Baniyas massacre

"The Baniyas massacre" apparently occurred on May 3, 2013 in the coastal city of Baniyas/Banias in Syria's Tartous province. This massacre is closely related to and somewhat confused with the previous day’s Al-Bayda Massacre just south of there. Of note is that both are Sunni majority (but not so far pro-rebel) in an Alawi-majority province, leading to rominent accusations, especially in Turkey, that the Assad regime has genocidal designs there. The killings were reportedly in the Ras al-Nabe' / al-Nabi' / al-Naba' Quarter, and started a mass exodus of Sunnis estimated at 4,000 by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Initial death tolls claimed around 70 civilians killed, but the SOHR eventually settled on "145 civilians (34 children, 40 women, 71 men) killed in the Banias massacre." There are horrible photos and videos proving extremely violent deaths by men, women, and numerous children, as small as they come. Hacked open faces and heads are more common than usual here.

But the exact events and even allegations seem a bit murky and worthy of some sorting out. To start with, as usual this will happen on the discussion page.