Talk:Homs Massacres

Page Scope
The scope is negotiable. It could include all Homs province (which stretches way back into big areas where relatively little happens), or any of these more core areas: Houla, Qusayr, Rastan, Talbiseh, al-Ghanto, etc. I say Houla has a page, Qusayr has a page, and Rastan/Talbiseh could. Hama clearly could use its own place, perhaps including Rastan et al. This could get big enough just on Homs city, immediate suburbs, etc. The Abel massacre should be included, despite being between Homs and Qusayr orbits, since Baba Amr was emptied the day before and that's likely where the killers came from. Spots to the east not in anyone else's orbit could be included; I think that might cover Maksar al-Husn - nah, too far out, unless we can connect it to militants from Homs. Different thoughts welcome. --Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Manner of inclusion: general timeline with entries, links in most cases (depending how many entries we finally have). Most links for now will be to pages, but a lot of smaller massacres will need space short of a page, which will be a section on this page.--Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

This might be a stupid page, best dome as one thread of the Homs answer to Life in Liberated Qusayr. Can be made mobile in time, so no big rush to judgment I suppose. Still a good spot to work out the massacres and a few related issues. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:25, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

I've decided Rastan is too far off, too much in Hama's orbit, and too big with an orbit of its own, to include here. But at least up to and probably including Talbiseh should be included, certainly Ghanto, Jabourin, etc. Hama and Rastan and surroundings should get their own page in time, which could get huge. Idlib's page too will be insane if it ever happens and gets filled-in. --Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Locations
The following map gives the range of districts in Homs as I could assemble it this early. The borders and labels are all per Wikimapia, some with ssome translation or shift to a spelling I'm using. I'm finding it useful enough to place things I run across, even with different spellings. Some borders left out for readability. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:34, 12 December 2013 (UTC) Color-coding: I felt compelled to color something, even though I don't have enough data yet to make some kind of demographic or protest-density infographic. Red clearly is the rebel hotbed, clearly visible. Purple = the big distruicts, somewhere ion which, the bigger massacres of February and March reportedly happened. Otherwise, blue = district as outlined on Wikimapia (note discontinuous al-Wa'er to the west) and green = outlying village, or green belt, depending. al-Sitteen street is a place cited where bodies were often dumped after murky assassinations. Different and more useful color-coding possible in time. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:36, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

Broader area map: The are shaded yellow and towns in it should be included here, I think. Surrounding areas with pages in green (Houla) orange (Qusayr) and red (Rastan). --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:58, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Full Timeline
As soon as it's half-ready this will go on the front page. --Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Some notes are meant to transport in time. I intend to have a fairly clean timeline. :) --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:51, 1 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Being transported now. Some segments already moved to sections on the font page. --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:16, 16 December 2013 (UTC)


 * 2011
 * April 17: page: Tellawi Family Massacre An Alawite brigadier-General and his son and two nephews (all teenagers) were dragged from their car and brutally murdered and mutilated. Both sides blamed each other.


 * April 19 (early AM): "Massacre of Time" aka Clock Square Massacre (section, front page) City Center, App. 12 dead, "dozens," or over 200: accounts vary.


 * After these April incidents and before December, there may be more but on searching around, "massacre" just doesn't come up, in Homs, very frequently in 2011. There was constant murky violence and near-daily deaths, but no one seemed to pull off anything quite like what we now know as the Syria style of massacre. April 18 they called it one, April 17, my choice, maybe not the best. Anything else even vying for a slot here gets a dot below this, in proper order. --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:51, 1 December 2013 (UTC)


 * May 8: Wikipedia: "On 8 May, unidentified gunmen attacked a bus, carrying workers who were returning from work in Lebanon to Homs, killing 10 people and wounding three. [47]"


 * August 10 or so: ""Troops and armoured vehicle stormed Bab Amro early evening. The neighbourhood is witnessing a massacre. The number of dead are likely to go up because there are seven out of 25 wounded in critical condition," Observatory director Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters." (source)


 * September 24 (app.): talk page section: Al-Assi River Massacre. An unclear number of bodies are found in the river. One clearly recovered from the water looks like a paramilitary man, tortured. At the same time several military personnel, political and criminal security policemen and murky civilians - perhaps 12 or more total - all died at this time, many listed as detention-torture victims like the one river body we're shown. The killing and dumping seem to have happened in or nearer to al-Qusayr to the south, but the victims tend to be from/killed in Homs, so it belongs on both pages.


 * December 4-6, 2011: page: Early December, 2011 Sectarian Killings in Homs "Sixty-one people have been killed in the Syrian central city of Homs, according to Al Jazeera's Rula Amin ... Among those killed were 34 Sunnis and 27 Alawites, she said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the violence." (Al-Jazeera blog, Dec. 5) The page explores this allegation and various reports of the days December 3-7.


