Homs Massacres

The Homs Massacres are all events of deliberate mass killings, of civilians and families especially, in and around the Syrian city of Homs and its immediate surroundings, from the start of protests and violence in March, 2011 until the present. By and large these have been effectively blamed on the Syrian military and allied forces - especially "Shabiha." But this is based almost entirely on activist reports and the stories of alleged witnesses and survivors. and the actual circumstances of each incident and allegation remain murky, and merit "a closer look."

Although the record ACLOS has assembled here is far from complete, there does seem to be a huge number of massacres from January to March 2012, with much less prior to that and less afterwards. This seems to correspond with the Syrian military's withdrawal from Homs, under pressure from the Arab League and others, between December and February 2012.

This page embodies an ongoing investigative project, now well-developed, but incomplete. It initially started coming together on the talk page, and some "overflow" material remains there, surely to be joined by more discussion and side-investigations.

Homs Massacres on the World Stage
(forthcoming)

Locations
Homs Districts Map This map gives the range of districts in Homs. The borders and labels are all per Wikimapia, some with translation or shift to a spelling used here (although different reports use various spellings, they can usually be placed on this map). Some borders are left out for readability. Light blue = district as outlined on Wikimapia, and green = outlying village, or green belt, depending. Red clearly is the primary rebel hotbed, Baba Amr, (although at times most other districts have been frequently challenged - or held - in large part by rebel forces, sometimes for months). Purple = the big districts, among those often-opposition areas, somewhere in which the bigger massacres of early 2012 reportedly happened (February 3/4 in Khalidiya, and March 11/12 in Karm al-Zaytoun and surrounding districts). Al-Sitteen street in the north is a place cited where bodies were often dumped after murky assassinations.

The al-Assi River runs through the green belt, where building of any scale is forbidden. (citation needed) Thus Homs' overflow to the west continues with the expansive Wa'er district. Homs Area Map The area shaded yellow is what could be called the Homs orbit, read narrowly to not include the Qusayr, Rastan, or al-Houla orbits. This can be used for reference in several cases below. The other colored areas have their own pages here: (Green - Houla) orange - Qusayr and red - Rastan (no page yet).) Areas of interest not yet labeled include Hosen Castle (Krak De Chevalier), north of Talkalakh, among other towns like Mahin, and some districts of Homs. (see Geographic Scope on the talk page for more details).

Full Timeline
This timeline is full in scope, but incomplete. Each entry will have a short summary, and most incidents listed are/will be further explored in their own section below (under ), or on a dedicated ACLOS (A Closer Look On Syria) page, as linked. Those with pages and no sections here deserve, and may get, a decent summary here.

2011
''Note: A special effort is being made to fill in 2011, when there was a somewhat more plausible case to be made for unarmed protesters being unaccountably massacred by an insane regime. For that reason, the relative lack of events qualifying as massacres means something. More incidents will emerge with deeper research, but by and large the massive, world-shocking massacre - in Homs - is an event of 2012 and later.''
 * April 17: page: Tellawi Family Massacre: An Alawite brigadier-General, along with his 17-year-old son and his two nephews (15 and 17) were dragged from their car and brutally murdered and mutilated. Both sides blamed each other.


 * April 19 (early AM): (section: Clock Square Massacre: Night time protests near the City Center's clock tower turn into an alleged shooting spree by security forces. App. 12 dead at most, "dozens," or over 200; accounts vary, but agree the victims were peaceful protesters.


 * May 8: Wikipedia: "On 8 May, unidentified gunmen attacked a bus, carrying workers who were returning from work in Lebanon to Homs, killing 10 people and wounding three."


 * August 10 or so, Baba Amr: ""Troops and armoured vehicle stormed Bab Amro early evening. The neighbourhood is witnessing a massacre. The number of dead are likely to go up because there are seven out of 25 wounded in critical condition," Observatory director Rami Abdelrahman told Reuters."


 * September 24 (app.): section: Al-Assi River Massacre: An unclear number of bodies are found in the river - one clearly recovered from the water looks like a paramilitary man, tortured. At the same time several military personnel, political and criminal security policemen and murky civilians - perhaps 12 or more total - all died, many listed as detention-torture victims like the one river body we're shown. The killing and dumping seem to have happened in or nearer to al-Qusayr to the south, but the victims tend to be from or killed in Homs, so it belongs on both pages.


 * December 4-6: page: Early December, 2011 Sectarian Killings in Homs: "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." ) The linked ACLOS page explores this allegation and various reports of the days December 3-7.


 * Late December: section: Zoeib Family Massacre: the killing of at least six victims related to and including Ghazi al-Zo'eib, the elderly former head of the Baath party in Homs (allegedly a rebel supporter at the time).


 * Dec. 26-28: section:Massacre for the Monitors Baba Amr and perhaps elsehwere: In the days of a long-sought visit by the Arab League's observers to the rebel hotbed starting December 26, regime forces in and around the district went on a spree of Shabiha in-home executions and strange shelling.

2012
2011 witnessed the ascendancy of armed groups in Homs, the first violence and early massacres, the blaming of them on the government, and the leveraging of that blame - with the help of outside powers - against Syria's security forces to force a withdrawal in December. However good of an idea that seemed, this apparently ushered in some sort of vicious spiral that only made the problem far worse. Homs was doomed to an extremely grim chapter in the first winter months of 2012, related by the opposition's activists as punishment for freedom, by distance shelling, more intimate "Shabiha" massacres, and more, leaving rows of corpses that nearly always made their way quickly to opposition Youtube channels. The actual authors of that violence, and thus the cause-and-effect relationship between this liberation and this bloodshed, is clearly worth some thought.

The situation in the city seems to have improved gradually as security force regained control and minimized the capabilities of armed groups. Violence persisted, and even massacres remained, but became smaller, fewer, and farther between from the middle of the year onward. In the rural surroundings, however, massacres continued with less of a let-up. (subjective reading, to be explained, argued, etc. in time - see talk page section for "Army Presence in Homs") --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:20, 1 January 2014 (UTC) and --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:35, 4 January 2014 (UTC)


 * January 16: section: Asheera Bakery Massacre As reported three people, a man and two children, were massacred at a bakery in Ashira district, which was then burned. The Ashira locals, of the Hanna Ibrahim family, were Christians, likely related to Christians of the Hanna family then being knocked off in and driven from nearby al-Qusayr.


 * January 24: section: January 24 Shelling Massacres Bab Tadmor and Karm al-Zaytoun districts, 27-30 dead, at least 25 of them adult males, This followed heavy regime shelling of residential homes with families inside, opposition sources claimed, while Shabiha were entering homes and stealing valuables, and rebels entered homes and took away the bodies for more anti-regime video propaganda gold.


 * January 26: section: Bahader-Akkra Family Massacre: At least 13-17 civilians executed in Karm al-Zaytoun, including six children (8 months old to nine years, mostly around 2), and at least five women, all civilians and absolutely mauled in their homes, throats sliced and skulls split, again left where opposition activists would find them and be able to prove the "Shabiha" slaughter, as they branded it.


 * January 30: section, Mohammad Family Massacre: Again, Karm al-Zaytoun, another family of 6, named Mohammed as reported - is killed after five days of being held prisoner in their own home and tortured. A father, mother, and four children are shown, most in their underwear, with shocking signs of flesh torture, bone-breaking, and other brutality. That was by "Shabiha," rebels say, and the killers again walked away and let the rebels walk in and film it. However, five activists might have been arrested at the scene of the crime - reports are vague and poorly-translated.


 * February 3/4: page: Khalidiya Massacre 138 listed victims in Khalidiya, 181 total in Homs this day. Reports say Syrian army shelling kills over 200 civilians, largely (138 at least) in Khalidiya, where 36 homes were destroyed with whole families inside. This was the most deadly incident to date, and came on the eve of another UNSC meeting to, perhaps, pressure Assad from power. This pattern of strangely fatal alleged shelling repeats all through these allegations, but is perhaps most acutely central in this case. The government and some locals said rebels massacred hostages they were holding and falsely labeled them as killed by the government. Strangely, it seems too many of the core 138 killed in Khalidiya are male - apparently 100% of them - to match with the story of families hit in their homes. Gender-segregated hostages is the better explanation. This will warrant more study.


 * February 5/6: section: Baba Amr, Feb. 5/6: Extreme shelling of Baba Amr reported, with strangely massacre-like effects. Sub-set: "the field hospital massacre," in Baba Amr, Feb. 6 - at least two killed, Khaled Abu Saleh and others reported injured.


 * February 7, 2012: section: Sebil-Cairo Street Massacre - at least 18 victims, including 5 women and 5 children, from Sabil and Wadi al-Arab districts and adjoining Cairo Street, collected at a rebel morgue in Wadi al-Arab February 7. Not shelling victims, the story is they were "slaughtered" in their homes by Shabiha thugs.


 * February 20: section: Jinyat Family Massacre A family of 7 including two girls and a boy is killed by alleged shelling, like the above but further from city center - apparently on the orchard side of Malaab - much smaller, and more horrifically expressed yet. One 11-year-old girl appears both halfway blown-up butd also sliced and stabbed to death.


 * February 27: section: Darwish Family Massacre: Six unnamed members of a family called Darwish (4 children under 18), executed and burned, and "mutilated," in Khalidiya district. Again, it's said "Shabiha" held them in their home five days before the rebels found them recently dead.


 * February 27: section: Abel Massacre, Feb. 27 2012 64-86 victims, all adult males from Baba Amr, it's said, were found executed south of Homs, just as rebels were finallt chased out of Baba Amr. Same exact pattern would play out with the March, 2013 Abel massacre (see below)


 * February 29: section: Feb. 29, Sebil? Two families of five are reportedly killed in their homes, district(s) not specified. The record is fragmented. A young boy is shown on video, said to be the only survivor of a "Sabeel massacre." Families: Mando, Behlaq.


 * March 1: section: Sultaniya massacre: 38-41 victims, mostly adult male and "from" Baba Amr, were murdered by whoever in Sultaniya, just south of there (closer even than Abel, where 68 adult males were executed three days before). Listed as a mix of shelling and field executions, they are strictly men, of only a few families, some with several members. Some seem to be from known Alawite families, like Melhem, likely all related to Homs-based national parliament member Wael Melhem. It seems seven of their men were killed in this massacre. Almost as hard-hit, and more publicized, was the less-known Sabouh family, with six men killed. Then there's the al-Raay family, with another six killed, including women and children.


