Talk:Shumariyeh Massacre

Syrians on Towns and Villages

 * ''Moved from Houla Victims: Shumariyeh/Shomaliya

The town was, as noted, widely mentioned at first by Syrian state sources. CNN noted on May 27 "In state-run media, the Syrian regime said "al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups committed two horrible massacres against a number of families in the towns of al-Shumariyeh and Taldo in the countryside of Homs province."" A cached version of SANA's May 26 report adds that the attack was "an escalation of their crimes that comes usually before Security Council sessions on Syria and this time in coincidence with the announced visit of the UN envoy to Syria Kofi Annan.

On May 29: "Syria`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned in the strongest terms the crimes committed by foreign-funded armed terrorist groups in Taldao and al-Shoumarieh a couple of days ago." On May 30: "The massacre in Houla late last week was committed by armed terrorist groups, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad has said. [...] According to the diplomat, the armed men first opened fire on combat infantry vehicles, killing 31 servicemen, and then went into the villages of Shumaria and Houla. None of these mention anything about Alawites killed, but the government in generally, at first, said nothing sectarian - only that armed opposition killed law enforcement and civilians.

Syria's ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar Al-Jafa'ari, spoke at the UN following the Security Council vote to blame his government for the massacre, on May 27. What he described was a battle on May 25, "a theater of opertion that engulfed many small villages in the area." He seems to have a different ideas than used here what constitutes a "village." After attacking law enforcement positions in Al-Houla, he said:


 * And then they moved to another village, which is very next to Al-Houla, one kilometer away, where they burned the national hospital, they burned the crops of the farmers, and they burned houses. And they killed also dozens of innocent civilians in another village also next to Houla called Shumariya.

The hospital, already known as allegedly attacked and torched, is in the area generally called the city of Taldou, if on its southern edge. It's right across the street from one of the Al-Sayed massacre sites (the southern one) on Main Street (see graphic below). If this is seen by some as a separate village, it could mean each of the southern "fingers" is its own place. Or maybe Main street south of the arches, outside the old city gate, is arguably its own village.