 * Late December "Baba Amr Massacre" - In the days before and during a long-sought visit by the Arab League's observers to the rebel hotbed starting December 27, regime forces in and around the (rebel-held?) district went on a spree of Shabiha in-home executions and strange shelling. It's not yet clear who this does or should include, and who killed them, but there was in Baba Amr in those days a "sheikh" killed in fromt of a mosque, a former local head of the Ba'ath party and his wife, a little boy shot by "regime's forces" slapped across the hood of the Arab League's truck, and quite a few others, seem collectively worth a look. (section forthcoming) --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:33, 13 December 2013 (UTC)


 * 2012
 * January 24: A "massacre" by shelling, allegedly, leaving horribly mangled victims. Bab Tadmour.


 * January 26: section: Bahader-Akkra Family Massacre: At least 13-17 civilians executed in Karm al-Zaytoun, including six children (8 months old to nine years, mostly around 2), and at least five women, all civilians and absolutely mauled in their homes, throats sliced and skulls split, left where opposition activists would find them and be able to prove the "Shabiha" slaughter, as they branded it.


 * January 30: front page section, Mohammad Family Massacre
 * February 3/4: page: Khalidiya Massacre


 * February 5/6: Extreme shelling of Baba Amr reported, with strangely massacre-like effects. Sub-set: "the field hospital massacre," in Baba Amr, Feb. 6 - at least two killed, Khaled Abu Saleh and others reported injured.


 * February 7, 2012: front page section: Sebil-Cairo Street Massacre


 * February 20: talk page section: Jinyat Family Massacre (a family or so killed by alleged shelling, like the above but further from city center - apparently on the orchard side of Malaab - much smaller, and more horrifically expressed yet.


 * February 27: talk page section: Darwish Family Massacre: Six unnamed members of a family called Darwish (4 children under 18), executed and burned, and "mutilated," in Khalidiya district. Again, it's said "Shabiha" held them in their home five days before the rebels found them recently dead.


 * February 27: section: Abel Massacre, Feb. 27 2012 64-86 victims, all adult males from Baba Amr, it's said, were found executed south of Homs, just as rebels were finallt chased out of Baba Amr. Same exact pattern would play out with the March, 2013 Abel massacre (see below)


 * March 11/12: page: Karm al-Zaytoun Massacre: At least 100+ and up to 224 victims in two days of rolling massacres in Karm al-Zaytoun and al-Rifae districts, Adawiya, etc. The more famous first half was blamed on Syrian army and Shabiha, and said to have killed at least 21 women and 26 children, or 108 total. Some child victims show rather extreme injuries or mutilation, in extra-shocking images taken by rebels, later re-cycled for the Houla Massacre.


 * April 5: section:Mando Family Massacre: Four men of the family murdered at their farm near Baba Amr, while a Mando boy is killed over in Houla.


 * April 15: Wikipedia: "SANA also reported that terrorists killed 12 civilians in the Alawite, pro-Assad, neighborhood of al-Zahra in what seemed like an FSA attack on the neighborhood."


 * May 4/5: Hospital "find" of "February and March massacres" victims - app. 50, all or most adult males, all killed by "shelling." section: Hospital Finds, May 4/5


 * May 4/5: Halmouz/Ter-Maalleh massacres: in two villages north of Homs, mortars kill and char an unsure number of people, some displaced from Homs' Khalidiya district. section: Halmouz and Ter-Maalleh Massacres


 * May 25: Houla and Shumeriyeh Massacres: A bit outside the spatial scope of Homs massacres, this important reference point deserves a mention. The infamous massacre of 106 in Taldou, al-Houla (in the green zone above) was carried out after a huge rebel force overran 4/5 of the security posts there. This was the same day as an often-confused operation out of Qusayr (orange zone, south of Homs) that reportedly killed about ten Alawites from two families in Shumariyeh, on the south shore of Lake Homs. While Homs is in the middle of all that, it seems fighters from there had no role, with Qusayr, Rastan, and Houla itself providing the force needed.


 * I haven't made as much effort to find anything from the second half of 2012. But, while there aren't any famous enough I already know them, or saw them on the Wikipedia massacres page, it's sure there are a few worth adding when they become known. --Caustic Logic (talk) 01:12, 16 December 2013 (UTC)


 * 2013
 * January 15: page: Haswiyeh Massacre Once again, over 100 people were killed in a Homs massacre! 106 to Houla's 108, everyone crowed. Shabiha killed that many locals, they said. Others (actual locals living there) said an al-Nusra front suicide mission killed about 30 civilian locals, and apparently about 75 militants were killed in the following battle.


 * March 25: page: Abel massacre: Up to 21 civilians including children killed, hacked up, beheaded, etc. and burned. 13 visually verified, the unusual degree of bestial mangling showing perhaps an extra rage and frustration on the part of the killers. Abel, meaning apple, is just 3 km south of Baba Amr, Homs, and the incident happened the day after rebel forces were fully chased away from there after a huge and frustrating defeat.


 * March 31: (talk talk) page: Talkalakh massacre 13 victims, including 8 women and some children, reportedly killed with knives, with both sides blaming each other.