 * March 6: section: Sabouh Family Massacre A reported 17 victims, ranging in age from 85 down to one, massacred March 6 in Baba Amr, for at least 23 members of this family killed within less than a week.


 * March 8: section: March 8 Jobar Massacre 39 killed in Jobar district, "slaughtered with knives," personal names not given but from 3 families: Al-Rifaee (20 members), Al Tahhan (16 members) and Al-Wa'er (3). Breakdown: 22 men, 6 boys, 8 girls, 3 women.


 * March 11/12: page: Karm al-Zaytoun Massacre: At least 100+ and up to 224 victims in two days of rolling massacres in Karm al-Zaytoun and al-Rifae districts, Adawiya, etc. The more famous first half was blamed on Syrian army and Shabiha, and said to have killed at least 21 women and 26 children, among 108 total. Some child victims show rather extreme injuries or mutilation, in extra-shocking images taken by rebels, later re-cycled for the Houla Massacre. Again, the government and some locals blamed terrorists, who had abducted family members they recognized in rebel videos of the dead.


 * Early April: section: Suleiman Family Massacre


 * April 2: section: Hospital Finds] When [[Abdulrazaq Tlass and the Farouq Battallion allegedly "liberated " Homs National Hospital on this day, they quickly reported finding 75 corpses in the cooler there, presumably not just placed there by them. (possible confusion/conflation with the May 4/5 hospital finds, and thus with the Feb. 27 Abel massacre)


 * April 5: section:Mando Family, April 5: Four men of the family murdered at their farm near Baba Amr, while a Mando boy is killed over in Houla.


 * April 15: section: Mid-April Massacre in Zahraa SANA is said to report a rebel attack this day on the Alawi-majority Zahraa district that kills 12 civilians. (details forthcoming)


 * May 4/5: section: Hospital Finds An alleged hospital "find" of "February and March massacres" victims - 49 of them, all adult males, all killed by "shelling." These are likely the same people otherwise reported for the February Abel Massacre (see above). (possible confusion/conflation with April 2 hospital finds)


 * May 5: section: Halmouz/Ter-Maela massacres: in two villages north of Homs, alleged regime mortar fire from loyalist (and Alawite) Jabourin kill and char an unsure number of people, perhaps only the three people mentioned as displaced from Homs' Khalidiya district. section: Halmouz and Ter-Maela Massacres


 * May 25: Houla and Shumeriyeh Massacres: A bit outside the spatial scope of Homs massacres, this important reference point deserves a mention. The infamous massacre of 106 in Taldou, al-Houla (in the green zone above) was carried out after a huge rebel force overran 4/5 of the security posts there. This was the same day as an often-confused operation out of Qusayr (orange zone, south of Homs) that reportedly killed about ten Alawites from two families in Shumariyeh, on the south shore of Lake Homs. While Homs is in the middle of all that, it seems fighters from there had no role, with Qusayr, Rastan, and Houla itself providing the forces needed.


 * Sept. 26: section. On September 26, the Deadliest Day, nickel-and-dime massacres were coordinated nationwide to produce the biggest death toll yet. Homs had its share, a spike but not a huge one: 35 dead total. Two Shurbaji men and a Sabouh, killed in Jobar. Otherwise, 18 more adult males, field executed in al-Bayada, and swiftly handed over to opposition media.

2013
2013, it seems by the partial analysis so far, saw a continued relative calm in the city compared to the surroundings of Homs. At the end of the year and presumably into 2014, displaced Homs residents in Nabk, Damascus suburbs, suffered repeated and confusing massacres that are listed here. (see note below)


 * January 15: page: Haswiyeh Massacre Busatin al-Haswiyeh, in the northwest of Homs, near Duvair (see map). Shocking initial reports heralded 106 victims, whole families of local civilians, again killed by Shabiha for daring to help the rebels. But the first list of 100 names included 75 adult male victims, and locals living there told the British media (Channel 4 and BBC) the massaccre was by, apparently, Jabhat al-Nusra. Their attack on the town killed about 30 uncooperative civilian locals, and "many" adult male militants were killed in the following battle. The layout of the crime scene and other clues support the locals' version.


 * January 20: section: Kafr Aya and Jobar Massacre(s)


 * March 25: page: Abel massacre: Up to 21 civilians including children killed, hacked up, beheaded, etc. and burned. 13 visually verified, the unusual degree of bestial mangling showing perhaps an extra rage and frustration on the part of the killers. Abel, meaning apple, is just 3 km south of Baba Amr, Homs, and the incident happened the day after rebel forces were fully chased away from there after a huge and frustrating defeat.


 * March 31: (talk) page: Talkalakh massacre 13 victims, including 8 women and some children, reportedly killed with knives, with both sides blaming each other.


 * April 9: section: Kome Family, April 2013: A man, a boy, and a girl of the Kome family from Karam al-Shami died by "Detention - Torture - Execution."


 * April 9: Qusour Finds: 14 bodies, including five children and a woman, were reportedly found this day in the Qusour district, after being field executed about a year earlier.


 * April 10: section: Qaddour Family Massacre: A family of 11 is brutally attacked in their tents near Homs, a husband and wife, their eight children (ages 2-18) and a 75-year-old grandma, were all murdered and mutilated. Well, the mother of childbearing years survived, in the hospital, rbeles say. But the other ten were slaughtered, clearly with blades and sharp tool, and shown on video by activists who knew and said just which local Alawite families left the clues of their crime, after stealing all the family's cattle and gold.


 * May 27: page: Al-Duvair massacre The Christian village of Duvair/Duweir is on the northwest fringe of Homs by Haswiyeh. Initial reports trumpeted that the town was anihilated by Jihadists, but rather most fled after a reported 45 locals were executed on the first day. This was the record for most Christians killed in a massacre, until the Sadad Massacre slightly eclipsed it five months later.


 * September 19: section: Jabourin Bus Attack App. 19 Alawites, most or all civilian, were killed in a terrorist roadside bomb attack on two busses carrying people to the Alawite village of Jabourin, north of Homs near Talbiseh (see map above).

''Note: Starting in late November (in earnest), the VDC martyrs database shows an uptick in fatalities in the Nabk area of Damascus suburbs, where Islamist insurgents and government forces were locked in a fierce battle. See 57 martyrs from February 2013 to the end of the year, 49 from late August forward, 42 from Nov. 25 forward: Almost all are listed as adult males, 24 as civilians, and 33 as fighters. A strange number of the people here, civilian and fighters alike, are given as displaced from Homs (11 of the civilians, 22 of the non-civilians). Irrespective of that status, these internall displaced persons tend to have family names of those targeted in Homs and to die in small family groups, often by brutal execution. Because of this continuation of patterns from Homs, these incidents that merit it will be considered and listed here as Homs massacres. (see [[Talk:Homs Massacres#Homs Massacres Outside Homs|talk page section on this phenomenon] for more analysis.)''


 * December 8/9: December 8-9, 2013: section: Nabk: Al-Faeouri Family: Ten relatives (men and women, no children) from Deir Baalba, Homs, displaced to the Damascus area, are killed there - around Nabk - during the firece clashes there.


 * (app.) December 14: As documented first here, the VDC at one point listed 14 adult males, 12 unidentified, killed by field execution,with "Martyrdom location: Damascus Suburbs: Adra," Cause of Death: "Field Execution," and notes: "12 martyrs were Field executed by the regime's army forces in one of Adra Prison, and found their drad bodies inWest Adra Industrial." It was the first and last massacre they mentioned in connection on with the alleged Adra massacre of dozens to hundreds in an al-Qaeda assault starting December 11. 34 of the 44 victims the VDC does document in this time, blamed on regime shooting and shelling, 34 are not from Adra, but displaced, from elsewhere in Damascus area and Homs. That basic list - the only executed people in Adra - has been changed now. It's only 11 martyrs long, with most given names, field execution changed to detention-execution, and the location is filled-in. Consistently, these men were all displaced from "Homs: Sukhna" (making it another of the Homs Massacres) And importantly, the notes have been changed. "Twelve worker were detained at Dumair's checkpoint, and were transported in the middle of the night to Adra in a military truck, then they were thrown at the ground with their hands cuffed then field executed with a machine gun, one of them was found alive and sent to a field hospital." The miracle survivor is of course how they will claim they got the improved story. Perhaps they think the bodies were dumped in rebel-infested Adra, to make it appear the terrorists were responsible. The original version had a video of someone explaining what happened. That's no longer attached - perhaps his version is different from the survivopr's? That's not explained in any detail or with any video.


 * December 25: section: Nabk: Alnshywaty Family: Three women and a man (no children) of the Alnshywaty family from Bab Dreib, Homs, was displaced to Nabk, Damascus, found that a very bad place to be. They were reportedly slaughtered and burned.

2014
(forthcoming)

Massacre Details
Those massacres, alleged, real, and unclear, selected for deeper study but with no dedicated page, will be explored in sub-sections below, listed in chronological order.

Clock Square Massacre
April 19, 2011, City Center: Some sources mention a "massacre of time," where "time" = الساعة = alsa'eh (phoenetic) = central square with the central clock where you check the time and get in sync. "Freedom square" as currently labeled, with "new time" at its center. This is the new clock tower; there is also the old clock tower, a French design from the 1930s with three faces on an iron frame.

A year after the alleged massacre there, Rose al-Homsi posted an account from witness to the April 18 protest and the night-time violence. The following is summarized from that. At the clock square, protesters gathered and gave speeches until sunset then settled in for sleeping and chanting god is great, and for the downfall of the regime. At 10 pm a group went to the Baath party headquarters in Inshahat to check rumors of high-up officials there. Extra fancy cars, and "protective" ones, were seen parked there. But back at the protest site a kilometer or so north they decided they wouldn't run. "We would not let go so easily!"


 * The shabeeha [thugs] and regime forces spread around the Clock Square through its side roads however did not attack or enter. They were in vast numbers – quite unexpected to be honest, we began to count and prepare for the attack. The Sheikh Mohamad Aldalati spoke to a high ranking security officer, the officer agreed for his forces to remain separate from the protesters behind their checkpoints as a protective barrier between them and the shabeeha [regime thugs]. The agreement was in fact put into practice, but their looks were of death and swearing from their side and our side. The young man returned to the square with his friends, they were fully aware now the attack was not just being planned by local regime forces but was in fact ordered by Maher Al-Assad himself – his order was to empty the square, or else.

