Talk:Early December, 2011 Sectarian Killings in Homs

Page start notes
Overview: Early sectarian tensions emerged no later than November, 2011, with kidnappings and killings and such going at least one way between the Sunni and Alawi communities. In the first week of December, people start getting massacred in their homes and dying in the dozens per day. All the the friggin' details are murky. "Shabiha" have already emerged as the boogeyman the "African mercenaries" were in Libya's conflict. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, I know I start too many pages all over and only get a lot of them in good shape. But this intrigued me and I'm too far along to stop now. Lots of details I'll add in parcels over the next few days as I follow a few further leads. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:48, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Surface Level Reports, December 5
I start with a report from al-Jazeera's Rula Amin in Beirut, hearing from Homs on the phone. Note time, 19:27 it says, last modified 16:27, so apparently GMT vs. Syria time (GMT+3).
 * 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.

(other details in other reports below) It's not clear over what span this happened, but the 5th was a Monday. Her mention of a sectarian breakdown is something few other sources mention, so I emphasize it here - roughly half-Sunni, half-Alawi, suggesting perhaps a proportionate tit-for-tat. She cited partly the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), with quotes I cannot find on their site, apparently given directly to AFP for a report.

A French search might help, but I found an English version of the AFP report here at Google News and almost nowhere else Google showed me. In part, it said:
 * The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one activist reported seeing "the bodies of 34 civilians, in a square in the pro-regime neighbourhood of Al-Zahra, who had been abducted by the shabiha on Monday."
 * The civilians, it said, had been seized from several "anti-regime neighbourhoods" in Homs, which has been targeted by a brutal crackdown on almost nine months of anti-regime dissent.

Anti-regime, seized by Shabiha, dumped in a pro-government, Alawite, area. It's quite clear these are the 34 Sunnis. In reality though, seized from rebel areas is the same as kidnapped in rebel-held areas. Homs and at one point most of its neighborhoods were at least somewhat mixed. Gulf News specifies this all the same Monday: "34 bodies were dumped in the streets of Homs on Monday night. Homs-based activist Mohammad Saleh said there was a spate of kidnappings and killings in the city earlier Monday."

Enduring America was already on the scene as well in late 2011, assessing the first reports:
 * ''2029 GMT: The latest report from the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights:

The death toll on Sunday 4 December 2011 was 40 martyrs including 5 defected soldiers and 35 civilians, killed by ‘Shabeeha’ and military and security forces.''
 * This report is slightly different from a claim made only 45 minutes ago by the Observatory that 29 died in Homs. Both are alongside an AFP article, again citing the Observatory, claiming that 34 people who had been kidnapped earlier in the day had been found dead in a central square in the city.
 * At this moment, we do not know the reason for the varying figures.
 * At this moment, we do not know the reason for the varying figures.

I'm not sure I or we can fully sort it out either with the kind of information available, but I bet we could shed some light on it.--Caustic Logic (talk) 10:48, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

SOHR
The earlier SOHR report Enduring America cited = the Dec. 5 posting of the grand tally of 29 dead in Homs on Dec. 4. 29 is similar to 27 - is this mainly the Alawites? The report doesn't make it seem so.
 * The death toll was 29 martyrs in the city of Homs on Sunday, 4 December 2011. Homs, the besieged city for over two months, was subject to a brutal fierce attack by Syrian security and military forces and hundreds of ‘Shabeeha’.

Broken down, 13 killed in shelling of Al-Nazeehen and Al-Zeyton, "heavy gunfire in the neighbourhood of Al-Bayaada at security barricades surrounding the neighbourhood" (suggesting an attack from without) killing 3, including a woman - one shot in Juret Al-Shayyah - one tortured body handed over by security forces, from Baba Amr, in Deir Baalba two tortured bodies found. Further:
 * ''‘Shabeeha’ have stormed into the neighbourhoods of Al-Sebaa and Al-Duraib," looted shops, and committed "one of the cruellest crimes as a father and his three children, including a daughter, were killed by gangs of ‘Shabeeha’ after midnight on Saturday in the neighbourhood of Al-Wa’er, Homs." That's early on the 4th, the worst, most criminal thing mentioned here yet. It gets scrutiny below (see . "3 more people were killed in the village of Izz Ad-Din in the city of Al-Rastan, Homs, in gunfire by security forces." Did I count 27 to the cited 29, with at least one death apparently predating Decmber 4? That's still very like the reported 27 Alawites. Is is it possible all of these are Alawites and/or other folks that extremists might target, especially in revenge for a perceived crime against their own kind?