 * April 11: Graphic Video: A Massacre against an Entire Family 04/11/2013 Description:
 * ''The Shabiha of Abbas family along with the Shabiha of the neighboring villages attacked the victims' homes, which are tents they have been living in for twenty years near the village of Tal al Shor among three pro regime villages of Alawite majority. The attackers tortured the victims, executed them with pullets in the head and then slaughtered them with knives. They also stole 700 heads of cattle, in addition to the victims' property of money and gold. Note that the mother of the children is still being treated in Al Zaim hospital in Homs. She is in a very critical condition and we ask Allah to recover soon.''
 * Comment: "All alawits must die"


 * May 27: page: Al-Duvair massacre The Christian village of Duvair/Duweir is on the northwest fringe of Homs, almost touching Busatin al-Haswiyeh, where the Haswiyeh massacre was carried out by uncertain rebel units, four months earlier. Initial reports trumpeted that the town was anihilated by Jihadists, but rather most fled after a reported 45 locals were executed on the first day. This was the record for most Christians killed in a massacre, until the Sadad Massacre slightly eclipsed it five months later. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:24, 4 December 2013 (UTC)


 * September 19: section: Jabourin Bus Attack App. 19 killed in a terrorist roadside bomb attack on two busses carrying people to the Alawite village of Jabourin, north of Homs near Talbiseh.

(forthcoming, God forbid)
 * 2014

Specific Events
Those with No Dedicated Page will be explored in sub-sections below, listed in chronological order.

Al-Assi River Massacre, Sept. 2011
September 24, 2011 (app.) This incident deserves a little space here. First, consider from Syria News - September 24, 2011 (Warning: Graphic Videos) the video (09-24-11) Al-Qusayr | Homs | (GRAPHIC) Massacre of Homs: Bodies in AlAssi River. (analysis needed, quantification of clues, etc. - could be placed) Al-Assi seems to be the main river running through the Green Belt of Homs, flowing north from the Mount Hermel area. Qusayr is specified, but it could be elsewhere. There is blood of executions at a small building, remains buried in shallow earth, removed clothing and shoes for at least a few victims, blood smears on the concrete, and faintly bodies under the water can be seen. Not loating on the surface yet? --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:05, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

Next, same day report, the video above is (09.25.2011) Homs | Martyr Safa Ghassan and signs of torture. It's not mentioned, but he visibly looks pulled out of a river, bleached white and water-logged skin, naked - dumped after receiving some nasty torture - dozens of holes all over his chest, sides, and one little hole each at the collarbone and lower neck. These are likely worsened by submersion in water (with its microbes and larger flesh-nibblers) but probably predate that. His right eye is perhaps removed under closed and flat lids, either by some fish, or some tormentors. Forehead injuries like from a rifle butt. Right hand sliced and maybe crushed, now puffing up black with decay. This man gets an entry at the VDC as a martyr, with a link to a different posting of this video, a fuller name - Safa Ghassan Tawakol - and a location, Bab Dreib, Homs. Martyrdom location, blank. Cause, shooting, 9/25. Plus there's quite the photo of the man, which doesn't look civilian except technically. Paramilitary - camo pants, khaffiyeh, gunner's vest, automatic rifle and that look. He's posing sternly, but in a living room. He seems prepare to fight the terrorists of Homs as a neighborhood Shabih, or for that matter like a rebel fighter, but he's listed as neither. Note that Safa is usually a woman's name. Having a woman's name is sometimes a Christian thing around Homs (see Sari Saoud, Maya Nasser). Christians in Bab Dreib don't usually side with the rebels. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:05, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

A river is not mentioned in Safa's entry, but he's apparently one of the bodies removed, apparently on 9/25 as recorded, and that given as death date. But it said bodies, plural. How many others were buried in the river and who were they? The helpful visuals stop there but I'm able to venture a guess of at least five others, and maybe 11 or more, for a total of 6-12. Martyrs (usually meaning killed by the "regime") offers five more possible companions: Detention - Torture Age 45. Notes: "arrested 23 sept. 2011 : martyrdom after torture"
 * Ahmad Sultan El Rahal Civilian - Homs Talbesieh 2011-09-25

2011-09-25, Detention - Torture. Notes: "arrested 18 august. 2011 : died under torture Given back to his family today"
 * Abdel Moin El Mokahal, Non-Civilian (Rank: Recruit). From Homs: Deir Baalabeh


 * Mohamed El Shiar, Civilian. Homs: Khedr. Died 2011-09-25, Shooting. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWy6GnlJwKk (no longer available)


 * Moatez El Shiar, Civilian. Homs, Bab Al Sebaa. 2011-09-25, Shooting

Video of the martyr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoO4Tpa3eIA (funeral)
 * Iyad Mohamed Bacchar Allouch, Non-Civilian (Rank: Recruit) from Homs: Khaledeyeh. Died 2011-09-24, Shooting. Martyrdom location:Homs: Qosair Notes: executed because he refused to fire on demonstrators

