Aqrab Massacre

This alleged mass-killing occurred on December 11 at Aqrab, a small Alawite city about two miles north of Al-Houla (in either Homs or Hama province) (here on Google Maps). A reported 125-150 people were killed, primarily civilians, and primarily or totally of the Alawite religious minority shared by President Assad. Explosions were apparently involved, but there are different stories told and not yet told about just what happened.

This is a frantic stub page for the moment. The talk page is waived in lieu of getting information together on the front page. It will be added to and edited in the coming days.

Opposition Reports
The Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committees gave their tally of the dead for December 11, including the following:
 * By the end of Tuesday the LCC managed to document 165 martyrs, among them 3 women and a child: 61 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs “including 31 unidentified bodies in Damascus and Ein Tarma” ; 39 in Aleppo; 22 in Hama ;16 in Idlib 12 in Deir Ezzor; 9 in Homs; 5 in Daraa; and 1 in Lattakia


 * The number of martyrs is able to increase as the number of martyrs in Aqrab Massacre is still unknown yet

This "Aqrab massacre" is not explained. No 125-150 number is included in the list. There is no LCC accounting yet.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, one of them, has better coverage this time:
 * different stories have emerged as to what caused the death and injury of 125-150 civilians, almost all from an Alawite background, in the town of Aqrab as a result of a series of explosions and gunfire. The town is in the southern neighbourhood of Hama and it is near the town of Houla, which witnessed a massacre on the 25th of May


 * The first narrative claims that there were 10 pro-regime gunmen who were barricaded in residential buildings with 150 civilians (Alawites also). A delegation was sent to the buildings, made up of 2 Sheikhs and 1 retired officer from the town, in order to negotiate the moving of Alawite civilians out of the building. the delegation was not allowed to leave. Clashes then took place between the pro-regime gunmen and rebel fighters from the neighbouring Houla town, explosions then took place which led to the civilian casualties. 2 rebels were also reported to have killed, also reports that the 3 person delegation was killed, and the head of the pro-regime militia.


 * The second narrative is that a series of explosions went off by the buildings inhabited by Syrian Alawites civilians in the town.


 * The third narrative is that pro-regime militiamen held Alawite civilians captive in the buildings, and that the rebels attempted to free the civilians, causing several explosions which led to the death of the 125-150 civilians.


 * The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights urges the UN to form an independent investigation committee, which include to examine what occurred in the town of Aqrab in order to bring all those responsible for this crime to justice

Alex Thomson Reports
Channel 4's chielf correspondent Alex Thomson actually went to Aqrab and spoke to locals to get their side of the story. As he reports that the massacre occurred after a sequence of events starting when "rebels reportedly visited from the al-Houla area a few days ago. According to Aqrab villagers they kidnapped the son of the local Alawite religious leader." From there it escalated:
 * The Aqrabi villagers say they mounted a counter-attack to try and free the hostage. There were armed clashes and injuries.


 * The villagers say the rebels then came back from al-Houla and took over the place. Most people fled but around 260 were corralled into one section of the village and it is there that they were hit by missiles fired by rebels.

With what could be a touch of sarcasm (see below reports for comparison), he closed:
 * Precisely how this came to be is as yet unclear and this report is only from people Channel 4 News has spoken to both in and near to Aqrab itself. Until it’s possible to get closer into the area the details of quite what happened and how will remain unclear.

Kudos, Alex. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:55, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Other News Reports
Other journalists of the "we can't report from inside Syria or confirm anything and have to rely on what activists tell us" camp still pass on valuable information, true and otherwise, while leaving things mysterious and unclear.
 * Telegraph: Syria: explosions kill scores in Alawite villages
 * Daily Star (Lebanon): [Up to 200 casualties in Alawite village assault (Reuters) http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Dec-11/198100-bombings-in-syria-alawite-village-leave-125-victims-ngo.ashx]
 * Reuters: [Syrian Alawite village attacked, rebels fight around capital http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/11/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE8AJ1FK20121211]
 * ''There were no reports on Syria's state media....
 * An Alawite resident of a nearby village said the violence began in Aqrab when rebels attacked a checkpoint run by pro-Assad militiamen, known as shabbiha. "We don't believe there was a massacre but we think there are a number of hostages being held. Clashes began when rebels started shelling the shabbiha checkpoint," he said by Skype. "But now the phone lines seem to be down in Aqrab so that's all we know."
 * A rebel who said he fought in Aqrab told Reuters that fighters had surrounded a house with more than 200 people because shabbiha were there. The militiamen had used women and children as human shields and the house had been shelled by Assad's forces, he said, without explaining why they would attack their own side.
 * Wounded children, apparently Alawites from Aqrab, appeared at an opposition field hospital in the nearby town of al-Houla, where they were interviewed by rebels in videos published on YouTube. Three young boys gave a similar account as the rebel, but did not say whether they were hiding in the house fearing government shelling or rebel attack.
 * "We were inside the house with shabbiha, they said they were protecting us from the rebels. The rebels started telling us come out, no one will hurt you. The shabbiha wouldn't let us leave," said Mohamed Judl, a young boy covered in a blanket, shivering as he was interviewed by an activist at the clinic. It was not clear whether the boy was speaking freely.


