Queiq River Massacre

On the morning of January 29, 2013, another massacre was revealed in Syria's largest city of Aleppo (Halab). Opposition reports, photos, and videos came in of a minimum of 65-80 dead men and boys, with a later accepted death toll of 110, bound with plastic ties, executed by gunshots to the head, and dumped in Queiq river, now called Martyr's River. A very few victims were as young as (a reported) 11 and 14/15 years old, and a few were middle-aged or older men, but most were men of working and/or fighting/resisting age (14 and up, by Islamist reckoning anyway). They appear, by clothing, almost exclusively civilian.

Self-described relatives, speaking to the media, said their executed kin (mostly cousins) had been residents of rebel-held areas who still had to cross over to government-held areas, mostly for work. Arrested as suspected FSA (Free Syrian Army) fighters, they were all, or virtually all, completely innocent of any fighting. It's said they were killed, by the paranoid regime, and dumped from a government-held area, presumably, "the park." The remains of those who were not rebel fighters were dredged by rebel fighters out of a short section of the river 3-4 km south of there, next to the rebel-held district of Bustan Al-Qasr, and photographed for propaganda purposes. It was a powerful scene, aptly described by the Guardian's Martin Chulov, in a March 10 report following an investigation, as "one of the defining images of the Syrian civil war."

The government, in contrast. claims the dead were loyalists or non-rebels taken captive and executed by rebel forces right there in Bustan Al-Qasr, and presumably just dumped right there. It was allegedly Jabhat Al-Nusra that killed the victims, based on an alleged confession of a Nusra Front member and identifications by the real family members (achieved in unknown ways, since rebels controlled the bodies).

Until this front page is better filled in, please see the start of an investigation on the discussion page, notably on the second mass killing discovery on March 10. Since Jan. 29, bodies had turned up in the river on a near-daily basis, in ones and twos. But the very day Mr. Chulov's impressive article full of activist testimony appeared, at least 34, maybe 50 more bodies surfaced, this time some of them with what sounds like sliced throats. Surely this is the regime's revenge against those who spoke up so truthfully?

The following is a partial skeleton outline for the content, and will be filled in as possible.

Clues For Government Guilt
This comes down to the relatives and witnesses, self-described, who provide the back-stories by which the victims were prisoners of government forces. What they say is quite clear; the government is responsible, and people should join the Free Syrian Army. Details of what they said forthcoming.

Body Bouyancy
They would not float, and they had not been dead, or drifting, more than 2-3 days. (see talk page)

Water Level
The other main factor in body mobility is the power of the current pushing the sunken corpses along the bottom. In general, high level means high pressure and greater speed, and as seen mid-day on January 29, the Quieq river was not that. Looking at the images, the water level in that stretch at that time was quite low, not even filling the small central channel and leaving the broader concrete basin exposed. The water seems to be moving, but slowly and with little energy, not enough to drag those 110 bodies more than, say, 5-10 meters an hour. It's really hard to put a speed to it, but it can hardly be fast.

Water level and power can change, clearly, with rainfall, and also seems to be adjusted by barriers along the river, which are “controlled from a government held area,” according to activist Louay al-Halabi. This both seems reasonable and is supported by satellite imagery of water spilling over barriers, further north. Therefore, a change of water level within a matter of minutes is possible, and the collected rebel explanations require such rapid shifts. Al-Halabi said “that bodies have been turning up in Quieq when the water level … is on the high side. This is when they would move the most along that 3-4 km crawl, but it’s low waters that make them more visible and easier to recover. As Chulov noted for the Guardian, the bodies drifted while waters were flowing strongly in the last week of January … waters which, on 29 January, had receded leaving the sodden remains exposed … Corpses were still arriving 10 days after … washed downstream by currents flushed by winter rains."

With the help of government controlled gates, levels were raised and lowered repeatedly, to let bodies flush to, and then settle out by, Bustan Al-Qasr. This is the only logical implication of the opposition’s claims, and it makes sense from the point of intending to terrorize the opposition neighborhood. Some of those invovled speak of messages being sent; "Abu Lufti" told Martin Chulov "This is a message from the army; every time the FSA will step forward, we will kill more civilians." It’s a rather bold and self-demonizing thing to do, and then flatly deny to the appalled outside world. But it is possible, if there were was enough water pressure, and no barriers to the bodies flowing from outside the rebel stretch of river.

