Maan Massacre

On December 24, 2012, it was reported, anti-government Jihadists conquered "large parts" of the tiny Alawi (Alawite-dominated) town of Maan. What happened over the following week is not certain, but by January 1, 2013 anti-Alawite activists were trying to explain 23 massacred civilians, including seven children. Reportedly, the victims were beheaded and their bodies were burned.

The opposition says Alawite Shabiha militias did the dirty work, and the victims were from the Sunni minority in the town. This allows them to avoid the bad impression created after the last alleged Shabiha massacre following a rebel conquest of an Alawite town, at Aqrab 2-3 weeks earlier. There, the 150 or so alleged victims were acknowledged as Alawites, and the rebel cover story quickly fell apart.

Location, Context, Conquest
Maan (Arabic: معان) is located here on Google maps. It seems to be a very small town of only a few thousand people, set amid expansive fields. It's about three miles east of Morek (which straddles the main north-south highway connecting Damascus and Aleppo). Maan is also about 12 miles northeast of Halfaya, conquered by rebels around Dec. 20th, and the reginal power station there knocked out of commission on the 26th.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on the 21st: "Opposition sources said rebels had won some territory in the strategic southern town of Morek and were surrounding the Alawite town of al-Tleisia. They were also planning to take the town of Maan, arguing that the army was present there and in al-Tleisia and was hindering their advance on nearby Morek

Three days later, it seems, they moved; the SOHR would report that "Jihadists" took "large parts" of the small town in fighting that killed 20 soldiers (or "Shabiha") and 11 rebel fighters. They apparently held the town for two days; Maan was reportedly re-taken by government forces on the 26th, as part of their announced and successful offensive in the region. ABC, Australia, Dec. 27: Elsewhere, the army took control of three Alawite villages in the central province of Hama, among them Maan, large swathes of which were overrun by jihadists two days earlier, the watchdog said.

It was six days later the massacre was reported. It's not certain at the moment whether there was or was not a second rebel assault in those days.

The Jihadists
As Naharnet Newsdesk passed on:
 * Alongside other radical Islamist groups, al-Nusra Front seized parts of the village of Maan, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding at least 11 rebel fighters and 20 regime troops were killed.

Al-Nusrah front, aka Jabhat Al-Nusra, active in Syria for over a year, had just been listed by the United States as a terrorist group, a direct offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Their black flag was seen over the alleged bakery in nearby Halfaya that was shelled in the alleged Halfaya Bakery Bombing on Dec. 23. That they would also be operating around Maan in those days is not surprising.

Another among the "other radical Islamist groups" involved is suggested by a Youtube video posted December 25 that might be from the fight for Maan. It shows shooting across a field from behind stone walls, and many, many cries of Allahu Akbar. Title/description Google-trans: "Free Sham address Hbihh (Shabiha) village gloss upper Hama, Part of a battle Ahrar Brigades Sham and Martyrs Brigades and the Al-Hamza against Hbihh (Shabiha) village upper meanings in the northern Hama 24 \ 12 \ 2012 have been killed some Shabiha led to Ostchhad some Mujahideen may God have mercy on them." The town isn't specified.

This might refer to Ahrar Al-Sham, the "Free Men of Greater Syria." According to the Wikipedia page, they are a network of Salafist fighters centered mostly in Idilb, but also Aleppo and Hama provinces. Interestingly, just two days before the Maan attack, on December 22, Ahrar joined with 11 other groups (but not apparently Al-Nusrah, officially) in the new "Syrian Islamic Front," with Ahrar Al-Sham member Abu 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Suri appointed spokesman.

Reports on the Massacre
There seem to be some reports on this incident in Arabic language media that are relatively opaque to us, but will be partly addressed below. Reports from Western sources are not immediately plentiful. We look at these first.

Spiegel
German language Der Spiegel had the first prominent report: (Google translated from German with attempted grammar fixes) on January 1, 2013:
 * Opponents of the regime reported on Tuesday that members of the Shabiha militia in the village of Maan, in Hama province, have beheaded 23 people. The fighters are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad.
 * According to the reports, those killed included the few Sunni families who lived in the village. Also seven children were reportedly killed. The corpses were set on fire, so that some of them could not be identified. It's difficult to independently verify opposition reports, because the Syrian government has imposed a media blockade.
 * The massacre is said to have begun after rebels attacked on Monday government roadblocks and troops in the region. These then called the militia fighters.

So the alleged massacre came after rebel attacks on checkpoints, which could explain why the Shabiha would be called in to massacre Sunni families in retaliation. But it must be noted that this only happened once armed fighters had also, as not mentioned here, reportedly taken physical control of the town after announcing plans to do so.

LCC and SOHR
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) says nothing about معان (Maan) on its Facebook page running back to Dec. 29. The main site says nothing as of Jan. 2, only carrying so many reports.

The Local Coordination Committees, however, mention the event. Syria Today 1-1-2013 (Jan. 2)
 * By the end of Tuesday, the LCC was able to document 136 martyrs, including 6 women and 16 children. 42 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 44 in Hama, including 23 martyrs from the village of Maan and 16 from Hasraya; 15 martyrs were reported in Deir Ezzor, including 9 unidentified martyrs in the village of Hatla; 12 martyrs in Homs, including an entire family from Deir Baalba; 8 in Daraa; 9 in Aleppo; 4 in Idlib; 1 in Lattakia; and 1 in Raqqa.