They prepared, gathering medical supplies, arranging field clinics in case you can't trust the hospitals, arranging hiding spots if they needed to escape. There's not a single mention of weapons being involved. The Sheikhs agreed to stay with the people, while the women agreed to leave, fearing possible rape. At 1:00 AM, "the number (of protesters) decreased by a large amount and we began preparing to sleep as well as cleaning the square, some ate and others sang. The young men decided to leave the square, many had sisters who were out all day and their whereabouts were unknown, and others had parents fearing the worst for their son’s safeties. They left the square leaving behind the young men who were at around 5000 in total."

At 1:50 am, the shooting began. "The gunfire could be heard from every corner of Homs, there was gunfire in Baba Amr, Alkhaldiyeh, Bab Sba’, Bab Dreib [in almost all of old Homs], Albayada and Deir Balbeh….And most certainly in Clock Square! The young men went onto the roof and could see the bombs falling onto the square and bullets raining onto the protesters. The sounds of Takbeer “God is Great” filled the skies..." But it wasn't all those protesters who had fanned out to check on their sisters. "The friend told him that the shabeeha (thugs) forces opened fire heavily and randomly, targeting them. Protesters then ran and dispersed in all directions, chanting “God is the Greatest”. Gunfire was following them around in main streets and other roads." It followed the friend all the way home as he ran for two hours, north to Khalidiya. "The friend also told him that a lot of young men were martyred that day." Another witness cited for this report, it says, "did not move at all so the regime’s forces would actually believe that he was already dead. He told his friend everything he has witnessed." He saw bodies loaded into garbage trucks, and he was one of them. There were many; "he said that the number of dead bodies that were with him were over two hundred." He saw how they were offloaded at different places - the military hospital, the national hospital, and in a mass grave in a nearby village. There, he learned somehow, residents dug up the bodies briefly, and "the regime’s forces then instantly came, took the corpses, and buried them in an unknown location (to cover up their crime)." But this witness "was taken as a dead body to the military hospital with the rest of the bodies." He was "the only one who stayed alive to tell this miserable story," but also "discovered that one person was still alive and so treated him" (in the garbage truck or after all the offloadings?). After treating the other survivor, "he was detained." Then "once he was freed he came out to tell of the tragedy." "He didn’t know until now how, why, or for what reason he had been kept alive," and that is a weak point in this "miserable" tale - that the authorities would move a whole mass grave of mute dead people to hide the truth, but let a living witness just walk away to tell all the details makes very little sense.

The year-later report concludes that still "the exact number of martyrs" remained unclear. If not over 200, as the dead-playing witness claims, "the majority confirmed that there had been dozens, while some others said that there had been less than that," but they also ran away, so may have just not seen the piles of bodies. The CDV databse suggests it was less than dozens, or one dozen at most. A query shows a total of 12 documented martyrs in Homs April 18 and 19 combined, sharing 8 family names between them. One other factor to consider is that "the number of missing people is very high," Rose al-Homsi adds, but roughly how high is not stated.

After the killings, it was learned, "shabeeha danced and chanted praises to their God Bashar. They desecrated the Square with their feet ...  The celebrations lasted until daybreak with gunshots..." Later, in mid-March, 2012, two men described as something like Shabiha ("Hbhristin" to "Hbih" variant of Shabiha) were captured in Homs and put on rebel video as having admitted involvement in this massacre. A news story explained a video, adding that these two "participated in the massacre of time in Homs ... Omar Mukhtar Brigade arrest Hbhristin participated in the massacre of time in Homs committed by gangs and Anisa Brigades on 18-4-2011" when "Elmejrman recognize that the gang transported by dump trucks and bodies after the fire car wash blood." (Google translated)

Al-Assi River Massacre, Sept. 2011
September 24, 2011 (app.) This incident deserves a little space here. First, consider from Syria News - September 24, 2011 (Warning: Graphic Videos) the video (09-24-11) Al-Qusayr | Homs | (GRAPHIC) Massacre of Homs: Bodies in AlAssi River. (Al-Assi seems to be the main river running through the Green Belt of Homs, flowing north from the Mount Hermel area in Lebanon. Qusayr is specified, and it passes there just before Homsbut it could be elsewhere. ) Filmed around 6:30 Pm on the 24th, by the on-screen data, it shows blood of executions at a small building, remains buried in shallow earth (a partial lim sticking out, chewed down by dogs, perhaps, to meaty bone), and a tool apparently used in the murders is picked up and waved around. Removed clothing and shoes for at least a few victims that appears, at low resolution and light, rather military in appearance (see inset). Also, blood smears on the concrete lip and stairs along the river, and faintly bodies under the water can be seen. Their failure to floating on the surface suggests they've been in there less than 2 days. They're not shown being pulled out or afterwards and we cannot see how many bodies there are.

The video right above the river one is (09.25.2011) Homs | Martyr Safa Ghassan and signs of torture. It's not mentioned, but he visibly looks pulled out of a river, bleached white and water-logged skin, and naked. He was dumped after receiving some nasty torture - dozens of small holes all over his chest, sides, arms and hands, various scratch marks, and one little hole each at the collarbone and lower neck. These are likely worsened by submersion in water (with its microbes and larger flesh-nibblers) but probably predate that. His right eye is perhaps removed under closed and flat lids, either by some fish, or some tormentors. There are forehead injuries like from a rifle butt, and his right hand sliced and maybe crushed, now puffing up black with decay.

This man gets an entry at the VDC as a martyr, with a link to a different posting of this video, a fuller name - Safa Ghassan Tawakol - and a location, Bab Dreib, Homs. Martyrdom location, blank. Cause, shooting, 9/25. Plus there's quite the photo of the man (inset), which doesn't look civilian except technically. Paramilitary - camo pants, khaffiyeh, gunner's vest, automatic rifle and that look. He's posing sternly, but in a living room. He seems prepare to fight the terrorists of Homs as a neighborhood Shabih, or for that matter like a rebel fighter, but he's listed as neither. Note that Safa is usually a woman's name. Having a woman's name is sometimes a Christian thing around Homs (see Sari Saoud, Maya Nasser). Christians in Bab Dreib don't usually side with the rebels. For reference, the VDC has three apparent relative from Homs listed besides him - this list has all 6 "Tawak" name martyrs - the 4 Tawakols plus two Tawakalnas.

A river is not mentioned in Safa's entry, but he's apparently one of the bodies removed, apparently on 9/25 as recorded, and has that given as death date. But it said bodies, plural. How many others were buried in the river and who were they? The helpful visuals stop there but a guess could be ventured of at least five others, and maybe 11 or more, for a total of 6-12. The VDC martyrs list (usually meaning killed by the "regime") offers five more possible companions:
 * Ahmad Sultan El Rahal Civilian - Homs Talbesieh 2011-09-25. Detention - Torture Age 45. Notes: "arrested 23 sept. 2011 : martyrdom after torture"
 * Abdel Moin El Mokahal, Non-Civilian (Rank: Recruit). From Homs: Deir Baalabeh. 2011-09-25, Detention - Torture. Notes: "arrested 18 august. 2011 : died under torture Given back to his family today"
 * Mohamed El Shiar, Civilian. Homs: Khedr. Died 2011-09-25, Shooting. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWy6GnlJwKk (no longer available)
 * Moatez El Shiar, Civilian. Homs, Bab Al Sebaa. 2011-09-25, Shooting
 * Iyad Mohamed Bacchar Allouch, Non-Civilian (Rank: Recruit) from Homs: Khaledeyeh. Died 2011-09-24, Shooting. Martyrdom location:Homs: Qosair Notes: executed because he refused to fire on demonstrators. Video of the martyr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoO4Tpa3eIA (funeral)

Note that two of these are actual military members, allegedly defected/dissenting. If we take the same pulled from the river date Safa was given as date of death, and check the VDC regime fatalities list (suaully meaning killed by rebels), we get an interesting result. Sept. 25, nationwide, regime fatalities = 6 only, and apparently five of them were in Homs. Safa's Shabih commander?
 * Alfat Wajeh Naser: From Suweida, no details on location, likely unrelated
 * Adnan Mohammad Abd al-Kareem: killed somewhere in Homs, from Homs, Warrant Officer First Class
 * Ahmad Sha'ban Mahmoud: killed in Homs: Jeb al-Jandali 9/25 Warrant Officer Third Class
 * Ma'in Ahmad al-Salih: Killed in Homs - Baba Amre neighborhood 9/25 Policeman. Notes: "Personnel of Political Security Branch in Homs."
 * Muhammad Hassan al-Hoash Martyrdom location Homs - Baba Amre Rank Soldier. Notes: "Personnel of Political Security Branch in Homs"
 * Hassan Ali Eid: especially this guy. Age: 50. Area: Zahraa (Alawite majority). "Occupation: Head of" (redacted?) Rank: Civilian. Was he


 * And another at least: One victims marked "Personnel of Criminal Security Department in Qousair" was also killed on al-Qousair-Arjoun road Sept. 24. And again, Qusair was originally cited. No other Sept. 24 entries appear to fit the patterns.

Between Safa, the two "civilian" recruits and fellow torture victim, and the six security men, it seems ten is the most likely number of soggy dead for this massacre.

Zoeib Family Massacre
Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath party was once represented in Homs by Branch Secretary Ghazi al-Zo'eib. But by the end of 2011, anti-Baath rebels were displaying and burying his punctured corpse in their hotbed neighborhood of Baba Amr. In between, he retired apparently, and rebels say he defected, was wooed back but resisted, and the regime forces massacred him and several family members in late 2011. The finale of this is explained in a short note on the LCC daily summary for the 24th:
 * ''Security forces carried out the assassination of Mr. Ghazi Mohammad Khaled Zoaib, former secretary general of ...the Homs' division of the Baath Party, and his wife Rajaa Mohammad Khaled Bakkar while raiding their house and opened fire on them in the neighborhood of Baba Amr, and then burned the house. The martyr had been threatened before by the regime as a result of his support of the revolutions since its beginning.

