Talk:Major Jihad Raslan

Southwest/northeast and Muassasat al-Miyah
There was this issue with how the Shabiha would have accessed Saad road, considering some canal. From Foulah direct, or up from the south around the dam, where they were said to be gathering?Or from the north, to help explain anyone who saw about 30-40 insurgents cruising south in a few trucks? There's an army checkpoint involved, apparently at the "Mussasat Al-Miyah district." If the killers came south from there, it implicates the army for letting them in, so surely that's what happened. I actually don't know where that is. Is this another checkpoint north-ish we haven't considered?Or is it maybe the roundabout? Raslan says: "At 5:30 am [sic] I saw the security and military forces. They were accompanied by a group of civilians and members of the Shabiha militia. They came from the city’s Mussasat Al-Miyah district and headed towards Sadd [sic] street." Mohammed Faur Abdul Rassak, account just added, said:
 * I was located on high ground and could see what was happening in the village of Fullah [sic?]. There were many men there, more than 400. I also saw more than 10 vehicles. Then four or five more vehicles came. The passengers had machine guns and they were dressed in both military and civilian clothing. They were at the site where the massacre would be carried out.
 * At the same time, another group came from the army checkpoint at Muassasat al-Miyah. The group comprised around 30 people. They entered into the street where the massacre took place. I could see them through the trees, but not very clearly. They met up where the street begins. The vehicles also gathered there. The army came to the site and kept the street entrance under surveillance. I tried to get closer to observe the events more closely. But a man in a military uniform caught me as I was doing so. He ran towards me, but I was able to flee and return to the village.

Thoughts? --Caustic Logic 21:20, 3 October 2012 (EST)

Full Reuter Interview
The following is the transcribed subtitles of the video interview, for Christoph Reuter/Der Spiegel: "Jihad Raslan, officer on home leave" (Note : Previous discussions are evident in spots)

''I am major Jihad Raslan, leader of the Bouqu Brigade 72 company. I was on the street where the massacre took place. I had the day off. I was just 150-200 meters from this street. At 5:30 am [sic] I saw the security and military forces. They were accompanied by a group of civilians and members of the Shabiha militia. They came from the city’s Mussasat Al-Miyah district and headed towards Sadd [sic] street. The street is considered to be a safe place because you have to pass through numerous checkpoints in order to reach it. ''

''I then went up in the attic of the house in order to observe the army’s movement. At first we thought that a routine search operation going on because there had been a raid earlier. There was then intense gunfire. Rockets were also fired at protesters. After 5:30 pm families headed west of my house. They wanted to flee into the village. We asked them what was wrong. Were searches being conducted or something? They said they were in the process of massacring people. ''

Interviewer: You were standing at your front door at this point, weren’t you?

''I was at the northwest side of my house. I could see how they were approaching the houses. I asked if they were conducting searches. I was told they were massacring the people.''

Interviewer: From whom did you hear these words?

"Those words came from women and children who were trying to get to the village, meaning the center or [of] Taldou.  After the Al-Maghrib prayer, at around 7 or 7 :5 pm, the site was clear again and we went in to assess the situation. We went out into the street to see if our neighbors were okay.''

''We saw the wife of the shepherd laying on the street. She was alone there. She had been injured by a shot to her leg. She could speak and she told us how the people there had been massacred. We helped her. I grabbed a curtain from a house door and made a tourniquet for her leg to stop the bleeding. Her husband came to us and we asked him to take care of his wife so that we could inspect other homes.''

''We then entered Samir’s house. He was lying in the first room to the left and it smelled of corpses and blood.''

Interviewer : Was he alone?

''I fisrt saw Samir and then I saw his family and children. They were inside and lay on top of each other. There was a lot of blood.''

Interviewer : where did you go after that ?

''We then left Samir’shouse and entered the home of Mustafa Abdul Rassak.I was the only person who had a flashlight. We then went to Abdul Rassak’s house. It had a veranda on the east side. He waslying on the floor and partof his head was also on the ground. There was a huge pool ofblood around him, but he was still breathing. He could breathe and see, but there was no way to help him. I told him he shouldrecite the declaration of belief. We entered the house to see his family members. The first room on the right was empty. We found the bodies of his family, wives [sic ?] and children in the guestroom. They were stacked on top of each other.''

Interviewer : Was that in the guest room ?

''Yes, they were murdered. The guest room stank of blood. The scene was chaotic. It looked as though they had broken somet hings during their attempt to escape. The TV, table, and other things had been knocked over. Abdul Rassak had not been killed by a gunshot. He had been beaten at close range with a sharp object. His head had been partly fragmented.''

''We then went to Abu Firas’ Home. He was the only man in the house. He was literally sl aughtered. His family and the family of his brother had been murdered and their bodies had been stacked on top of each other in the guest room. They gatheredthepeople in a room and killed them.''