Note that two of these are actual military members. If we take the same pulled from the river date Safa was given as date of death, and check regime fatalities (suaully meaning killed by rebels) database, we get an interesting result. Sept. 25, nationwide, regime fatalities = 6 only, and apparently five of them were in Homs. Cited articles: http://syriamoi.gov.sy/new/index.php?req=552&cat=73 (dead) - http://drshadinasser.blogspot.de/2012/05/blog-post_3 Safa's Shabih commander?
 * Alfat Wajeh Naser: From Suweida, no details on location, likely unrelated
 * Adnan Mohammad Abd al-Kareem: killed somewhere in Homs, from Homs, Warrant Officer First Class
 * Ahmad Sha'ban Mahmoud: killed in Homs: Jeb al-Jandali 9/25 Warrant Officer Third Class
 * Ma'in Ahmad al-Salih: Killed in Homs - Baba Amre neighborhood 9/25 Policeman. Notes: "Personnel of Political Security Branch in Homs."
 * Muhammad Hassan al-Hoash Martyrdom location Homs - Baba Amre Rank Soldier. Notes: "Personnel of Political Security Branch in Homs"
 * Hassan Ali Eid: especially this guy. Age: 50. Area: Zahraa (largely Alawite, I hear). "Occupation: Head of" (redacted?) Rank: Civilian. Was he


 * And another at least: One victims marked "Personnel of Criminal Security Department in Qousair" was also killed on al-Qousair-Arjoun road Sept. 24. And again, Qusair was originally cited.

Best guess - 6-7 bodies at least, these five-six regime guys, Safa, and then whichever other tortured civilians were dumped in the river like him, alongside these unfortunate representatives of security in Homs. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:05, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

Sebil-Cairo Street Massacre
February 7, Sebil, Wadi al-Arab, and "Cairo Street" - at least 18 killed This massacre re-sets the pattern, so evident in the Khalidiya Massacre three days earlier, of blaming artilley of a distant foe for the surge in dead civilians in rebel-held areas of Homs. This time, again the regime and its brutal "Shabiha" enforcers were the ones in Homs and in peoples' homes. The LCC daily report for February 7 shares videos (warning: graphic! but not as much so as some of these) of a "Wadi Al-Arab massacre." One of them shows victims in the morgue, and one man at least has a bandaged-over throat wound.

While the morgue is apparently in that district, the victims for the most part weren't. The VDC martyrs database shows 53 fatalities in Homs on February 7. Only one - Omar Skaff - is listed as from Wadi al-Arab. What one sees first is a small cluster of field executions in Sabeel district, which is just south of there. All Sabeel martyrs February 7 - 12 total - 4 adult males, 3 adult females, 2 boys, 3 girls. Considered by family:


 * Atfah (5 members): 4 VDC listings for this name, each time Atfah spelled differently): Walid Fares Attfa from Sabeel. Notes: "He and all his family were killed by Shabiha." Age, etc. not given. Adult female, Zuhour Fares Aatfeh, age 24, was "killed with her entire family at the hands of the pro-regime thugs (shabbiha)." Girls Israa Fares, age 12, and Shoroq Fares, age 15, are also listed with the note "Thug killed her along with her family." The LCC report had this to report: "An entire family was martyrd in Al-Sabeel neighborhood; they are, Walid Farress Attafeh and his wife Sabaeh Alwan along with their three children, Zuhour (24), Sherooq (16), and Israa (12). So the number is five: Adult female Sabah Ahmad Alwan is also listed by VDC as married, to who unstated.


 * Ghantawi (5 members): Adult male Abdel Nasser Ali Ghanttawi has no details besides from Sabeel and field executed, but Fatima Al-Jabouli is noted as "wife of martyr Abdul Naser Al-Ghantawi." Three Ghantawi children joined them in death: girl Souad, age 15, and boys Omar Abdel-Nasser (age 5) and Nabil Abdel-Nasser (age 7). Ghantawi may not be their proper name - one boy is named as "Nabil Abdel-Nasser neighborhood Ghanttauwi." Ghantawi seems to literally mean one from al-Ghanto, just north of Homs by Talbiseh, and a cite of frequent rebel violence. Living in Sabil at least in February, the children are the only VDC entries this day with "massacre" in the notes. The LCC report notes "Martyrdom of the chemical engineer Abdulnasser Ali Ghantawi, his wife and three of their children (aged 2, 7 and 9) during the raid of their home in Sabeel neighborhood by Shabiha. Their fourth son was able to hide in the attic and report of the incident." Note the age mismatch with the children, possibly a clue.
 * Other/Unsure (2): Not clearly attached to any family are two adult males Mowaffaq Seedawi and Omar al-Naassan, age 72.