LCC
The events of November and December were clearly alarming to people who opposed the government, supported an armed uprising, and appealed to liberal foreign-powers who would frown on opposition crimes against Alawite civilians. One of those, the Local Coordinating Committees (LCC) acted with a lengthy and fascinating analysis posted on their site (in Arabic) on December 9: '''[http://www.lccsyria.org/3650 تقرير عن الأحداث في حمص. نقطة نظام!] (A report on the events in Homs. A point of order!).''' I note that less than nine months after protests and fighting began, the situation there had already strained past blaming everything on the regime, as the LCC always tries to do. Local hot heads were raiding Alawite neighborhoods, shooting at random, abducting and killing in revenge, acting like "Shabiha," for the same done to them. There was apparently an information counter-offensive to previous attempts to blame the regime alone - largely just rumors, they assure us - but it was apparently effective. The situation was, and had to be addressed as, a "both sides" problem.

The FSA was already on the scene and a good force overall to be sure, "protecting the peaceful protesters," and even going after their tormentors on occasion. The LCC wished for "the officers and soldiers of the free army to continue their role and not to conduct actions that damage to the line of peaceful revolution of rising or damage to the Syrian national fabric." A few already had, but the overall blame was clearly on "the regime's desperate attempts through all this to provoke sectarian conflicts between the city's neighborhoods inhabited by Syrians of various denominations" In this and other ways, they pointed out, "Homs, is a mini Syria," full of all sects who got along fine until the regime and the "Shabiha" entered the picture. Anyway, their relation of recent events is what matters. I'll provide long excerpts - Google translated with sporadic repairs, and minimal notes here:


 * ...last month began to witness a remarkable increase in the number of incidents that consist principally of retaliatory kidnappings and abductions, and are mainly through taxi drivers of the security forces and the Shabiha, or through security patrols and barriers that are handed over to the Shabiha, and aims to swap abducted from both sides , or ransom demand.


 * There are no precise numbers or even approximate abductees from both sides, but that most of them are not advertised, but are dealing with the incident negotiate through intermediaries ... But things began to take a more serious turn over the past few days


 * The day Monday and until the late hours of the night, escalated things to the extent the spread of news horrendous incidents of sectarian killings claimed the lives of "dozens" of victims mobilization sectarian who bears the system alone is responsible, under the conflict and confusion in the information and a flood of rumors spread across Facebook pages and across sites electronic.


 * Information Office of the Local Coordination Committees tried to stand on the truth of what happened on this day, though, he could Activists committees field collected information through hearing the testimonies of various parties (certificates obtained from the district Zahra inspired Nozha are activists in those areas).


 * Striking that contradictory stories not only on the day of the incident, but until the moment of preparing this report , we could not reconcile all the stories together, both in the neighborhood one or between different neighborhoods , which confirms that the war rumors and attempts mobilization sectarian was the main objective of what happened.
 * Agreed, plus probably actual intimidation. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 2 November 2013 (UTC)


 * The points that we boycott ( مقاطعتها ) among different accounts are Next:
 * Some of the events recounted as occurred in neighborhoods loyal and rebel alike, and that such killing 34 people, and to detail the same in each of the neighborhoods loyal and rebellious, which demonstrates that much of what is traded on that day was to provoke panic and pitting neighborhoods against each other.
 * A lot of details that have been passed down dramatically on that day via Facebook pages and websites and others, turned out to be unfounded, and aims mainly to the mobilization of sectarian and exciting neighborhoods against each other (such as solid loyal to one of the mosques ! Or dance on the bodies of the rebels )
 * Until the moment there are no precise numbers of dead from the parties nor an agreement between the novels about the kidnapping dates of exposure to kill and murder places
 * The significant role played by the bombing of a mosque in the neighborhood of the displaced what caused the burning missile parts of it, and by the armed group belonging to a member of Parliament and Wael Al - Melhem , resulting in significant congestion in rebellious neighborhoods . Which led to angry reactions prompted some youths in these neighborhoods to attacking pro neighborhoods , what resulted in the shooting of a mutual dense , random and extended to include most of the city's neighborhoods .
 * it goes on and on putting things further yet into their desired anti-regime context. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 2 November 2013 (UTC)


 * On the same day was breaking into a number of rebellious neighborhoods, including Khalidiya Jouret Shiah and destroy the door (a district something Bab), and the arrest of many of the demonstrations, activists and others killed. Some young men these neighborhoods in return abducted one shabeeh named Samer Al-Ahmad, and when I learned the pro neighborhoods attack on public transport and the kidnapping of six women of rebellious neighborhoods , then negotiations took place and was released for "Shabih" for the release of women
 * The army on the same day, and the reaction retaliation to the kidnapping of "Shabih" Samer al-Ahmed, burned eight shops on the one hand the grove , was also to bring an abducted from one of the neighborhoods rebellious put in the trunk of the car until the arrival Az-Zahraa and then take it out and assault him with beatings and abuse in front of the people neighborhood, and then they brought seven other nomads and they took off their clothes and strongly Dharoppem with humiliation and abuse before being released .
 * We're past the rumors and into facts now, right? --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 2 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Followed by all those provocative actions and criminal, which met on the same day , while it is clear that he planned to aim and clear, heavy gunfire and random in all districts of the city , knowing that Az-Zahraa armed entirely by the system since the beginning of the revolution , " so that the water tanks in sometimes exploded mostly because of the young men in the neighborhood opened fire on the roofs of buildings , "according to the neighborhood activist .