A more lengthy note on the Syrian Shuhada entry for Mr. Zo'eib (here transliterated as Ghazy mhmd alkhald alzayb) explains that the Local Coordination Committees support that "Zugheib ... was threatened by the system as a result of his support of the revolution since its beginning," and had "pro-regime pages on Facebook launched a sustained attack him two months ago. Indeed, the written comments on the pages of a pro-regime accused Zugheib of supporting militants, and claims that his grandchildren out in the confession says that a member of the armed groups . It's troubling that allegations from an actual pro-regime site are the only thing cited - these could as easily have been sown by rebel supporters laying the ground to blame the government for his coming death, exactly as they were used.

Furthermore, someone called "Abu Qusay" who claims to be Zo'eib's son explained it all to Saudi-owned al-Arabiya (video, Arabic), from which translatable text notes (as well as the video) were included with the Syrian Shuhada entry. By that, Ghazi still had "official status" and was "a member of the central committee of the party." The Baathists offered him a renewed spot as Branch Secretary, during a meeting attended by Syria's Interior Minister and the head of the Political Security in return for the narrator, "Abu Qusay." As he explained, "They asked us to be shabiha and asked us to lie on television, but we did not (agree)." His father would not sacrifice him, "as happened with my cousin." So it was the regime, "not the alleged armed gangs," who assassinated Ghazi in "a political decision." "Security forces ... raided his father's house four times, and the fifth time armored cars Pickups military and civilian vehicles took the home, then burned timber and firewood around the house before bombing the house."

The central martyr is recorded as Ghazy mhmd alkhald alzayb by Syrian Shuhada, and by the VDC as Ghazi Mohammad Al Khaled Al Zo'eib. They share Video of the martyr (inset image). Notes: "He died" That's terse, or incomplete. He didn't die alone - his wife, as mentioned, was killed at the same time. S.Shuhada lists Rjaa mhmd alkhald albkar, "wife of Ghazli Alzayb." The VDC has Raja Mohammad al-Khalid Bakar, a late entry numbered 14953 to his 5627. Notes: Was martyred with her husband by security shooting." The same video is shown, plus another Video of the martyr. These videos would not be publicized, or made, for a few more days (see below).

A cited data source for both Syrian Shuhada entries is somewhere on the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Freeabazeed?sk=wall. And another video is provided there: as the title translates, it shows people digging a grave (for the Zoeibs?) in someone's orchard (their own?). It's dated and uploaded Dec. 24, although the burial wouldn't be for days. For unexplained reasons, rebels knew of the killings but couldn't access the bodies. Only on the 27th, as monitors arrived (see below...) did the LCC report "Homs: The corpses of Ghazi Zaib and his wife were found. He was the former Secretary of the Baath Party in Homs, and was martyred two days ago. His funeral is scheduled for today." Reported killed three days ago (not two), he looks freshly killed in the cited video. He's exceptionally thin, either just from age, or he may have been starved during his captivity. It could be just bullet holes or some torture that left the numerous puncture wounds all over his chest. He has red, roughed up skin, various scrape marks, etc. The totally-clothed lower body is unusual and interesting given the smoke stains from belly down, and a large black burn, perhaps, on his lower right side, and disrupted ankle and feet unusually covered with socks. As for his wife, Raja, they tore her right hand half-off at the thumb-wrist, blew or tore a hole in her jaw, from the bits we can see on video. In all of this, the 10-year-old Zo'eib boy, who was killed the same day in Baba Amr, is not explained. The VDC has Hamza Zo'eib, child-male - killed by "shooting" on December 24, no other data. Syrian Shuhada has Hmzh alzayb, killed Dec. 24, age 10, and the questionable note "The execution of the child Hamza Zeib after insulting the army three bullets."

Perhaps young Hamza is a continuation of the mentioned nephew-slayings. As "Abu Qusay" explained to al-Arabiya, "three sons of brother Ghazi Zugheib has been martyred in previous periods by the forces of Assad, they are: ( Mahmoud Ahmed Zeib - a child in the eighth grade - cited on Eid al-Adha ) , Jihad Ahmad Zeib ( Communication Engineering - fifth year - as a result of the bombing of their home district Babaamr 12/20/2011 ) , Ali Ahmed Zeib ( eighth grade - as a result of the bombing of their home Bbabaamr 20/12/2011 ) . The VDC has all of these: the earliest is Mahmoud Ahmad Zuaib, child-male, Baba Amr, age 11 - killed November 8, 2011 by "shelling." Entry #13150 (late entry). photo (intact) and videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QTjRL9dekI - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t76FLlt6Icg. The other two nephews of the former Baath party secretary died closer to him, just four days before. Dec. 20, Baba Amr, killed by "shooting," the VDC has Jihad Ahmad Zo'eib (22, the 5th year student, photo) and Ali Ahmad Zo'eib, no data.

These three, plus the fourth unexplained youth killed on the 24th, plus Mr. and Mrs. Zo'eib makes a six-member killing spree. It's a little loose to call this one clear massacre, but the tail end alone barely qualifies and the preceding pattern strengthens the terroristic intent of the killings. Someone apparently was pressuring them with this bloodletting, probably as stated to join a campaign of killing and lying on TV, and indeed they were killed for refusing. As for the crucial questions of who that would be, recall that "Abu Qusay" is speaking on TV, and his rebel allies always wind up with the corpses of his alleged family members.

Massacre for the Monitors
After passionate appeals by opposition activists, the Arab League's observers visited the "besieged" Baba Amr district on December 27 and 28. In the days before and during that, someone made sure a surge of deadly violence there occurred - especially on the 26th - that rebels at least dubbed "the massacre of Baba Amr."

(this includes as a sub-set the, covered separately above)

(section majority forthcoming)

Ahmad al-Raay
Surely the most dramatic moment in this period was the December 28 presentation of boy martyr Ahmad al-Raay (Ahmad Al Ra'i as recorded by the VDC). Video of the martyr: Visibly around 6-7 years old, his wrapped body is being laid on the hood of a marked Arab League truck (unharmed face alone visible). He's joined there by olive branches under the wipers, large-caliber casings - perhaps from the operation that led to his killing - and chants of Allahu Akbar from the gathered citizens.

The LCC's daily summary for the 28th included videos described as "#Homs: The Arab League observers being brought into the mosque to see the body of 5-year-old boy shot by the regime's forces in Baba Amr" and "#Homs: The blood of Ahmad Al-Ra'e on the car of the Arab League monitors in Baba Amr neighborhood." The suggestion thus far is that he was shot in Baba Amr, and the VDC's entry says "Cause of Death: Shooting," "Notes: in front of the Arab observers' commission," as if that was where it happened.

However, the LCC has a more remote portion of the killing: "Security forces fired at a car on the highway to Damascus wounding two women, along with the martyrdom of a child, Ahmed Al-raayhis, and his father suffered a critical head injury." This story has compelling detail, and must refer to the same child, but the story implied is confusing. Security forces would be in charge of the car and its occupants after shooting it up. Yet it was rebels bringing the body back to a mosque in Baba Amr after the foiled escape attempt, and laid it across the observers' truck like a hard-won trophy. It's not clear what happened to Ahmad's father and the others in the car.

It should also be noted six people of the same family name from Baba Amr would be executed in the March 1, 2012, listed by the VDC as Raie. But the Arabic names in both cases = الراعي  or الراعي appear to be the same. Perhaps those Raays should have fled, but they knew the highway out could be dangerous.

Asheera Bakery Massacre
January 16, 2012: Ashira neighborhood, reported 3 civilians killed, including two children, "by Shabiha in shooting on the automatic bakery in Asheera neighborhood (Asheera bakery massacre)." That's on the entry where the VDC lists only one adult male victim with a name (Attiyah Hanna Ibrahim) perhaps suggesting a Christian background (a Hanna family was then being attacked by Islamists in nearby al-Qusayr - see here). LCC daily summary lists videos: "The two martyrs (Christians) from Al-'Asheera neighborhood, after the security forces attacked and burned the bakery" - "The massacre at the Bakery Al-'Asheera neighborhood" (possibly related) "Asheera | Homs |The martyr Hameedah Joubair Makhloof (Female 60) Al-'Asheera neighborhood" The text part has it bigger and worse-sounding: "Homs: Martyrdom of two children and a man, who weren't identified, at Al-Lewaa Al-Khateeb bakery in Asheera neighborhood." Names appear for two: "Homs: Martyrdom of Haytham Hana Ibrahim and Attiyah Hana Ibrahim while they are at the bakery by security members' gunfire they are Christians from Ashera neighborhood."

January 24 Shelling Massacres
January 24 LCC daily summary reports 47 martyrs total in Homs this day, including "at least 18 martyrs" in Bab Tadmur neighborhood due to the shelling by Assad's forces that destroyed two inhabitated buildings while the residents in their homes." A video title there claims 21 Martyrs. They also reported "The regime's thugs (Shabeha) are raiding Bab Tadmur neighborhood once again and opening gunfire intensely and sporadically. They are also breaking the homes' locks, stealing the valuable things inside and destroying private properties." And separately, rebel brigades and/or activists were entering the shelled homes, without any hassles from the Shabiha, and spiriting away all the bodies to make their videos. one extra-memorable video scene has a frayed middle-aged man with his face half shredded-away.

Then in Karm al-Zaytoun: "The regime's forces are attacking the neighborhood of Karam Zaytoun with RPGs and heavy machine guns. There are reports about martyrs and wounded. ... Martyrdom of several civilians in Karm Zaytoun neighborhood due to a mortar shelling without warning that led to the collapse of houses on the heads of their inhabitants." This led to the same-day video series "massacre in Karm Azzaytoun," filmed and compiled here, after rebels got the roofs back off their heads and got the deceased under cameras instead. These show people, mainly adult, who do appear smashed under rubble, perhaps, with crushed heads and mangled bodies. But Another video shows a pre-teen boy in a jacket, completely intact but with blood on his face.

VDC records reflect that out of a total 43 dead in Homs that day, only nine are listed as from Karm al-Zaytoun - 7 adult males named, one woman and one boy, both unidentified. The only boy seen on video seems like one of the most identifiable victims.

In Bab Tadmor there were 18 martyrs listed by the VDC, all adult males. These being "residents in their homes," we are lacking an explanation for so many homes with only men living in them. Prisoner segregation, as always, is one possible explanation for that.

