Talk:Taldou

Shumariyeh/Shomaliya
"Together with the neighboring village al-Shumariyeh, Taldou was the scene of the Houla massacre" What the hell? Doing a Google search, I'm now seeing this. How did I never before? Do you see what that's saying? There's the mysterious "Shomaliya family" of Alawi that was reportedly killed, but vague... Something about being on a certain road ... this is big. Why would the Alawite Shabiha stray over to an Alawi family/village during their genocide against the Sunnis in Taldou? As for what it means, not any city, not even Foulah size or distance. It must bled into Taldou invisibly. From a distance, there's one slightly best fit for blended in village, in the south, centered here, perfectly accessible from the forward/water plant Army base. --Caustic Logic 05:13, 4 October 2012 (EST)
 * Hermann's activists: "Also killed were members of the Alawi family Shomaliya ..."
 * Anonymous: "They invested the southern district and massacred Alawite families, men, women and children..."

It seems you copied that from Wikipedia,where I had been missing it forever. So thanks. Currently cited source for that claim seems to be an arbitrary Houla-108 BBC article (Houla eyewitness: 'They had no mercy'. BBC News. 2012-05-28.) that doesn't even mention Al-Shumariyeh, so if you don't mind, I've replaced it with CNN:
 * In state-run media, the Syrian regime said "al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups committed two horrible massacres against a number of families in the towns of al-Shumariyeh and Taldo in the countryside of Homs province."

And SANA cached:
 * "Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups committed two horrible massacres against a number of families in the towns of al-Shumariyeh and Taldo in the countryside of Homs province, in escalation of their crimes that comes usually before Security Council sessions on Syria and this time in coincidence with the announced visit of the UN envoy to Syria Kofi Annan.

--Caustic Logic 05:39, 4 October 2012 (EST)

And hey, related? As CE posted elsewhere, recent event:
 * Documents.syPro-government activists say that the Units of Syrian Army have killed more than 70 armed rebels in al-Houla area, located in Homs countryside

And a SANA detail:
 * Authorities confronted an armed terrorist groups which were intimidating the civilians and attacking the law-enforcement members in al-Samalil village in al-Houleh area in Homs countryside.

I thought it was specified as in the SE of Taldo. But I don't see that, just Houla area. So it's vague and might be another twon,but possibly Samalil = Shomaliya=Shumariyeh. If there was a suggestion it's in the SE of Taldou, might be something. --Caustic Logic 09:55, 5 October 2012 (EST)


 * Your comment got lost and I responded somewhere else. Cannot find it now. Yes, I copied that from Wikipedia. Did not understand your comment and did not even understand what I had copied until now. Repeating what I said elsewhere, the stop you pointed in on the road (attack route) to the water works an sites some 100 meters above Taldou. Alawite country? -- Petri Krohn 10:19, 5 October 2012 (EST)
 * It sounds like an Alawite town/village. By one such view, the area of national hospital is a different "village" too from the one where five security posts were hit. It's coming down to that spot, though I don't know about elevation and ethnicity. Makes sense, could be mentioned, at least. Page forthcoming, good stuff. --Caustic Logic 18:58, 5 October 2012 (EST)


 * As I posted elsewhere (yes, it's getting difficult to keep track, will think about what you wrote on the new rebel fighting page, not today, was busy): Saw your forum post - Samalil is here, two villages apart. --CE 23:25, 4 October 2012 (EST) --CE 11:48, 5 October 2012 (EST)


 * Just checked and found the same. So not a clue. I have found some others though and think it's worth a page to explore the "Shamoaliya family," a debunk,questions ... --Caustic Logic 18:58, 5 October 2012 (EST)


 * Interesting article so far. I'm not home and can't deliver details, but a possible clue: After dancing around it, I finally went to watch the dead children video days ago (crowd weeping, children lifted and shown around, the "famous" one). As gruesome as expected. There is a version with english subtitles on youtube and there they say "it's the whole Al Sha'heen family" (or something of that kind) and then "the whole family FROM Al Sha'heen". Nothing about AbdulRazaqs, but that name/place. --CE 22:44, 5 October 2012 (EST)


 * You should double-check, but if your memory of the sound is right, it's a stretch, missing a sound and a syllable. In fact, it more similar to Shahid, martyr, which however isn't a place people are from. So... if it's worth mentioning, there's now the page for that. --Caustic Logic 23:09, 5 October 2012 (EST)


 * 2m06s "Oh my god! this is the entire Abu Sha'alan family! Everyone from Sha'alan!" Well, at least interesting that this isn't the entire AbdulRazaq family, apparently. --CE 08:49, 6 October 2012 (EST)

Great page idea
Besides helping solve the Shomaliya mystery... I have a master graphic of Taldo, roads, massacre sites, security posts. Not ready yet but close. On "revolution square" is that what they actually call it? I thought I saw "freedom circle" but maybe that was in a dream (I do dream this stuff, facts, not horror, when half-asleep-solved or tackled many non-existent riddles there). And there should be a oage on Shabiha, I think spelled that way (is it more common or just my way?) --Caustic Logic 05:20, 4 October 2012 (EST)


 * I think that's Petri's nick for the place. Master graphic is good, just took a new screen of Taldou to try something I remembered when I saw Petri create this page - similar idea, can be combined: We can create imagemaps thanks to an extension included by wikinet - meaning one can mark areas on a pic with descriptions and links to somewhere else. Will check that out in the Sandbox and then we can apply it to your masterpiece when it's ready. --CE 06:07, 4 October 2012 (EST)


 * "Freedom circle" or "freedom roundabout" is real rev talk. "Revolution square" is my idea, but I guess they have renamed it to "Martyrs' Square" by now.
 * Anyway, I do not think this needs to turn into a real article. (That's what Wikipedia is for.) More important is to have some place to list all links and references, in this case videos and photos of the places for identification. -- Petri Krohn 12:28, 4 October 2012 (EST)

2018
The Rastan - Taldou pocket has been quiet for a few years. After the ceasefire agreement in 2016 it has been a dedicated "de-escalation zone". Now the situation may be changing.

-- Petri Krohn (talk) 15:12, 12 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Breaking: Syrian Army unleashes major offensive against militants in Rastan pocket on Homs-Hama border Andrew Illingworth, AMN, February 12, 2018