Talk:Abel massacre

Location
Abel/Abil, on Wikimapia. 7.5 km south of Baba Amr district, Homs, 4.5 km east of Qatina, just west and a number of Army facilities, 10 km NE of Al-Qusayr Military air base, 16 km from Qusayr, near the Lebanese border, 30 km SE of Taldou. Just had a few minutes' fun measuring things. --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC) and --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:39, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Prior Area Massacres
And then, what sounds like the same incident, 17 civilians killed by gunmen, but in two villages near Abel. Then I re-realized that it is, in fact, from September 30, 2012 11:20 AM. But as a past incident, it's worth mentioning. Breaking News.sy: Gunmen massacred 17 in Homs countryside… Syrian Soldiers kill 100 insurgents in Aleppo
 * Gunmen have launched an attack on the two villages of al-Hayedreh and al-Ghasania, situated in Homs Countryside. The militants have committed a horrible massacre against 17 Syrian civilians. An exclusive source told Breaking News Network that the insurgents have raided on the two villages, carried out acts of sabotage and looting. The sources indicated that fierce armed conflicts with the Syrian Arab Army have been occurred in the very villages. Our correspondent to Homs said that armed men have set up an ambush for a car near the area of Abel. The ambush, added the correspondent has resulted in the martyrdom of Lieutenant Hatem Abbas and Colonel Adel Suleiman. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:39, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

There is a video for another prior massacres in this town - of birds. (??) Partly domestic (chickens and ducks), so maybe a livestock massacre (helps people reconcile to moving away, etc.) and also pigeons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Hn5hHYRTo --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC) and --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:39, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Area Military Situation
Baba Amr, the frequent rebel hotbed/stronghold of Homs, has been getting clobbered lately, with reports suggesting the government has once again secured it in the last couple of days. Rebel fighters will have withdrawn. 7 km south seems one reasonable direction and distance. Details coming. --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Syrian Army restores Baba Amro and Free Army militia escapes to Joret al-Arayes March 24, 2013  1:11 PM
 * Syrian Media sources say that “Syrian Arab Army managed to re-establish its full control over Baba Amro neighborhood of Homs”.
 * Syrian Newspaper al-Watan points out that “Syrian Army has taken control over the neighborhood after sieging the armed men in Joret al-Arayes neighborhood and has imposed a security Conrad on their places, where they holed up”. 
 * The newspaper adds that “Some of the members of the militia have escaped to Joret al-Arayes neighborhood, while dozens of them have been killed, including the leader of one of the battalions Abed al-Muneem al-Nahar, the defetcted Khalid Refa’at al-Zubi, Ahmad Qara Dalla, Muhammad Shawish, Jneed al-Ebrahimi, Mahmoud Shtewi, Walid al-Alloush and Talal al-Helal”.  --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)


 * SOHR: March 25:
 * Homs province: Regular forces have taken control over large parts of the Baba Amr neighbourhood after several days of violent clashes, the clashes continue in the orchards of Baba Amr. 1 man from the city of Tadmur was killed after being detained by regime forces. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

SOHR
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) duly reported this opposition-discovered crime on the SOHR Facebook page: Massacre in the village of Abel, Reef Homs
 * Homs province: The bodies of 13 civilians (including 5 women and 4 children) were found on the outskirts of the village of Abel, in Reef Homs. The bodies indicate that the victims were burnt and stabbed stabbed to death. Local activists accuse pro-regime gunmen of committing this massacre.  --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

LCC
Local Coordination Committees: Syria Today 25-3-2013: "27 (martyrs) in Homs, most of them in Abel village … "
 * Homs: Abel: 18 person were martyred, mostly women and children, after being shoot in one of the village farms registering a new massacre with the name of regime’s forces militias

Yalla Souriya
Whatever source this is drawing on, it's the mother lode compared to the above reports. The details start to appear fascinating. Report about the massacre in Abel Homs 25/3/2013 Abel Farms (main text coming up... hitting save)--Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
 * The regime’s shabiha attempted to storm Abel village in the suburbs of Homs, and the Free Syrian Army fought them back. As the shabiha were withdrawing from the area, they arrested two entire families of women, children and elderly men from the al-Ahmed and al-Mahmoud families. This took place at the edges of the villages, on the Damascus-Homs International Roadway next to al-Kounafi checkpoint.


 * The shabiha then filmed the detainees, forcing them to say that it was them who saved the civilians from armed gangs. After they completed filming, the shabiha tortured the civilians in the most brutal of ways. They tied them up and attacked them with knives. Some of them were slaughtered and others were stabbed, and some were beat with a stone on top of their heads. Not a single one survived.


 * After fatally torturing, the shabiha gathered the victims and slaughtered them using daggers and knives, and then burnt them, women and children included, completely.

The names of the victims:


 * 1) Qattash al-Mahmoud, age 70
 * 2) Hawash al-Ahmed, age 65
 * 3) Nusra al-Mahmoud, age 70
 * 4) Mahmoud al-Mahmoud, age 45
 * 5) Khudra al-Ahmed, age 42
 * 6) Huda al-Mahmoud, age 28
 * 7) Fouad al-Mahmoud, age 37
 * 8) Humaida al-Mahmoud, age 36
 * 9) Ghazeya al-Ahmed, age 35

Children:

10. Ahmed al-Ahmed, age 3

11. Haidar al-Ahmed, age 2

12. Sajeda al-Ahmed, age 1

13. Ahmed al-Mahmoud, age 9


 * The guard of al-Bouz farm, known as Abu Saeed, was also killed. He is from Hama, and his family, comprising a mother, father, three children and two young women, are missing until now.
 * Pictures & Videos : (see below, end report) --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:20, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Video/Images
I haven't watched yet, but this might be all the same video. The stills and a photo I saw so far seem to confirm vary bad things happened to whoever these people are. Might be some analysis coming. The videos I can link to ATM:
 * SOHR's posting: "(Warning: Footage of the victims is very graphic and difficult to watch)" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UlAd9ybEkc --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

(Yalla Souriya's posting is the same url) --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:57, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
 * LCC's posting: "A horrific massacre in Abdel, Homs" (typo in original) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx1K3jsOUz8


 * Photos at Facebook linked to by Yalla Souriya: #1 - #2 - #3