No details on that follow.

Arabic Sources
There don't seem to be any clearly-labeled Arabic-language videos of the actual events in Maan (a disturbing parallel with Aqrab). There are however a fewArabic news reports where activists explain the story to talking heads. We can't get much use from these, but for those who can and for general reference:
 * Al Jazeera Arabic: Execution of 23 civilians slaughtered with knives and burned to death at the hands of Assad forces
 * Al Haffa News: Arabic: Musab al-Hammadi talking about meanings in Hama massacre 01/01/2013
 * Al Arabiya
 * Al Arabiya
 * Al Arabiya

The opposition Shaam News Network issued a report with some details and many namesof those "slaughtered and then spent burning at the hands of forces loyal to the regime in the village" (a valuable source - will be worked in above). A Google translated edit of their massacre explanation:
 * The village of Ma'an ... After the battles fought by the Free Army ... Provided buses Shabiha from everywhere ... entered the village of Ma'an and committed horrible massacres against our brothers the Sunnis, who make up a small percentage of the village ... slaughtered ... and then burned all the bodies ... twenty-three martyrs and the number is rising .. In addition to a number of martyrs under the rubble of demolished houses.

Syria Politic has an interesting take on alleged rebel killings in the initial attack of Dec. 24, a week before the reports under study. "Killing and wounding dozens in the "glitter" Hama countryside after Islamists attack "in revenge for the Halfaya"" (corrected Google translate)
 * ''Syria Politic has learned that dozens of sons of the village of Maan, inhabited by members of the Muslim minority Alawite, had been killed and wounded after an attack by Islamist fighters, on their homes on the outskirts of the village. The village meanings belonging to the town of Soran Hama.
 * Opposition websites described the attack on the Maan as "an attack on a Nusayri (Alawite, derogatory) village," (they?) said in news headlines.
 * However, the civilian sources in those areas I talked (with?) spoke about killing dozens of civilians from the village. Some of them were killed (in their homes?), such as "Jacob safety"' ("يعقوب سلامة"), and said that the weapons found in the village were those held by individual villagers to defend from attacks, as happened on Monday morning.
 * However, the civilian sources in those areas I talked (with?) spoke about killing dozens of civilians from the village. Some of them were killed (in their homes?), such as "Jacob safety"' ("يعقوب سلامة"), and said that the weapons found in the village were those held by individual villagers to defend from attacks, as happened on Monday morning.
 * However, the civilian sources in those areas I talked (with?) spoke about killing dozens of civilians from the village. Some of them were killed (in their homes?), such as "Jacob safety"' ("يعقوب سلامة"), and said that the weapons found in the village were those held by individual villagers to defend from attacks, as happened on Monday morning.

Alleged Victims
As noted above, Der Spiegel reported the claim that the victims were from Sunni families in Maan. Shaam News Network provided a partial list of names and a tally of martyrs seen or known about, with 23 entries total. Martyrs from "Gloss" (معان - Maan) / "slaughtered and then spent burning at the hands of forces loyal to the regime in the village" Arabic - (Google Translate)
 * خالد الخلف - (Khaled Back)
 * خلف خالد الخلف - (Behind Khaled Back)
 * معند الطوقاني - (Intractable Ataiwghani)
 * (name unknown -"son of a martyr intractable Ataiwghani")
 * فوزي العرير - (Fawzi Aeryr)
 * علي الراضي - (Ali Radi)
 * (name unknown-son of Ali Radi)
 * الشهيدة السيدة تركية أحمدالمحمد - (Turkish martyr Ms. Ahmdalmamed)
 * (name unknown, son of Ms. Ahmdalmamed)
 * عبدالله خضير المحمد - (Abdullah Khudair Mohammad)
 * أحمد خضير المحمد - (Ahmed Khudair Mohammad)
 * (name unknown)
 * (name unknown)
 * (name unknown)
 * (name unknown)
 * (name unknown)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)
 * (name unknown, child martyr)

Open Questions
Some of these open questions may be closed, or narrowed, in time.

So far, we have the activists' word as evidence for the following:
 * that there was a massacre in this Alawi town
 * that the names SNN provided are accurate and that the missing names are not that way to hide some crucial detail
 * that the victims were the Alawi town's Sunnis and not some of its Alawites
 * that Alawite Shabiha, and not the anti-Alawi Jihadists, did the killing

So far, we seem to have very little word from activists at all, outside Arabic sources, about what happened. We hope to learn more about their evidence.

The main open question should be obvious, but there are others. It's not even certain the bodies exist. In the possible precedent at Aqrab, the majority of a believed 200 Alawite captives were reported dead, but then it seemed they were still alive, or at least might be. This could be a pattern recurring here; the threat over the hostages is announced as realized, it becomes clear that's not true yet, is never retracted publicly, stays held like a dagger waiting to become true until negotiations go their way.

If what this horrible report to DerSpiegel describes really exists, it would be extremely difficult to get verification or confirmation as to the victims' identities. With heads gone and bodies burnt, their faces, teeth, and perhaps fingerprints could not be compared to, say, some missing Alawite families. Conversely, a conclusive match with any missing Sunnis is unlikely to happen. The chances of anyone running DNA tests also seem slim.