Bahader-Akkra Family Massacre
January 26, 2012- Karm al-Zaytoun (KaZ) or Nazeheen: The LCC report daily summary of January 26 shares graphic Videos from Homs, that claim to prove "Shabiha slaughter a whole family in Karm Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood. Five children under the age of five years old, a young girl, a man, and three women killed by Assad's thugs." More videos are under the headings "The martyrs of the Karam-Az-Zaitoun massacre." and "A massacre in the area. A real massacre." A total of eight videos are shown with clearly sliced throats on babies, hacked-open or smashed-apart skulls on all ages, and more. Just the freeze-frames at the LCC post there are enough to get the picture. Little kids with bloody faces wrapped in orange, or previously on red clinic tables, a pre-teen boy with eyeballs popped out, etc.

The LCC says January 26 witnessed 32 martyrs in Homs, of 65 total for Syria that day. Only the family of ten is specified as massacred in this way. There was other suspicious violence listed, especially snipers placed at regime places or a church. But in KaZ we have:
 * Fall of martyrs and dozens of wounded from a violent attack launched by security forces and army on Karm Al-Zaiton, where mortar shells were fired, which led to the displacement of the residents of two entire streets in the side of Al-Janoubi neighborhood, and destruction of several houses.

There's little else, aside from the shocking videos begging an explanation. The next day the LCC share another video "showing the burying of the bodies of the civilians who were killed in Karm Al-Zaytoon massacre," but there are no further details.

Alternately, This other video of the wrapped bodies gives the locale Al-Nazeheen, perhaps meaning the area labeled Nizha on the city map above, a bit west of KaZ.

The VDC martyrs database is more helpful here, presuming their records are acurate as to names and such. AM=Adult Male, CF=Child Female, etc. Abdullah family: (3) killed by "shooting" in KaZ. Omar Mohammed Al-Abdullah AM - Alaa Al-Abdullah AM - Amer Abdullah CM. Mahmoud Naguib Palasem from KaZ, killed by "Kidnapping - Execution." That makes four maybe inclusions. The other 10 fall into two family groups.
 * 26 martyrs from Homs, Jan 26


 * Bahader family (7), killed in KaZ Jan. 26 by "Field Execution." This must be the family of ten, or the bulk of it. Notes for each: "His/her house was stormed and he/she was killed." By whom is not specified here. Video of the martyr for all of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CodxCMhQdes.

Moataz Bahadir AM age 24 -Rana Bahader AF age 25 - Abdul Ghani Bahadir CM age 9 - Samira Bahader CF age 3 - Sedra Bahader CF age 2. Two other adult female members - Mayada Abdulghani Bahader - Ghazal Bahader - are listed with age:0 (no data) and slightly different notes: "Her House was raided and all the family was executed." The difference in entry numbers, in the 6,000 vs. 15,000 range, suggests as often happens male martyrs were listed at the time, and the females noted months and about 9,000 victims later.
 * Akkra Family, KaZ (3) field executed, same notes, same video as above: Sanaa Akra CF age 2 - Ali Akra CM age 2 - Najm Akkra CM, Different notes: "He is 8 months old, killed while storming their house." Again, the girls are added later. Najm is entry 6679 and Ali 6642, while Sanaa is #14683.
 * Other KaZ (3) field executed, same notes, same video as above: Kenana Affara AF age 28 - Waed Hamsho AF age 19 (#14999) - Samir Wahoud AM age 50 (#6620).

Total = at least 13 field executed civilians in Karm al-Zaytoun, perhaps all somehow part of the cited family of ten seen in the rebel morgue. It's probably 17 with the four maybes, or even more - VDC's records are frequently incomplete.

Confirmation of the alleged ID: AP report by Bassem Mroue and Zeina Karam, Jan. 27:
 * Video posted online showed the bodies of five small children, five women and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the city of Homs. A narrator said an entire family had been "slaughtered." 
 * The video posted Friday by activists showed the bodies of five young children, their faces bloodied, wrapped in orange plastic bags. It said the children were believed to be from two families, the Akras and the Bahadours. Brown cardboard placards with the children's names written in Arabic were placed on their chests, identifying them: Thanaa, Ali, Najm, Abdul-Ghani and Sidra.
 * The video posted Friday by activists showed the bodies of five young children, their faces bloodied, wrapped in orange plastic bags. It said the children were believed to be from two families, the Akras and the Bahadours. Brown cardboard placards with the children's names written in Arabic were placed on their chests, identifying them: Thanaa, Ali, Najm, Abdul-Ghani and Sidra.

Video titles translated: Children slaughtered with knives Homs Karm al-Zaytoun at the hands of the Alawites - Homs: Karm al-Zaytoun: (شاهدو كيف = Hahdo how = shahdw kyf = ?) slaughter children of Syria with a knife." And the Wikipedia page Siege of Homs:
 * Pro-assad militia called "shabiba" entered a building in the neighbourhood, and killed 14 members of a Sunni family. The Bahader family was found shot and hacked to death, the dead included 8 children under the age of 9. YouTube video footage was taken by activists, showing the family members dead bodies, with wounds to the head and neck including children. There was no comment from the Syrian authorities, but a doctor in Homs said "Alawites who had remained in Karm al-Zeitoun mysteriously left four days ago, and the rumor was that they did so on orders by the authorities. Today we know why. (cited: al-Arabiya)

Mohammad Family Massacre
January 30, Karm al-Zaytoun: The Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, daily summary for January 30 reports over 100 dead "so far," with 76 of those in Homs, and "among them are two families, one in Karam Zeitoun and the other in Rasta [sic]." The one in KaZ is explained so:
 * The activist Abu Mo’az talking about two massacres in Karam Al-Zaytoun, Homs speaking with great difficulty: The family remained 5 days in their home… The first martyr is a handicapped boy who was disfigured and tortured to death! The second martyr is a little girl tortured by shabiha who took out her intestines. The third image is of the father who was ortured and disfigured with broken ribs… He looked as if they smashed his whole body. The fourth martyr is a baby boy pulled strongly away from his mother’s lap while holding her hair. … He was tortured and deformed; some of his mother’s hair is still in his hand. The fifth martyr is a little girl brutalised and tortured till she passed away!! The mother was the last one! Her eyes are almost ripped out. Apparently, she was tortured to death!

The cited video (graphic) is under heading "(01-30-12) Karam az-Zaytoun massacre | Homs | Child, Ahmad Al-Muhammad Murdered by Assad." (an other video). The description they provide is fair enough. I'll add that the baby has a massively broken arm and guts squished out his side, and the "disabled" boy wears a poorly-improvised diaper, and has a bloody groin injury. All but the mother are laid out in their underwear in good lighting so you can see where the killers dug holes into the soft parts of all their bodies, it looks like. They say the mother's eye was pulled out, and it could be. They also say she died last, though she's only shown last. The suggestion: she was made to watch, and then one eye only was put out. More likely, it was blown out from a gunshot to the back of the head, explaining the brain matter extruding behind it.

They say the killers made a point of spreading this abuse out over five days of living hell. That would have started about January 25, the day before some exuberant new criminals in the KaZ or Nazaheen area slaughtered people from two other families (see above).

Besides the videos, the text part of the LCC report add fairly little. "Homs: Shelling towards Karm Al-Zaitoun neighborhood and Al-Nazeheen continues . Shooting and explosions didn't stop since early morning." This renewed Army shelling coincided with the killers ending their five-day stint in that home, and what seems to be only a brief time that activists could access the house, after the murky pro-Assad criminals fled but before Assad's army and authorities closed in. And they didn't hit the window right either, LCC reports:
 * Homs: Security forces and thugs (Shabeha) committed a horrible crime with an entire family in Karm Al-Zayton neighborhood and arrested several young men who were able to arrive to the home of the murdered family. That could also be rendered "found at the scene of the crime." Consistent with that, it says "securitiy members took the corpse of the family members namely: Mohammad Turki Al-Mohammad (Father), Ebtisam Al-Khodr (Mother) and Amjad, Tahiyat and Ahmad (Children). One is left off here - there are four children - Ahmad (age 11/12?) a boy of perhaps six (also diapered), a girl about the same age, and a baby boy of perhaps 2.

The boy's name being given was helpful, because otherwise it's not named in the LCC report. The VDC lists a family of six that would be a fit anyway, and they have the same name, as given - Mohammad. on this list, amongst a few other martyrs in Karm al-Zaytoun that day. Each entry says field executed, no notes except the father. Some combination of these 4 video links is given for each: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMc-WbFIXwE - ...v=mi5-5MsYEkg - ...v=2E44MkwaXCo - ...v=Jbei-9YfyNI Listing note: for whatever reason, the males were listed first, with martyr numbers in the range 6906-6964, while mother and daughters bearing numbers in the range 15013-15020.
 * Ibtissam Al-Khider AF age 35
 * Tasneem Mohammad Al-Mohammad CF age 2
 * Tahiyat Mohammad Al-Mohammad CF age 5
 * Amjad Mohammad Al-Mohammed CM Mother's Name Ibtisam Al-Khodr Age 0
 * Ahmad Mohammad Al-Muhammad CM Mother's Name Ibtisam Al-Khodr] Mother's Name Ibtisam Al-Khodr Age 0
 * Mohammad Turki Al-Mohammad AM age 40. Notes: slaughtered and shot.

Baba Amr, Feb. 5/6
(forthcoming)

Sebil-Cairo Street Massacre
February 7, Sebil, Wadi al-Arab, and "Cairo Street This massacre re-sets the pattern, so evident in the Khalidiya Massacre three days earlier, and prevalen in Baba Amr in the days between, of blaming artilley of a distant foe for the surge in dead civilians in rebel-held areas of Homs. This time, again the regime and its brutal "Shabiha" enforcers were the ones in Homs and in peoples' homes. The LCC daily report for February 7 shares videos (warning: graphic! but not as much so as some of these) of a "Wadi Al-Arab massacre." One of them shows victims in the morgue, and one man at least has a bandaged-over throat wound.

While the morgue is apparently in that district, the victims for the most part weren't. The VDC martyrs database shows 53 fatalities in Homs on February 7. Only one - Omar Skaff - is listed as from Wadi al-Arab. What one sees first is a small cluster of field executions in Sabeel district, which is just south of there. All Sabeel martyrs February 7 - 12 total - 4 adult males, 3 adult females, 2 boys, 3 girls. Considered by family:


 * Atfah (5 members): 4 VDC listings for this name, each time Atfah spelled differently): Walid Fares Attfa from Sabeel. Notes: "He and all his family were killed by Shabiha." Age, etc. not given. Adult female, Zuhour Fares Aatfeh, age 24, was "killed with her entire family at the hands of the pro-regime thugs (shabbiha)." Girls Israa Fares, age 12, and Shoroq Fares, age 15, are also listed with the note "Thug killed her along with her family." Adult female Sabah Ahmad Alwan is also listed by VDC with the same details as these others, listed as married, to who unstated. The LCC report had this to say: "An entire family was martyrd in Al-Sabeel neighborhood; they are, Walid Farress Attafeh and his wife Sabaeh Alwan along with their three children, Zuhour (24), Sherooq (16), and Israa (12). So the number is five.


