area. These crimes are being committed in spite of the regime's promises to the international community to retreat its forces from all the cities and stop the killing. The Local Coordination Committees are holding the regime the entire responsibility for these crimes which enormity and extensibility cannot be covered due to communications cutoff and the deliberated media blackout on the regime's atrocities. We call for the prosecution of those who are directly and indirectly responsible of these crimes. Following are the names of the martyrs discovered today: Tayser Al-Sheikh and his son Rida Al-Sheikh and his son Riyadh Mohammad Al-Rajab and his four sons Shaalan Al-Rajab Omar Kanaan Ismail Kanaan Amer Madeha Waleed Madeha Mohammad Madeha Four from the Nasser family More than 20 from the Abbas family Four from the Rahhal family Rahal Qadha - Homs: Dargham Hameed Tarbaji and Ahmad Saleh were martyred.
 * Syria News - April 11, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: Deir Ba'alba | Homs | Mass Numbers of Martyrs Murdered by Assad Forces http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC0_c7wCacc - Assad Kills Activist Teacher with Artillery Shell - Dargham Al Saleh 11-April-12 Homs


 * Syria News - April 12, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Video: Homs: Deir Baalba: Destruction on the Main Road of the Neighborhood Due to the Shelling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwfbM1x0vPg - Text: 37 martyrs so far, most of them were martyred in a massacre in Deir Baalba in Homs. 25 martyrs in Homs... - Homs: Residents discovered a new massacre in the Deir Baalba district a short time ago. 16 corpses from the same family, including one of a woman, were found dumped in a barn. The victims had been killed by various means: slaughter, execution by machete, and gunshots to the mouth. The names of the martyrs are: Suleiman Rahmoun Al-Abbas; Amer, Maamoun, Mohamad, and Ahmad Suleiman Al-Abbas; Ali Mohamad Al-Abbas; Adnan Dibo Al-Abbas; Taha and Imad Abdel Karim Al-Abbas; Said, Walid, Abdel Khalil, and Abdel Kafi Mohamad Al-Abbas; Mohamad Walid Al-Abbas; Walid Taha Al-Abbas; and Ina'am Abdel Rahman Al-Abbas. This is the third day in a row that residents discover a massacre in the area despite the cease-fire and the Annan Peace Plan.


 * Last three mass graves just found that way daily: 37 + 38 +16 = 91 proclaimed "martyrs" for the revolution. Apparently the "communications cutoff and the deliberated media blackout on the regime's atrocities" kept them from just presenting all at once and scoring a Houla Massacre scale of event. Here, it almost seems they're spreading the "discoveries" out to minimize the shock and the media profile of this event. After all, who remembers the Deir Baalba Massacre in the slightest? --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:41, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Videos
(Incomplete list)
 * April 5: شام24 قوات الآمن تقوم بتعرية اهالي دير بعلبة للكبار 5 4 2012 (Sham 24, the security forces are stripping bare the people of Deir mailbox 5 4 2012 )
 * Residents of Deir Baalbah are stripped from their clothes while under fire of bullets.They may be dead now. Abu Mohammed, activist in #Homs, says: Don't know if these people are dead or alive. Don't know if this world has any humanity left. LCC April 4 (see also Tweet)
 * Three men dressed civilian, not really fighter-build, are made to surrender to someone off-camera. They have hands up, and on some instructions remove shirts, then shoes and pants, then walk off-frame in their underwear. The last tries to grab hid pants to take with him, or his wallet, but he's made to leave them behind. This looks like a professional arrest operation, but of just who and by who is unsure. The rebel cameraman doesn't seem to be hiding, very far away from this, ratted out by anyone, or arrested. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:48, 1 February 2014 (UTC)


 * April 6: Martyr Abdul Momin crescent 6-4-2012 neighborhood of Deir mailbox
 * Note: Victim's throat is sliced. Night-time video. Crescent = هلال = Hlal. VDC entry: Yehia Abdulmonaem Helal


 * April 7?: Survivor from the Massacre in Dier Ba'lba, Homs Narrates his Accounts 7/4/2012 [EN,FR,RU] 3:01. Dated April 7, uploaded April 12. Seriously injured "Abo Haitham" was trapped five days in Deir Baalba before escaping to the rebels. He says, around April 2 (or April 7?) the army shelled the area with missiles, then ...
 * ...the Shabiha nand supporters of the regime came in. They started to arrest and rape women, they slaughtered children in front of our eyes and raped women. They arranged us in rows. In every row there were around 60 people. I was in the middle row. They fired at all of us and we fell on the bodies of each other. Look, I was beaten here and on my hand. I waited until it was night and then escaped and hid on the roof. They came early in the morning took all the bodies and burned them. ... I was the only one who escaped. I hid on the roof for five days. I crawled until I reached the young men and thety aided me, God reward them. ... They slaughtered my children in front of me. I don't know where my family is. They slaughtered them all. After they slaughtered them, they looted and destroyed the houses.
 * Asked "Can you name some of the families?" He provided: "Madiaya and Galoun families. Al-Mahabna family were all slaughtered. Many other families." This doesn't seem the best list of anyone, per VDC, who died before the 7th. Or exactly, in the whole span. But the 9th and 10th, the peak of the massacre anyway, offer the best fits. Madiaya might be Madiha (Amer and Mohamad killed 4-9). Galoun must be Ghalion (Ibrahim, killed 4-9). Al-Mahabna ... Al-Nabhan is the closest name. 4 killed on April 10, VDC says. Unless he was helping predict those soon to bite it, either the VDC's dates are wrong, or the 4/7 date on the video is wrong (most likely). He has about 60 dying at once here, and manages to not even mention the al-Abbas family. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:48, 1 February 2014 (UTC)