Barriers?
forthcoming

Family IDs of Terrorist Victims
Syrian state TV, SANA, reported on Jan. 29, citing a "media source": "The families have identified a number of the killed, stressing that Jabhat al-Nusra abducted them because of their rejection to cooperate with this terrorist group ... the competent authorities along with the families are following evidence on this new massacre..." Details are still lacking, but the allegation is on record. SANA then cited a Tunisian newspaper Al-Tunisiya, in turn citing unspecified sources, whose "information confirmed that the bodies belonged to citizens from Bustan al-Qasr who had been kidnapped by terrorist groups on charge of supporting the regime." Some sources are "inhabitants" who "identified a number of the dead people and stressed that they were executed because they had rejected [sic] to cooperate with Jabhat al-Nusra and demanded the departure of its members from their neighborhoods."

Al-Nusra Confession
Martin Chulov mentioned how "State television broadcast a ‘confession’ from an alleged member of Jabhat al-Nusra." His interviewees in rebel territory unanimously laughed it off, and argued that by character and by definition, Jabhat Al-Nusra could not have killed civilians. We still need to track down this broadcast or details on it (see talk page, Al Nusra Blame for more details.

Abu Hafs Al-Islam Connection
SANA's confirming Tunisian paper Al-Tunisiya claimed, with sources not explained, that charismatic Tunisian Jihadist and preacher and Jabhat Al-Nusra member was involved in the mass-killings. Abu Hafs al-Islam, aka Hafs Abu Islam, aka Abu Hafs al-Libi, tends to be a speaker and front man, a maniacally zealous one, urging Jihad, head-cutting, etc. Some details and a few videos of are gathered on the discussion page section. As SANA reported: "information confirmed that the bodies belonged to citizens from Bustan al-Qasr who had been kidnapped by terrorist groups on charge of supporting the regime. ... The inhabitants identified a number of the dead people and stressed that they were executed because they had rejected to cooperate with Jabhat al-Nusra and demanded the departure of its members from their neighborhoods."

Rebel Access
Less specific but more undeniably true than the above: The victims lived, mostly if not totally, in rebel-held Bustan Al-Qasr, and wound up dead in the rebel-controlled stretch or river there. These facts alone would look bad for the FSA and allies, if not for the other common feature of crossing government lines into "un-liberated areas," and perhaps through checkpoints where they could be arrested. Allegedly, they in fact were. But really, all we know is when not at work/passing through checkpoints, the victims lived and slept under rebel authority, accessible at fighters' leisure all night. There are religious decrees on record, perhaps followed, that any Syrians who "are working with the authority," civilian or not, must be fought (killed). If this is taken as crossing lines to work in a government area, we have a possible motive, as well as means and opportunity, to suspect mass murder by the district's "liberators." And along with them, the FSA occupation gives a reason the victim's families would not speak up to rebel authorities, or to Western journalists working with them.

Early Knowledge of Death Toll
Rebel fighters were suspiciously knowledgeable about the number of bodies that drifted their way January 29. The eventual tally the opposition settled on, as passed to Chulov in February, was 110 for that particular batch (however the cut-off line was decided on - bodies continued to trickle in indefinitely). But at the end of the first day, only around 80 had been recovered. It seems fair to suppose there might be more, and the evidence suggests, would remain hidden under the surface of the murky water. But Capt. Abu Sada, FSA on the 29th was quoted by Al Jazeera “saying that there could be more than 100 bodies, with many still submerged in the murky river.” That could be just speculation, but more sure was fighter Mamnoud Hassoun. After hearing 79 bodies had been pulled out of the river, the Telegraph heard from Hassoun, as a fact, that “there were still at least 30 bodies floating in the stagnant water.” 79 + “at least 30” = 110 pretty exactly. Snipers prevented recovery, Hassoun said, but they knew they were in there somehow.

One explanation for how the rebels knew just about how many bodies would be recovered is, simply put, because they put them there.

Mass Burials and Lack of Identification
forthcoming

Clues From the Rebel Witnesses
forthcoming

others maybe forthcoming.

FSA Recruitment Drives?
forthcoming