 * Ghantawi (5 members): Adult male Abdel Nasser Ali Ghanttawi has no details besides from Sabeel and field executed, but Fatima Al-Jabouli is noted as "wife of martyr Abdul Naser Al-Ghantawi." Three Ghantawi children joined them in death: girl Souad, age 15, and boys Omar Abdel-Nasser (age 5) and Nabil Abdel-Nasser (age 7). Ghantawi may not be their proper name - one boy is named as "Nabil Abdel-Nasser neighborhood Ghanttauwi." Ghantawi seems to literally mean one from al-Ghanto, just north of Homs by Talbiseh, and a cite of frequent rebel violence. Living in Sebil at least in February, the children are the only VDC entries this day with "massacre" in the notes. The LCC report notes "Martyrdom of the chemical engineer Abdulnasser Ali Ghantawi, his wife and three of their children (aged 2, 7 and 9) during the raid of their home in Sabeel neighborhood by Shabiha. Their fourth son was able to hide in the attic and report of the incident." Note the age mismatch with the children, possibly a clue.
 * Other/Unsure (2): Not clearly attached to any family are two adult males Mowaffaq Seedawi and Omar al-Naassan, age 72.


 * Zamil (4 members): Then there is another small cluster of only two that becomes four, from "Cairo Street." That doesn't pop up in Homs on Wikimapia, but rendered in Arabic ( شارع القاهرة ) it does; two spots are marked, both of them along a north-south road that marks the western edge of both Sebil and Wadi al-Arab. So the spatial connection is strongly implied. This time, the targeted family is named Zamil. VDC entries: Hala Al-Mahbani, adult female and "wife of Abelkareem Zamel" was executed. Notes: "After their home was shelled, they attempted to flee however regime`s forces arrested them and gathered them with the rest of their family (the Zamel Family). They then proceeded to slaughter them with knives in front of their home." The other Feb. 7 listing is Khalid Abdul Hakim Al Zamil, child, male. "After escaping from the bombing, they were arrested and executed in front of the house." That's it. Dad Abelkareem Zamel is only listed, with a slightly different name, on the next day: Abdul Hakim Al Zamil died Feb. 8 by "shooting," with no fancy story, details, links or visuals. With some oddities, that's three victims. And if "Qahira Street"  is the same as Cairo, another woman named Reem Al-Beraqdar should be added. Also field executed, in fact the entry says she is "Second wife of Zamil." Dual wives usually suggests someone who is prosperous, a possible clue. Still, this seems like a small family, or there are other entries missing.

Mr. Skaff, the lone local listed by VDC is likely all at the same morgue the victims from elsewhere and likely worth including as a victim of the same people, or allies of theirs. And at least one reported fatality the VDC missed, in the home invasion vein of the massacre perps here: "[7 Feb 2012] #Homs, Wadi Al-Arab neighborhood: Civilian Abdullah Al-Mihini killed in his home by the Shabeeha (regime thugs)." the video is horrible - bad torture, tweaked tissue in his torn open arms and legs. He has no VDC entry, but an apparent relative - Satam Rateb almhini of Homs - died on Sept. 11, 2011, from ... detention-torture. It seems to run in the family.

Tally: 12 from Sebil, 4 on Cairo Street, Skaff and Mihini = these rebels managed to scoop up and collect at least 16-18 massacre victims for this "Wadi al-Arab Massacre." Shabiha did it, they say, but again mobile rebels got the bodies.

Jinyat Family Massacre
February 20, 2012 - Malaab district, 3-7 killed. This incident is not sold as a massacre but might well be one. There is a slightly-promoted video I'll start with. I've considered this perhaps the single most hideous thing I've seen yet, and don't even want to link to it. As reported, "11 years old girl Kamar Abu Hamad has been killed by Assad's bombing." Her mangled body is shown only in underwear. Her skull is ruptured and partly missing on the right side, along with the brain it seems, but her face is mostly intact, a scream suggested by the pulled wide half-mouth. Shoulder abrasions plus this suggest a hit in the back of the head with a RPG blast, perhaps. All tissue beneath the chin is torn away somehow. her right ankle and left forearm are also torn up with extremities hanging loose, almost severed. One wonder how many different explosions she was subjected to.

Separately, Kamar's skin is sliced open badly (slices a few inches long) at the left shoulder, right underarm, and down the right side and right buttock at least, as well as smaller wounds, from stabbing perhaps, all over the body, including one perhaps straight through the heart. That one, through the left side, is still leaking copious blood at filming time. Considering both types of injury, the order is not hard to reason out. There's no reason to stab someone who'd been blasted like that; it's not a good mercy killing, and she'd already be dead. Conversely, one might decide to blast a girl who's been stabbed to death if the knife-wielding rebels holding the body decided it was better to blame distant regime artillery.

Kamar Abu Hamad has a VDC martyr entry: Kamar Abu Hamad Civilian, Child - Female, age 11, Homs Malab Neighborhood. She died 2012-02-20 from Shelling. Anyone who must see the video, there are three of them linked there. The VDC entry also mentions other children in passing on her story: "Three Children martyred due to regime`s shelling, She and her niece Hory and Kamar Gnyat." These too are listed:
 * Kamar Gonyat Area: Malab, age not given, but the photo there says something like 8. Entry #66425. Like the rest, it says shelling killed her. By the videos provided she's much more intact than the other Kamar, and clothed. She suffered possibly explosive removal of one limb - the panning makes it unclear, but apparently an arm sticking out, just past the elbow a frayed stump of tissue. She has a head wound like a bullet hole, as well as a covered/plugged hole in the right side of her neck, bad slice or gash to the bridge of her nose, and little scars all over (they don't look like stab wounds).
 * Hori Jinnyat Malab, age not given. A photo there says also around 8 - younger, older, or twin is unclear. He was clearly listed first: entry #8303, 58,000 entries earlier. Notes: "Three Children martyred due to regime`s shellinon their house, he and his sister Kamar and his niece Kamar Abu Ahmad" Niece here clearly means cousin. Provided videos show a boy with fairly long hair, mainly intact and clothed, but sporting a mangled left foot with missing toes, and right big toe smashed apart. He's got blood across face and clothes, the crotch especially. The back of his head has a major injury (if exit wound, the entry's not clear). Left upper arm and shoulder shot through perhaps, at least 4-5 small holes, bones broken, all floppy; they twist it around to prove that. Possible left eye injury through closed lid. Wrapped and cleaned, it still looks that way, in video "Important Homs neighborhood playground hero martyr Houry Fairies" (Google translated)

حوري جنيات = hwry jnyat (phoenetic), where Jinyat translates fairies. Houry is not a usual name for boys or girls, a casual search suggests. Hurrah is close, a male name meaning free/liberal. Hurairah, Male, means "Narrator of Hadith, a close companion to Prophet Mohammed (PBUH)." Closer yet is Huuriya or Horia, female, meaning nymph/angel/attractive girl/virgin of paradise. With his long hair, possibly made-up girlish name, from family "fairies," it seems likely this is a liberal and "modern" family of some non-Salafist background, to say the least. Specifically, giving a boy a girl's names in Syria is sometimes a Christian tendency (see Sari Saoud and Maya Nasser).

The LCC report for the 20th with the video of Kamar, and also of the other Kamar (labeled only with Homs and the date) does not mention any of these children in the text part of the report, by name or otherwise. But another angle may be added here: parents.
 * ''Homs: An entire family of four, 3 women and a man, called the Jeniyat were martyred after targeting their home with two artillery shells in Malaab Baladi neighborhood near the Shoes Factory." Perhaps this refers to the two girls and a boy - whose absence in the text here is strange - plus a much older sister, or perhaps their mother. And perhaps, as it sounds, these are four adults connected by name to those three kids. In fact, either reading is possible, and so the range of 3-7 victims, with seven seeming more likely. But to clarify, by various searches,  no name-related adults appear in the VDC database remotely at this time, and the apparent fragmentation of the record may contain clues.

Mal'ab Location on Wikimapia: west of center, up against the orchards. No factory seems to be labeled within the area. A good guess is the only large facility there, just west of the stadium, at the little bend in the river. This is just outside Malab, putting them most likely on the west edge of the district, with the attackers coming through the orchards perhaps more likely than from within the city.

Darwish Family Massacre
February 27, 2012 - Khalidiya District As reported by the VDC database, six members of this family were field executed in Khalidiya on, or a bit before, Feb. 27. This includes a father, a mother, a son, and three daughters, with little to no details given. Unusually, they're all unnamed aside from Darwish, which may not even be their real name, for all we know. These are mentioned with no more useful info by the connected LCC in its daily summary of December 27 (Warning! Graphic videos)
 * Homs: Another massacre added to the series of massacres by the regime's thugs (Shabeha), an entire family from Al-Darwish was murdered in Khaldiyeh neighborhood including father, mother, son and three daughters. They didn't just slaughter them but they mutilated their corpses as well.

Subtitles on one video of the boy explain "we found him and were able to release the other bodies after 5 days of them being stuck in their home." It's been no five days after they died. The combined suggestion, however logical, is that the Shabiha spent some days with these people, perhaps torturing them, before killing them around Feb. 26, and then leaving the site for activists to find on the 27th.