 * April 7: The destruction of the house in Deir mailbox and the fall of two missiles at the house 7-4-2012
 * April 7: Alawites represent corpses Year neighborhood Derbaalbh 7-4-2012 ( العلويين يمثلون بجثث السنه حي ديربعلبة )
 * Approximately 12 bodies, most or all men, bound hands-behind, shot dead at the base of a wall. One wears camouflage pants.


 * 4-7 Crimes Alawites in Homs Derbaalbh
 * Two destroyed men are loaded in a truck. One looks military by clothing, his whole middle turned to blasted meat pudding. The other is dusty, roughed-up, and stiiff. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:48, 1 February 2014 (UTC)


 * April 8-9?
 * April 10: The Martyr Abd Al-Rahman Al-Hallak- Dier Ba’albah
 * April 11: Deir Ba'alba | Homs | Mass Numbers of Martyrs Murdered by Assad Forces
 * April 11: Assad Kills Activist Teacher with Artillery Shell - Dargham Al Saleh 11-April-12 Homs v1 - v2
 * Note: the VDC adds that this victim died from "Fall of shell on the ambulance he was driving." Wow. Activist, teacher, and ambulance driver. No wonder Assad hated him so much. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:48, 1 February 2014 (UTC)


 * April 12: Destruction on the Main Road of the Neighborhood Due to the Shelling
 * Looks a lot like main street after the battle of Taldou and Houla Massacre a month later. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:48, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Locations
Deir Baalba is a good-sized district with varied areas from dense urban core to patches of farmland. Surrounding it is more of the same. Reported locations tend to be vague.

Two broad areas of interest have emerged on Wikimapia (inviting links from people who can post current, not old, links). One large farming area north of Deir Baalba, I could swear, was once marked something like "location of massacre," unspecified. If so, it's been changed (a year ago, it says, and could be). Now it says "alah yahmik ya soria ya rab." I'll see if Lina can tell me what that says. Now, maybe always, there's another large area east of the district, the hugest square, marked in Arabic "orchards." If you open it, beneath, it says beneath "site of massacre." Which one, not clear, but this one is likely. Just west of that is a semi-built up, heavily-marked area named, Google translated, "Lane smugglers and bisexual." Extended notes say the people here something, and are considered prostitutes. There's a "lane Bliss" marked. To the north, just across the highway, is a "farm of Nazim Msheeal," when at least Msheal was killed on the 2nd. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:26, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

One specified spot is in the LCC April 8 report: A massacre in which "9 women and children were killed in the room of a house across the Faculty of Petrochemistry." This is the larger triangular area just off the highway (south side) in Central Deir Baalba. The patch on the other side, just up the road, is the cemetery - a good open area to sneak through if coming back in from outside the district. "They were then shot from close distance." There's a house marked (translated from Arabic) "home of Haj Khaled Sulaiman Al-Ashqar." The VDC lists an April 8 martyr Khalaf Alaskar from Deir Baalba, field executed, along with 13 Abbas people - among 14 with the note: "His body was found in a stable for the animals." 13 men, one woman, as opposed to "9 women and children." --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:26, 31 January 2014 (UTC)

Suleiman Family
The Suleiman-Abbas sub-family was already identified above (early-April) as a main part of an apparent Suleiman family massacre in Deir Baalba, which seems to partly be this, but also has its own track just crossing here. They will be worked in together, or apart, in time and with more analysis.

In a different area of Homs, Jobar, the April 2 LCC summary noted "The corpses of the two siblings Abdul Barea Sulaiman Al-Rifaie (42) and Abdul Hakeem Sulaiman Al-Rifaei were delivered after they were murdered at the regime's prisons.'' This Suleiman appears a lot if these days, not appearing all at once, but smeared across weeks of April on the VDC's martyr's list. best search for Suleimans in Deir Baalbesh from April 2 forward. This shows a total 17 names, close to the 13 "shelling victims" someone knew about right away, coming in small batched up to May 1. Here, almost all are recognized as "field executed." Relations aren't clear, but the majority contain some mix of Suleiman and Abbas/Alabas. Dates and notes say things like "shelling" (no explanation) April 6 - "His body was found in a stable for the animals" (April 8) - "Their bodies found days after they were killed" (April 10) - "His corpse was found with 28 others" (April 26) - "He was martyred weeks ago. His corpse was found today." (May 1) - all adult males but for one, Rahaf Sulieman, child-female, Field Execution, "...found days after they were killed" (April 10).

Hospital Finds
The April 26 find of 29 bodies seems to mostly involve the other family that appears and ties into the first reports from April 2. 8 names appear, all men, executed, all but two are name Kanaan (like Omar Saeed Kanaan). Or perhaps the connection with Suleiman is coincidence and we just have this massacre on April 26. There's no mention of a time delay.