Then there is another small cluster of only two that becomes four, from "Cairo Street." That doesn't pop up in Homs on Wikimapia, but rendered in Arabic ( شارع القاهرة ) it does; two spots are marked, both of them along a north-south road that marks the western edge of both Sebil and Wadi al-Arab. So the spatial connection is strongly implied. This time, the targeted family is named Zamil (4 members). VDC entries: Hala Al-Mahbani, adult female and "wife of Abelkareem Zamel" was executed. Notes: "After their home was shelled, they attempted to flee however regime`s forces arrested them and gathered them with the rest of their family (the Zamel Family). They then proceeded to slaughter them with knives in front of their home." The other Feb. 7 listing is Khalid Abdul Hakim Al Zamil, child, male. "After escaping from the bombing, they were arrested and executed in front of the house." That's it. Dad Abelkareem Zamel is only listed, with a slightly different name, on the next day: Abdul Hakim Al Zamil died Feb. 8 by "shooting," with no fancy story, details, links or visuals. With some oddities, that's three victims. And if "Qahira Street" is the same as Cairo, another woman named Reem Al-Beraqdar should be added. Also field executed, in fact the entry says she is "Second wife of Zamil." Dual wives usually suggests someone who is prosperous, a possible clue. Still, this seems like a small family, or there are other entries missing.

Mr. Skaff, the lone local listed by VDC is likely all at the same morgue the victims from elsewhere (I need to study the videos someday) and likely worth including as a victim of the same people, or allies of theirs. And at least one reported fatality the VDC missed, in the home invasion vein of the massacre perps here: "[7 Feb 2012] #Homs, Wadi Al-Arab neighborhood: Civilian Abdullah Al-Mihini killed in his home by the Shabeeha (regime thugs)." the video is horrible - bad torture, tweaked tissue in his torn open arms and legs. He has no VDC entry, but an apparent relative - Satam Rateb almhini of Homs - died on Sept. 11, 2011, from ... detention-torture. It seems to run in the family.

Tally: 12 from Sabil, 4 on Cairo Street, Skaff and Mihini = these rebels managed to scoop up and collect at least 18 bodies - likely 20 or more - for this "Wadi al-Arab Massacre." Shabiha did it, they say, but again mobile rebels got the bodies. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:42, 6 December 2013 (UTC) and --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:34, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Jinyat Family Massacre
February 20, 2012 - Malaab district, 7 killed. This incident is not sold as a massacre but might well be one. There is a slightly-promoted video I'll start with. I've considered this perhaps the single most hideous thing I've seen yet, and don't even want to link to it. As reported, "11 years old girl Kamar Abu Hamad has been killed by Assad's bombing." Her mangled body is shown only in underwear. Her skull is ruptured and partly missing on the right side, along with the brain it seems, but her face is mostly intact, a scream suggested by the pulled wide half-mouth. Shoulder abrasions plus this suggest a hit in the back of the head with a RPG blast, perhaps. All tissue beneath the chin is torn away somehow. her right ankle and left forearm are also torn up with extremities hanging loose, almost severed. One wonder how many different explosions she was subjected to.

Separately, Kamar's skin is sliced open badly (slices a few inches long) at the left shoulder, right underarm, and down the right side and right buttock at least, as well as smaller wounds, from stabbing perhaps, all over the body, including one perhaps straight through the heart. That one, through the left side, is still leaking copious blood at filming time. Considering both types of injury, the order is not hard to reason out: why stab someone who'd been blasted like that? That's not a good mercy killing and she'd already be dead. Conversely, why blast a girl who's been stabbed to death? That has an answer - the knife-wielding rebels holding the body decided it was better to blame distant regime artillery.

She has a VDC martyr entry: Kamar Abu Hamad Civilian, Child - Female, age 11, Homs Malab Neighborhood. She died 2012-02-20 from Shelling. Anyone who must see the video, there are three of them linked there. The VDC entry also mentions other children in passing on her story: "Three Children martyred due to regime`s shelling, She and her niece Hory and Kamar Gnyat." These too are listed:

Kamar Gonyat Malab, age not given, but the photo there says something like 8. Entry #66425. Like the rest, it says shelling killed her. By the videos provided she's much more intact than the other Qamar, and clothed. She suffered possibly explosive removal of one limb - the panning makes it unclear, but apparently an arm sticking out, just past the elbow a frayed stump of tissue. She has a head wound like a bullet hole, as well as a covered/plugged hole in the right side of her neck, bad slice or gash to the bridge of her nose, and little scars all over (they don't look like stab wounds).

Hori Jinnyat Malab, age not given. A photo there says also around 8 - younger, older, or twin is unclear. He was clearly listed first: entry #8303, 58,000 entries earlier. Notes: "Three Children martyred due to regime`s shellinon their house, he and his sister Kamar and his niece Kamar Abu Ahmad [sic]" Niece clearly means cousin. Provided videos show a boy with fairly long hair, mainly intact and clothed, but sporting a mangled left foot with missing toes, and right big toe smashed apart. He's got blood across face and clothes, the crotch especially. The back of his head has a major injury (if exit wound, the entry's not clear). Left upper arm and shoulder shot through perhaps, at least 4-5 small holes, bones broken, all floppy; they twist it around to prove that. Possible left eye injury through closed lid. Wrapped and cleaned, it still looks that way, in video "Important Homs neighborhood playground hero martyr Houry Fairies" (Gtrans.)