LCC provided videos and notes: This shows rebels loading a hefty-built/overweight, bald-headed man's body, near-naked, onto the bed of a pickup truck. He has massively puffed-up eyelids, open a slit, lots of blood out the mouth and nose, burned-black face, stabbed in the belly, burned in spots all over, leaving little circular orange wounds, and horribly burned legs, to the bone in places. There's no visible mutilation, aside from by fire,
 * Homs: Khaldiyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: Father's Body Mutilated - 2-27-12 Al Khalidiya

This is a boy of perhaps 9 or 10, a bit chubby, shown in the inset image. He too is burned all over, skin reddened with orange patches, perhaps worse than his father, and stabbed a few different times in the upper body. His whole right hand and backside of right arm are burnt black and half-melted. He has a smoke-stained forehead and blackened lips, perhaps beyond ordinary smoke inhalation. The order of operations is unclear. Note from the image that he was clearly blindfolded during this whole prolonged ordeal.
 * Homs Al khalediyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: Horrific Injuries on Child Massacred by Assad Army Forces

Bodies wrapped in a dimly-lit room, the boy recognizably shown first. The father is second; his facial blood has been coated in heavy white powder here. Otherwise, only parts of faces are seen. The presumed mother at 0:39 has small wounds in her left cheek and apparent bruisng all over the face and eyes. One girl 0:21 has burns on her face and black lips, left side, like the boy's. From the left eyebrow up as far as we can see seems charred black. Another girl, about 11, might have a black eye, or these people were all really tired, or whatever else causes dark eyes (early decay, perhaps), Another girl is smaller, maybe 7-8, barely seen with her eye frozen open just a slit, no marks or signs visible.
 * Homs: Khaldiyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: 4 females, the father and the son

Considering the logical possibility that Darwish is not the real name of these people, one other entry of the day is worth mentioning. LCC has a video: Homs: Khalikyah neighbourhood: Martyr Mus'ab Abdul Mu'ti Al-Dwairi. There is no "Khalikyah," but with a typo he was killed where the Darwishes were. Dwairi is just similar enough to Darwish to notice, but means one from Dwair/Douair/Duvair, like maybe the Christian village of Homs, near Khalidiya. He's listed as killed by simple shooting, and from his face alone no link can be made to this burning massacre.

Abel Massacre, Feb. 27 2012
Near Abel, 64-68 Adult Male Victims The LCC daily summary for Monday February 27 announced 144 deaths nationwide, "including 64 in Baba Amr neighborhood who were slaughtered in Abel area in Homs." They had lived in Baba Amr, the LCC says, but were killed in Abel, a small town several kilometers south of Homs (see maps above).
 * The regime's forces and thugs committed a horrifying massacre at a security checkpoint in Abel area where 64 martyrs fell. The martyrs were families trying to flee from the shelling at Baba Amr neighborhood. Reports said security members and thugs kidnapped the women among them. The residents found 47 corpses in an area between Ghajar and Tanota and another 17 corpses were found to the north of the Sad Shandakhiyeh. Later on, the Red Crescent Society delivered the corpses to the National Hospital in Homs.

There are no videos for this story. The top photo (7 shirtless adult males laid out dead) is captioned: "BABA AMR: Some of the bodies of the 64 martyrs of Baba Amr."

There was a later Abel massacre of March 25, 2013. That time, at least 14-21 locals - including women and children - were reportedly slaughtered by Shabiha and burnt, with the killers making videos that, along with the bodies, were in rebel hands in short order. This was the day after Baba Amr was announced cleared and safe, yet again, by the Syrian Arab Army on March 24, 2013. When far more died in Abel in 2012, it was the day before Baba Amr was declared secure - February 28. Depending on who the victims really were, retreating rebel brigades of Baba Amr, perhaps with hostages to dispose of, are potential suspects in both cases.

Otherwise, reports seem more specific than "Abel." Wikipedia's article List of Massacres in Syria notes a "Ram al-Enz and Ghajariyeh massacre," citing two sources:
 * Liz Sly, Washington Post:
 * The bodies of dozens of men were found dumped on wasteland on the outskirts of the stricken city of Homs on Monday in what appeared to be one of the worst instances of mass killing since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last March. ... The Local Coordination Committees, an opposition group, said that the bodies of 64 men were taken to the National Hospital ... The details available were murky, however, and the bodies had not been identified, making it difficult to establish exactly how or why the men died.


 * Naharnet (top image: recycled from Khalidiya Massacre]]) Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: "Sixty-eight civilians were killed today in the western countryside of Homs, in a rural area between the villages of Ram al-Enz and Ghajariyeh, and were taken to the state hospital in the city of Homs." They heard the victims were "displaced from the city of Homs" and killed, with guns and blades, "by 'shabiha' (pro-regime gunmen)," according to the reports received by the Observatory, Abdul Rahman said. "But we cannot confirm or deny this information." The exclusively male nature is not specified here, nor are any clues of specific identities. Note that the "47 corpses" per LCC were found "between Ghajar and Tanota," and this entire 68 is from between "Ram al-Enz and Ghajariye."

Sly heard the victims were not identified, and thus "activists said they thought," but couldn't prove, "that the men had been trying to flee the violence with their families." The VDC database doesn't immediately provide any identities nor, for that matter, any such unidentified bodies. all Homs martyrs Feb. 27 = 29, all kinds of people in different areas. No 47-64-68 executed men. Expanding it to Feb. 25-29 helps little. This batch of victims does not turn up, unless it's at another time. Consider the 49 adult male "victims of February and March massacres." bodies reported in early May, just then found at (the same?) National Hospital, identified but presumably decayed, then taken and buried south of Homs, in areas near Abel. (see )

February 29, Sebil?
On leap year day with so few proper anniversaries, a massacre even murkier than usual seems to have occurred somewhere in Homs. Two families were singled out to lose five members each. The LCC daily summary mentioned them together with family names:Number of martyrs in Syria reached uptil now 29, 16 of them are in Homs including 5 from AlBahlak family and 5 from Docotr Mendo family including 4 infants and 2 women. Clearly the 4 infants cannot be from either family alone, as each seems to have a father, mother, and three children. Note also how no location is given, as it usually is.

The VDC database does not reflect the LCC report except in part. Checking Feb. 28, 29, and March 1, there are no victims named anything like al-Bahlak, not any family or cluster of victims that seems likely to be them in an alternate form. There are, however, five members of a Mando family listed on the correct day, including three children and a medical doctor. These five were killed somewhere in Homs (unspecified). Cause of Death for all, "Field Execution."
 * Mohammed Mando AM, Occupation: Doctor (no further details).
 * Wife of Dr. Mohammed Mando AF, no further details
 * Son of Dr. Mohammed Mando 1 Son 2 Son 3, all Child - Male, no further details.

Note that in all cases but the father, personal names aren't given. This vagueness may well be a clue, especially considering the other family doesn't appear at all. As for the uncorroborated Bahlak name, again the VDC martyr's database doesn't show it on this day. But in general, it appears. It's best to search this with the proper name: بحلاق. Entered in Arabic mode, four Bahlak martyrs appear (each one switched back to English mode):
 * Firas Abdulhaleem Behlaq Adult male, civilian, Age	20, from Khaldieh. Killed August 19, 2011 by shooting. video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5VXhMGo_HI&feature=player_embedded
 * Mukhtar Mohammed Behlaq Of note, he died in the Khalidiya Massacre. Adult male like all the others, from Khalidiya, killed February 4 by "shelling."
 * Sabah Bahlaq, adult male. shot March 23, 2012 in "Homs," unspecified.
 * Tareq Behlaq Adult male, civilian, from Bab Howd. Photo. Killed July 6, 2012 by shooting, over in Homs: Qarabees (martyrdom location)

The LCC report gave no further details besides a valuable video: Sabeel | The only child who survived the Sabeel Massacre. Thus Sabeel is the only location mentioned for any massacre, this might be the locale of one or both family slayings. The video shows a living and intact boy, aged about 7-8, laid on a clinic bed and interviewed. Chewing gum, perhaps, he seems distant and spaced-out at first. possibly in shock, drugged, mentally disabled, or a combination. Then he gets convincingly teary-eyed when speaking of his family. An ACLOS associate helped translate the dialog of the boy's questioning by the doctor:

Q: What is your name?

A: Nabil. Q: What is your father's name?

A: Abdoulnaser.

Q: Where did your father go?

A: To Saudi Arabia.

Q: Where is your mother?

A: In Saudi. They are all there.

It's said he was was just with his family as they were massacred, but all he says is they've gone away to an earthly locale, be it with no mention of return. The implication is a touchingly profound case of denial, with a suggestion that Syrian children put Sauidi Arabia in a mental slot almost interchangeable with heaven.

The other man next to the boy explains in the video that he found "Nabil" next to five corpse in a burned house. However, the boy doesn't show signs of being around smoke and fire, blood, or even dirt. There's no visible reason he would be left for dead and no visible injury at all. They have him pull up his shirt for some reason, and his belly is free of marks. The doctor holds up his feet, saying that both legs are broken, apparently at about that shin-level. But this seems unlikely; the legs show no sign of injury even to the extent of bruising, and both the boy and the doctor move them around with no sign of discomfort. The rebel doctor also seems to gesture as if "Nabil's" face had been scratched, but no marks show up on video. He has a dark spot on the lower lip, either a wound they don't explain or a birth mark perhaps.

Since Abdulnasser is not Dr. Mohammed Mando's name, this boy must be - allegedly - from the other massacred family of five in Homs that day - named al-Bahlak by the LCC. In the video, we have personal names but no family name, while with the al-Bahlaks we had the opposite, preventing a clean match or mismatch. But a deduced composite guess, then is: "Nabil" is claiming to be a child of one Abdulnasser Bahlak, and he may or may not be that. Mr. Bahlak and Dr. Mando lived near each other in Alawite-majority Sebil. it's possible they were all abducted from there and killed as rebels abandoned Baba Amr. But the reports here and the patterns of other whole-family massacres suggest they were living together in their homes until killed there.

Sultaniya Massacre
This is either two similar massacres at once in Baba Amr or south of there in Sultaniya, or a larger massacre of 38-41 victims, divided into two portions. Aside from the al-Raay family of six, the victims are all listed as adult males, executed by some pro-government forces, on March 1 and/or the day before (Feb. 29).

The two main groupings are put forth as, and might well be, two different massacres of 17 and 21-24 victims. (See Talk page section for more details and a victims identity table)


 * One set is apparently in Baba Amr, reported by LCC, 17 clearly-named victims killed "after the withdrawal of the free Syrian army from Baba Amro," by "shelling" per VDC, a "massacre" per LCC, by "thugs ... break[ing] into houses, farming area, and orchards on the outskirts of the neighbourhood,"  or, per Syrian Shuhada, by "slit throat ... at the hands of security." Rebels still got the bodies and made videos of "Baba Amro: Massacre in the neighbourhood by Assad thugs," with at least 11 of the recovered victims seen on the bed of a pickup truck in the falling snow (inset) and then in a rebel morgue.