 * Likely many activists and eyewitnesses that many of the corpses were thrown to the detainees and kidnapped was killed and then throw their bodies in that day to inflame the conflict between neighborhoods


 * What could be documented until the moment of the names of the martyrs in that day because of sectarian incidents:

(victims specifics to be worked in below)

CDV
Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria]] (CDV), is connected to/primarily informed by the Local Coordination Committees, but has a cool database.

Daily total of "martyrs" in Homs province, Dec. 2 - 6
 * Dec. 2: 2
 * Dec. 3: 8
 * Dec. 4: 25
 * Dec. 5: 16
 * Dec. 6: 23

While the other sources suggest 34 Sunnis abducted, killed, dumped, found, and reported on the 5th, plus whoever else died that day, the CDV records have only 16 listed. Perhaps the daily tallies are from different times and overlap, in addition to missing reports or perhaps exaggerated ones, or delayed reports coming up on the 6th, a deadly day by their records - more field execution and detention-torture than usual. Nasty stuff. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:42, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Victim specifics should go in relevant sections below. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:42, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Al Wa'er Massacre
SOHR reported for (Sunday) December 4 "the city has witnessed one of the cruellest crimes as a father and his three children, including a daughter, were killed by gangs of ‘Shabeeha’ after midnight on Saturday in the neighbourhood of Al-Wa’er, Homs." This is the Tiba/Teeba family (Arabic: طيبة), as CDV reported it, in the order catalogued (not continuous).

Notes, combined as if fragments of a sentence: "Shabbeeheh came" ... "a Shabbeeheh group opens fire on a whole family killing it" ... "In shooting by Shabiha which lead to kill the whole family." A single video accompanies these entries, dated December 3 whoever's time but posted on the 4th by Youtube's "usually yesterday" California time. It shows at three of them in a rebel field clinic. A bald-headed man (Mohammed) with puncture wounds all over his head, face-down and all else covered, and a boy (Morhaf it seems) with bloodied face, beaten, have blood from ears or temples. The girl, Hind, has this rebel doctor trying hard to show us a gaping wound in the back of her neack and/or head that has left her head a bit loose. It's too dark to really see it. At the end, a living boy with head bandages being treated (unrelated? or Molhem just before he passed away?) --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:14, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Mohammad Teeba, 45 (martyr #4890)
 * Morhaf Teeba 16 (4893)
 * Molhem Teeba 11 (4895)
 * Hind Tiba 14 (14689 - reported 10,000 people later?)
 * Wife/mother ever reported?

Rastan Killings
SOHR reported for December 4 fatalities "3 more people were killed in the village of Izz Ad-Din in the city of Al-Rastan, Homs, in gunfire by security forces." VDC listings: Two from Rastan Safer Al Ali and Qasem Samer Ayoub, one from Iz Eddin specifically: Mukhles Mohammad al-Ammori --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:48, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Chuirtani Massacre
LCC's report mentioned the December 5 killings, or perhaps reprisals, continued into the night: "The day Monday and until the late hours of the night, things escalated to the extent of horrendous incidents of sectarian killings that claimed the lives of "dozens" of victims." Sometime December 6, one family loses seven men. Chuirtani/Alchuirtani (per LCC) or Showertani (per CDV) (Arabic: شويرتاني) CDV entries: Each entry says they're from Homs:Zaafaraneh, Cause of Death: Field Execution, Martyrdom location: blank, Notes: "gathered". Duh. We wonder where, by whom, etc. Each entry contains the same video of at least some of these men whose bodies at least are gathered under rebel control. One of them at least has a sliced throat.
 * Nasser Hammood Showertani 35, 7 children
 * Qasem Hammood Showertani 27
 * Samer Mohammad Showertani 43, taxi drive, 4 children
 * Hassan Mohammad, 17
 * Tawfeekq Hammood Showertani 27
 * Ahmad Mohammad Showertani 28
 * Ahmad Hammood Showertani 30, 3 children

LCC: "Eight people from one family, live in the area of the Abbasid near Az-Zahraa, who are originally from the nearby village of Zafarana paneling." I will try to find this. "Paneling" usually means Talbiseh, north near Rastan. Likely they were displaced by the chaos already to this place closer to central authority, where someone killed them. Abbasid area seems to be Abbasiya on Wikimapia, indeed right by Zahra. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 2 November 2013 (UTC) and --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:12, 2 November 2013 (UTC)

Other Issues, etc.
Which district had what kinds of mixes of people at the outset seems hard to pin down. I have a few sources that had word hits I intend to check into. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:10, 2 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Reuters, June 19, 2012
 * Alawite Dilemma in Homs (PDF)
 * Syrian Observer
 * http://www.irinnews.org/report/98274/analysis-sectarian-violence-triggers-sunni-alawi-segregation-in-syria
 * http://www.npr.org/2012/02/08/146593302/sectarian-violence-rising-in-syria