حوري جنيات = hwry jnyat, where Jinyat means fairies. Houry is not a usual name for boys or girls, a casual search suggests. Hurrah is close, a male name meaning free/liberal. Hurairah, Male, means "Narrator of Hadith, a close companion to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)." Closer yet is Huuriya or Horia, female, meaning nymph/angel/attractive girl/virgin of paradise. With his long hair, possibly made-up girlish name, from family "fairies," suggests a kid who might get bullied in school, and probably worse in an Islamist school. That's all subjective, but still it seems this is a liberal and "modern" family of some non-Salafist background, to say the least. Giving a boy a girl's names in Syria is sometimes a Christian tendency (see Sari Saoud and Maya Nasser).

The LCC report for the 20th with the video of Kamar, and also of the other Kamar (labeled only with Homs and the date) does not mention any of these children in the text part of the report, by name or otherwise. But another angle is added here missing from the VDC: parents.
 * ''Homs: An entire family of four, 3 women and a man, called the Jeniyat were martyred after targeting their home with two artillery shells in Malaab Baladi neighborhood near the Shoes Factory." Perhaps this refers to the two girls and a boy - whose absence here is strange - and another girl or perhaps their mother. And perhaps, as it sounds, these are four adults somehow connected by name to those kids. In fact, either reading is possible. Mal'ab Location on Wikimapia: west of center, up against the orchards. No factory seems to be labeled within the area. A good guess is the only large facility there, just west of the stadium,

at the little bend in the river. This is just outside Malab, putting them most likely on the west edge of the district, with the attackers coming through the orchards more likely than from within the city. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:07, 16 December 2013 (UTC)
 * One guess with basis but high chance of being wrong: Mr. Jinyat was a wealthy businessman who ran the shoe factory nearby, was okay with the government and didn't support the rebels. He was slaughtered along with his two wives, daughter, son, and sister-in-law and niece (taken in after his brother was killed). Oh, and they were robbed along the way of everything valuable and portable. Surplus wives/widows and maybe the pre-teen were put in that category. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:07, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

These reported adults didn't appear with the VDC entries because they aren't listed. All 11 martyrs in Homs, Feb. 20 - the three kids, none of the adults - no more Jeniyat-like names, no more Malab victims. The days before and after add nothing. There are no other Jinnyats anywhere in the database. There are two Jenyats, neither a match. Jeniyat = 0. Jenniyat = 0. Arabic search for الجنيات is the same as the Jenyat search, two hits. So the adults aren't listed. That's quite likely a clue.

Abel Massacre, Feb. 27 2012

 * LCC Feb. 27
 * Today, Monday, ended with 144 martyrs including 64 in Baba Amr neighborhood who were slaughtered in Abel area in Homs, ...
 * Homs: The regime's forces and thugs committed a horrifying massacre at a security checkpoint in Abel area where 64 martyrs fell. The martyrs were families trying to flee from the shelling at Baba Amr neighborhood. Reports said security members and thugs kidnapped the women among them. The residents found 47 corpses in an area between Ghajar and Tanota and another 17 corpses were found to the north of the Sad Shandakhiyeh. Later on, the Red Crescent Society delivered the corpses to the National Hospital in Homs.

Videos: none. Top photo (7 shirtless adult males laid out dead) captioned: "BABA AMR: Some of the bodies of the 64 martyrs of Baba Amr."


 * Wikipedia, Siege of Homs:
 * On 27 February 2012, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 68 bodies were found between the villages of Ram al-Enz and Ghajariyeh and were taken to the central hospital of Homs. The wounds showed that some of the dead were shot while others were killed by cutting weapons. The Local Coordination Committees, another opposition group, reported that 64 dead bodies were found, all adult men. These two sources hypothesized that the victims were civilians who tried to flee the battle in Homs and were then killed by a pro-government militia. [147][148]

This is the second massacre in Abel we've considered at this site. The first was later, the Abel massacre of March 25, 2013. That time, at least 14-21 locals were slaughtered by Shabiha, beheaded or hacked-up and burnt, with the killers making videos that, along with the bodies, were in rebel hands in short order, allowing them to "prove" the claim it wasn't them. This was the day after Baba Amr was announced cleared and safe, yet again, by the Syrian Arab Army. When far more died in Abel in 2012, it was the day before Baba Amr was cleared - announced on Feb. 28. Retreating, enraged rebel brigades of Baba Amr were apparently both stronger and more on-the-ball in 2012. --Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Darwish Family Massacre
February 27, 2012 - Khalidiya District As reported by the VDC database, six members of this family were field executed in Khalidiya on or a bit before Feb. 27 - a father, a mother, a son, and three daughters, with little to no details given, and entirely unnamed aside from Darwish, which may not even be their real name, for all we know.

These are mentioned with no more useful info by the connected LCC in its daily summary of December 27 (Warning! Graphic videos, lots, embedded right there, that can take forever to load AND then upset you)
 * Homs: Another massacre added to the series of massacres by the regime's thugs (Shabeha), an entire family from Al-Darwish was murdered in Khaldiyeh neighborhood including father, mother, son and three daughters. They didn't just slaughter them but they mutilated their corpses as well.

