Talk:Baniyas massacre

Government Version
SANA give the first deaths caused by security forces earlier than rebels do, on May 2. But it was, in their version, only against armed rebels:
 * A unit of the armed forces seized two weapons' warehouses in a raid against terrorists' dens in al-Bayda village in Banias, Tartous. An official source told SANA that the seized weapons included machineguns, automatic rifles and RPG charges, a pump-action and up-to-date communication devices and ammos. The source added that units of the army killed numbers of terrorists in al-Marqab and al-Bayda villages and Ras El-Nabe' neighborhood in Banias city.

Syrian Perspective blog, drawing on military sources, concurred and reported on the 2nd three fronts of attack: al-Bayda, Al-Marqab, and "In Banyaas itself, at the Al-Nabi' Quarter, we killed 17 rats." Six names are given; "the rest had no papers."

These events seem to be separate from the mass killings of civilians reported only the following day, and first seen widely only on May 4 and after.

Location
The sickening pile of men women and children attributed to this massacre is of special interest to me. This is visibly some excess of 20 people, not the 150 - half men-reported. But it must be the main one among two or more such crime scenes, and has been singled out for the most shocking photos to spur help for the rebels. I intend to start with a scenery panorama from available images, especially the larger batch here (warning! Extremely graphic and horrible!) (thanks, Petri). --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:31, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Sources to Consider

 * An Atrocity in Syria, With No Victim Too Small New York Times, May 14, 2013


 * Thousands flee Syrian city of Banias fearing new 'massacre' Associated Press, 4 May 2013