 * Reuters (variant): Up to 200 hurt in attack on Syrian Alawite village - activists
 * Others in the opposition blamed Assad's forces for the attack, which they said involved the shelling of a house in which at least 200 Alawites were hiding.
 * A rebel who spoke to Reuters by telephone said fighters had clashed for four days with the army in Aqrab, some 30 km (20 miles) north of Syria's third city of Homs. Rebels had surrounded one building and accused pro-Assad militias, known as shabbiha, of using residents hiding there as human shields.
 * "There were 200 people inside and we called on the residents to leave, but the shabbiha held some women and children by gunpoint. Eventually talks fell apart and the government shelled the building," said the rebel, who called himself Maysar.


 * Relief Web (AFP): 125 victims in Syria Alawite district violence: NGO
 * BBC: 'Alawite civilians killed' in Syria village
 * Some opposition activists said as many as 300 people may have died in Aqrab. They said pro-government militiamen besieged by rebels had blown up a building in the village where they had been holding the civilians hostage, and it had then been bombed by warplanes.


 * A video posted online by opposition activists purported to show a young Alawite boy who survived the events in Aqrab, which is about 40km (25 miles) south-west of the city of Hama. Speaking at a makeshift rebel field hospital, he said that 300 Alawite civilians were killed when government forces destroyed a building where pro-government Shabiha militiamen were holding them hostage. "Shabiha came to us, claiming they were going to protect us from the rebels," the boy said. "They stopped us from leaving the house, and killed my father, my mother and my brother."
 * Activists said the militia-controlled building was being besieged by the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). The Shabiha, who are almost entirely Alawite, were using the civilians as human shields, according to the activists. They said village elders were sent to negotiate a release of the hostages and surrender of the militiamen. But the elders were seized and killed, the militia threw grenades at hostages who were trying to run away, and then blew the building up as they themselves escaped, the activists claimed.
 * Activists said the militia-controlled building was being besieged by the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). The Shabiha, who are almost entirely Alawite, were using the civilians as human shields, according to the activists. They said village elders were sent to negotiate a release of the hostages and surrender of the militiamen. But the elders were seized and killed, the militia threw grenades at hostages who were trying to run away, and then blew the building up as they themselves escaped, the activists claimed.

...
 * The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says it is impossible to verify this complex narrative, and there has been no word at all so far from the government, which is accused of killing its own supporters in order to blame the rebels. The activists' account even said that government forces later fired rockets at and bombed the building with aircraft, killing [again?] more than 200 women and children trapped there, our correspondent adds.

An Alawite Awakening?
Free Halab, Dec. 12: Shabbiha Massacre Alawite Women and Children in Aqrab, Hama
 * Some if not many have feared that the revolution would unleash massacres, ethnic cleaning and even genocide upon the Alawite population of Syria. ... This horrific crime, however, was not committed by revolutionaries, extremist or otherwise. This is the story of some of those women and children who survived the massacre perpetrated against hundreds of them by the savage and psychotic Shabbiha of al-Assad, as told by the survivors themselves and by activists documenting their testimonies. All of them are Alawites.

Cited: the same videos mentioned in other reports, and a text account. This page is a good resource - the videos will be listed and studied below in time below. Some further opinion:
 * According to the testimonies, the purpose of this massacre was to frame the FSA. Juan Cole who is in Damascus, however, mentions that he has been going to all the regime’s propaganda channels and found that there was “not a single peep about it.” Perhaps it was only for the Alawites to know about, to fear for their fate if al-Assad falls, whether at the hands of the FSA or the regime. Like these poor people from Aqrab, the Alawite community of Syria has been taken hostage.

There is or will be a prevailing message around that the Alawites of Aqrab had been trying to work hand-in-hand with the FSA to break the government's grip, and that this new massacre has caused more yet to wake up and reject the government and its crimes more fully. A video of December 4 purports to show FSA and the Alawites at Aqrab village. Cluster bombs are shown, as rebel fighters speak of their time in the village. It's all in Arabic, so we can't tell if these are supposed to be Alawite FSA, FSA working with Alawites, FSA threatening to kill Alawites, or what.

Apparently in recent days some of the Alawi community got afraid of something, and hid or were taken hostage in a building with Shabiha, otherwise perhaps known as armed Alawite men. And somehow it went very badly for them despite the hiding.

NM Syria tweet: "The Alawites in Aqrab oppose the regime and its crimes. Regime forces bombed and shelled Aqrab this morning. #Syria" - First posted 2012-12-11 19:21:46 by NMSyria Response: "Today is a clear warning to Alawites, the regime will also hurt them to get what it wants. Awful things happening in Aqrab #Syria" - First posted 2012-12-11 19:31:36 by Rose Alhoms

More is expected to emerge along these lines in coming days.

Videos
Video proof of the events is apparently not the strong point of the rebel argument here. Rather, as with the nearby Houla Massacre, it comes from videos of people who claim to have survived, talking with words that are filmed by the Sunni rebels, who have them in a clinic in Houla after another government massacre again left all the victims and evidence in armed opposition hands.

That said, they do give testimonies, and even when we can't be sure what they're saying, there are always clues worth identifying as to the alleged witness' credibility. (listing and analysis forthcoming... inviting contributions here or on the talk page)