Subtitles on one video of the boy explain "we found him and were able to release the other bodies after 5 days of them being stuck in their home." It's been no five days after they died. The father looks maybe bloated but some people do, and neither he nor anyone is discolored or old looking past maybe a day or so (it's either before or after rigor mortis). The combined suggestion, however logical, is that the Shabiha spent some days with these people, perhaps torturing them, before killing them around Dec. 26, and then leaving the site for activists to find on the 27th. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

LCC provided videos and notes: This shows rebels loading a hefty-built/overweight, bald-headed man's body, near-naked, onto the bed of a pickup truck. He has massively puffed-up eyelids, open a slit, lots of blood out the mouth and nose, burned-black face, stabbed in the belly, burned a bit all over, leaving little circular orange wounds, and horribly burned legs, to the bone in spots. I don't see anything obvious I'd call mutilation, aside from by fire, but I'll trust their assessment. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Homs: Khaldiyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: Father's Body Mutilated - 2-27-12 Al Khalidiya

This is a boy of - I don't know, ten? He's a tad on the chubby side, and died badly. He too is burned all over, reddened with orange patches, perhaps worse than his father, and stabbed a few different times in the upper body. His whole right hand and backside of right arm are burnt black and half-melted. He has smoke-stained forehead and blackened lips, perhaps beyond ordinary smoke inhalation. The order of operations is unclear. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Homs Al khalediyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: Horrific Injuries on Child Massacred by Assad Army Forces

Bodies wrapped in a dimly-lit room, the boy recognizably shown first. The father is second, his facial blood has been coated in heavy white powder here. Otherwise, only parts of faces are seen. The presumed mother at 0:39 has small wounds in her left cheek and apparent bruisng all over the face and eyes. One girl 0:21 has burns on her face and black lips, left side, like the boy's. From the left eyebrow up as far as we can see seems charred black. Another girl, about 11, might have a black eye, or these people were all really tired, or whatever causes dark eyes (early decay?) Another girl is smaller, maybe 8, barely seen with her eye frozen open just a slit, no marks or signs visible.
 * Homs: Khaldiyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: 4 females, the father and the son


 * Saving of copies failed on all of these - Youtube is now blocking more videos in a more aggressive way. I'm saving still when I do. Also, many videos are now pulled, which is why saving was and is important, so history says boo to Youtube. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Considering the logical possibility that Darwish is not the real name of these people, one other entry of the day is worth mentioning. LCC has a video: Homs: Khalikyah neighbourhood: Martyr Mus'ab Abdul Mu'ti Al-Dwairi. There is no "Khalikyah," but with a typo he was killed where the Darwishes were. Dwairi is just similar enough to Darwish to notice, but means one from Dwair/Douair/Duvair, like maybe the Christian village of Homs. He's listed as killed by simple shooting, and from his face alone we can't make any link to this burning massacre. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Mando Family Massacre
April 5, 2012: LCC Daily summary:
 * Homs: Several businessmen were martyred under torture after they were arrested from their farm in the neighborhood of Bab Amr during the raid. Their farm was burned after looting its contents. The martyrs are: Abdelhalim Mando, Yaser Abdelhalim Mando, Shawky Yaser Mando and Muhannad Yaser Mando. Their corpses have not been delivered to the families thus far.

Clearly the businessmen are related. VDC has entries for these, all civilian, from Baba-Amr, killed April 5 by "Detention - Torture." Each entry explains "They were arrested from their farm during the raids on the neighborhood of Baba Amr, were the security forces burned the farm after looting its contents." Shawki photo cropped from a group photo included with this Arabic report from April 7. This says the victims were a father and his two sons, plus his grandfather (his father apparently already deceased). "Activists said that security forces looted the farm which contain large amounts of money, and warehouse genuine leather, and gold pieces." There was no official statement, they say, as usual "since the beginning of the events." Described as businessmen, they apparently prospered under the "Assad regime," wearing nice suits and sitting in nice chairs, stacking up gold and leather, and passing the unspecified family business down along at least three generations.
 * Shawqi Yaser Mando age 30, photo
 * Muhanad Yaser Mando age 29, photo
 * Yaser Abdulhalim Mando age 58, photo
 * Abdulhalim Mando age 90, no photo.

Perhaps most interestingly, a child of the family was also listed by the VDC as killed in nearby Houla that same day by (random?) shelling: An adult male of the Mando family was among those 100+ civilian males killed in the Khalidiya Massacre by "shelling" on February 3/4. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:42, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Rami Mando age 10, from Homs: Houla - killed April 5, 2012 by "shelling." No photo or further details. --Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Hospital Finds, May 4/5
A National Hospital in Syria - 49 dead men from weeks ago, all adult males killed by "shelling," emerge suddenly at the/a National Hospital in Homs May 4 and 5. These (like Mohammad Zuheir Masharqa) have the note "He was one of the victims of February and March massacres. The victims corpses were found at the National Hospital, and they were buried during the past days in Kafar Aya and Bwaida villages," south of Homs. All are adult males, from Homs but not specified where, no ages or details given. Kafr Aya is immediately south of Homs itself, and "Bwaida" is Buweid al-Sharqiya, a few kilometers south of there. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:08, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

I spotted this just skimming the VDC database. Killed by shelling, Homs, May 3-6: May 3 = 0. May 4 (Friday) = 43, all adult male. May 5 = 11. May 6 = 0. Total = 54 and here I can get a list of 49 with that note about "February and March massacres." --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:08, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Two exceptions (at least) to the rules specify a location, both times Baba Amr: one is "non-civilian" - "FSA" and the other is a "civilian" but shown in an army helmet. --Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

There are less familar-to-me names here than with Khalidiya - but one common family name is Janseiz - 3 members: Adham Janseez - Sadeq Janseiz - Akram Abdulrazzaq Janseiz --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:08, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Halmouz and Ter-Maalleh Massacres
May 5, 2012, Ter Malla and Halmouz, near Talbiseh
 * LCC: Syria News - May 5, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
 * Video: "Martyrs of Halmouz and Teir Maalleh Massacres"
 * Homs: The northern countryside; Halmouz town: A mortar hit Halmouz town from the pro-regime town Jaboureen. Three individuals have been martyred immediately and they were displaced people from Karm Al Zaytoun. An injured man is in a critical situation. 

The bodies shown are charred. Ter Malea is just north of Duveir, Jabourin (placed for the bus attack, see below) is near Halmouz: a graphic video says "Syria, Halmouz +18 A mortar hit Halmouz town from the pro-Assad town Jaboureen. 5-5-2012" So it must be further north, closer to Talbiseh. It's all Homs area, close enough Khalidiya residents in numbers fled the violence there, only to have it quickly track them down anyway.--Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Two others from May 5, not part of this massacres list are from "Teir Maalle" - Zakaria Mahdy Al-Rayes and Ahmad Joukhdar, age 29, shelled in al-Ghanto. The latter is sometimes an Alawite name - one "Jpkhdar" was shot at a rebel checkpoint "by accident." Listed as "regime forces." So apparently these are not the same -

Jabourin Bus Attack
September 19, 2013, near Homs and Talbiseh

19 people, most or all civilian and mosr or all Alawite, were killed when terrorists detonated a roadside bomb nest to two buses transporting people to the Alawite village of Jabourin, just north of Homs. Location: Ard al Jabburin on Wikimapia - right by Talbiseh, near the arbitrary cut-off line between Homs and Rastan orbits. Reuters reported "A roadside bomb killed at least 14 members of President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite on Thursday ... The blast targeted two buses near the Alawite village of Jabourin, 13 km (8 miles) north of Homs city, said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ... Citing a source in a local military hospital, Abdelrahman told Reuters that nine of the victims in Thursday's explosion were civilians while the others may have belonged to the National Defence Forces, a loyalist paramilitary group. He said that clashes broke out between rebel fighters and members of the NDF after the explosion.'' An AP report said "A Syrian official says a roadside bomb has targeted a bus in the country's central province, killing 19 people. The official at the governor's office in Homs province says Thursday's explosion in the village of Jbourin also wounded four people on the bus. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The village is predominantly Alawite, a minority sect to which President Bashar Assad belongs, but it also has Christians and Sunnis. It was not immediately clear why the bus was targeted.''

Army Presence in Homs
One of my goals here is to lay this timeline of atrocities out side-by-side with the timeline of military presence vs. pull-back in Homs. I've been vague on that. The Wikipedia page plus what I'm reading elsewhere help little. Altogether, so far, there's disagreement in the record as to when the army pulled out, how fully, and for how long. Locals in al-Bayada in late November at the time of the The Killing of Sari Saoud claim there was no army there, then, but that may have been a local pull-back of a case of posts chased away - there was a serious rebel offensive in the preceding days. It seems in early December Syria agreed to pull back from Homs, did so soon after, and by year's end activists and Arab League observers alike agreed there was at least no visual military presence there. Allegations of army this and army that, snipers, incursions, and of course distance shelling, continued all throughout.

Wikipedia's page does note: "On 23 January, a military officer at the main city hospital claimed to foreign journalists that rebels have taken control over two-thirds of the city with army casualties being at 4 to 5 dead and 10 to 50 wounded soldiers and security officials per day." When the army allegedly unleashed artillery on Khalidiya on the night of February 3, citizens reported the dead shown on rebel video as relatives taken hostage. SANA reported:
 * “Had the army been here, our houses wouldn’t have been shelled and those innocent people wouldn’t have been killed,” said Da’d Darwish from Ikremah neighborhood, sobbing with fear and anger.
 * The citizens called on the Syrian army to enter the city of Homs to protect them from the crimes of the armed terrorist groups that have been killing and abducting citizens and shelling the houses and neighborhoods.

It's not clear just when they came back in on this popular request, but it was by the 28th of February they announced the full re-conquest of Baba Amr, well on the path to re-securing all of Homs. I don't believe they ever did agree to a pull-out of that type, ever again. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:57, 4 December 2013 (UTC)