 * Another, more vague pool, is largely noted later, "field executed" per VDC and labeled as "Massacre of the Sultanyieh." 11 martyrs among the larger pool have a variation of the Sultaniya massacre label - all those named Melhem, Suleiman, Ibrahim, Shaqhabi, Mussaitif, or Salem, all adult males. Syrian Shuhada lists most of these but gives no details. LCC's dispatch made no mention of these victims or a massacre in Sultaniya.
 * An even later and more vague sub-set was only documented in late March and included a family of six in Baba Amr named al-Raay, also killed in "al-Sultania Massacre." This is centered around a man named Khaled but with his wife, son, parents, and sister all unnamed except by relation to him.

Both sets feature Baba Amr-listed adult males of a few families, executed there and/or south of there, where rebels had access, on about the same day. With Baba Amr's rebel brigades, their weapons, hostages, etc. all scattered, killing hostages in two areas at once is more likely than usual, with or without a central order connecting the crimes. But the division into two groups could also be nothing more than a more publicized half of a rebel massacre vs. the other half - and either way for easier labeling, there are enough similarities to consider them together under the name of the shadier portion.

The families of note appear in both sets; Those named Melhem, generally added late or not at all, seem to be from a prominent Alawite family in Homs with a member in Syria's national parliament, Wael al-Melhem. He's accused of running a Shabiha-type family militia that's behind at least some of the Homs massacres (see Melhem). As partly explained there, they too continued to take frequent martyrs before and after this event, which seems to be the single deadliest one for them with seven members lost in the Sultaniya half. The Sabouh family/clan/name took the next-biggest recorded loss, with a clear six martyrs. They're in the other portion, reported more prominently. That family would be hit harder yet just a few days later, with a reported two-family massacre of 17 people in/from Baba Amr, named Sabouh, ranging in age from 85 down to 1. (see Sabouh)

The names Ibrahim and Suleiman are both common and commonly massacred in these incidents and have sections on the talk page (linked). Others may emerge as noteworthy in time.

More narrowly, Mahmoud Zouby joined the Saboughs here, and when 17 Sabouhs were killed on March 6, another 4 al-Zoubi men also appear (as alzaby) killed in Homs ("Four brothers, were killed in the massacre on 6-3-2012 Jobar neighborhood, whose bodies were identified on 2012-5-16), along with two others in Deraa (a man and a teenage girl). And the victim Radwan Bittar is one of the several men who died with no family members joining them - in Homs. As for his extended family elsewhere in Syria, a Mohammed Byttar (Syrian Shuhada entry - same Arabic name) died the same day in Latakia, under torture. That could mean Bittar is an Alawite family, like the Melhems at least.

Sabouh Family Massacre
March 6, 2012, Baba Amr, 17-18 victims: 17 named Sboh, given ages as low as 1 and as high as 95. Names generally matching:
 * Syrian SHuhada - all martyrs March 6
 * VDC list of 17 Sabouhs killed this day in Baba Amr. 7 adult males (like Mohammad Sabouh age 48), 3 adult females (like Basma Sabouh, age 30), 3 boys ([Akram Sabouh Akram] was age 4), and 4 girls (Zahia's age isn't given). All say cause of death: field execution, Notes: "Two families were entirely slaughtered by Assad's thugs after raiding their homes."  No further details.

Local Coordinating Committees, daily report for March 6 featured this early report:
 * Homs: Security forces and Shabiha carried out a new massacre in Basateen Baba Amr area claiming the lives of 13 martyrs from two families slaughtered with knives.

A later update accompanied a video:
 * The Sabbouh family, an example of what is going on in Baba Amr – Another massacre and bodies discovered in Baba Amr . 5 days ago, 6 bodies from the Sabbouh family were discovered with others who were executed by slaughtering during the raids that Assad forces carried out in the farms in Baba Amr. Today, more victims were discovered from two families of the Sabbouh family, adding up to 18, most of them women and children. We should note that state-run Addounia TV went in to Baba Amr two days after the massacre took place and taped some of the killed family members in their homes, accusing the Free Syrian Army and Farouk battalion of doing this. While activists confirm that Assad forces are who committed this massacre. ... Here is the video that Addounia TV played yesterday showing some of the Sabbouh family members killed in their homes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Q_4zgrcxA 
 * (dead video) Note that this time, activists don't flaunt their access to crime scenes by providing video. The fact that loyalist channels did the filming is portrayed as suspicious.

The VDC and Syrian Shuhada cite 17 victims, while the LCC has 18.
 * Here are the names of those killed in this massacre: 1- Abdelkareem Sabbouh, 85 years old 2- Omar Sabbouh, 55 years old 3- Muhammad Sabbouh, 48 years old 4- Basma Sabbouh, 30 year old woman 5- Abdelazziz Sabbouh, 18 years old ; First family : 6- Abdelsalam Sabbouh, 50 years old 7- His wife, Zahia Sabbouh 8- Tarek Sabboh, 15 years old 9- Farouk Sabbouh, 10 years old 10- Akram Sabbouh, 4 years old 11- Faten Sabbouh, 1 year old 12- Faten Sabbouh ; Second family 13- Abdelwahab Sabbouh, 52 years old 14- His wife, Mayada Sabbouh, 40 years old 15- Maysaa Sabbouh, 20 year old girl 16- Muhammad Sabbouh 17- Roula Sabbouh 18- Rania Sabbouh

The disagreement seems to be over Abdelsalam's wife Zahia.

March 8 Jobar Massacre
March 8, 2012, The VDC records for this day show 39 civilian victims field executed in Jobar. Three families are named (two with names of iother districts), with most given no personal names at all. Rather than the usual men-only massacres, this seems slightly man-heavy families, minus most of the women.
 * Al-Rifaee family: 20 members, from Al-RIfaee 1 to Al-RIfaee 20. 12 Adult males, 2 Adult Females, 4 girls, 2 boys. All from Jobar, no more details, killed by Field Execution. Notes for each: "Assad's thugs slaughtered him with a knife." (Same day, from "Rifaee Neighborhood" was Amer Na'asan Ghazi "found deformed in the Sitteen St and he was tortured to death by Assad's thugs after they kidnapped him in the main street 7 days before that.")
 * 16 from the Al Tahhan family, also unnamed and listed as Al Tahhan 1, etc. (the last of 16). The same knife notes for all, regardless of gender. 7 Adult Males, 1 Adult Female, 4 girls, 4 boys.
 * Three men of the al-Wa'er family, Jobar, same basic notes. Personal names (Rakan, Waheed, Waleed) and videos are provided for them.

Suleiman Family Massacre
An image re-cycled for the recent Adra Massacre was already run in April 2012 with this article (French, derived from a SANA report] translated:
 * Homs / A terrorist group has carried out a massacre against number of citizens in a previously removed farm in the district of Deir Baalbé in Homs.The terrorists committed their crime with composure before mutilating the bodies of victims in the farm that has been transformed into a place of torture, where authorities found sharp metal tools and chemicals to make explosives.

The still image testifies to only six victims, looking intact, laid head first in the corner of a room. Rebel records claimed 13 were killed by intense shelling. LCC summary, April 2:
 * A horrific and terrifying massacre was confirmed in Deir B’alba on Monday, in which the regime’s forces used heavy artillery against the residents, killing and wounding many of them, including children. The wounded are in very critical condition. This footage is of the dead and wounded immediately after the attack. One of the men’s legs are blown off and he is breathing his last breaths while residents try to revive him and treat the other wounded residents in cars, because there is no way to get to a hospital
 * Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwndmg7Q0Rc
 * Homs: 13 martyrs fell due to the violent shelling on Deir Baalba neighborhood, and 2 houses were destroyed. A large number of people are escaping the area.

VDC list - 4 Der Baalba martyrs April 2, all men. Khaled Msheeal Zakria Mohamad Yehia Obed killed by shelling, Abdul hadi Alshalli and Omar Saeed Kanaan by field execution. Checking April 1-3 adds nothing. That's all they have for this incident, apparently. LCC's April 2 report seems to be their source - Both "Khaled Mashee'l" and "Young man Zakareya Obaid" are the two men named as "martyred due to the shelling on Deir Baalba neighborhood."

In a different area of Homs, Jobar, the same LCC summary noted this same day "The corpses of the two siblings Abdul Barea Sulaiman Al-Rifaie (42) and Abdul Hakeem Sulaiman Al-Rifaei were delivered after they were murdered at the regime's prisons.'' This Suleiman portion emerging more perhaps than usual in these massacres, and seems to be the main name of those killed in Deir Baalba. They don't appear all at once, but smeared across weeks of April on the VDC's martyr's list. best search for Suleimans in Deir Baalbesh from April 2 forward. This shows a total 17 names, close to the 13 "shelling victims" someone knew about right away, coming in small batched up to May 1. Here, almost all are recognized as "field executed." Relations aren't clear, but the majority contain some mix of Suleiman and Abbas/Alabas. Dates and notes say things like "shelling" (no explanation) April 6 - "His body was found in a stable for the animals" (April 8) - "Their bodies found days after they were killed" (April 10) - "His corpse was found with 28 others" (April 26) - "He was martyred weeks ago. His corpse was found today." (May 1) - all adult males but for one, Rahaf Sulieman, child-female, Field Execution, "...found days after they were killed" (April 10).

The April 26 find of 29 bodies seems to mostly involve the other family that appears and ties into the first reports from April 2. 8 names appear, all men, executed, all but two are name Kanaan (like Omar Saeed Kanaan). Or perhaps the connection with Suleiman is coincidence and we just have this massacre on April 26. There's no mention of a time delay.

April 2 Hospital Finds
(forthcoming)

Mando Family April 5
April 5, 2012, near Baba Amr: The family targeted on February 29, as well as before and after, was also hit hard on April 5. As the LCC Daily summary reports:
 * Homs: Several businessmen were martyred under torture after they were arrested from their farm in the neighborhood of Bab Amr during the raid. Their farm was burned after looting its contents. The martyrs are: Abdelhalim Mando, Yaser Abdelhalim Mando, Shawky Yaser Mando and Muhannad Yaser Mando. Their corpses have not been delivered to the families thus far.

Clearly the businessmen are related. VDC has entries for these, all civilian, from Baba-Amr, killed April 5 by "Detention - Torture." Each entry explains "They were arrested from their farm during the raids on the neighborhood of Baba Amr, were the security forces burned the farm after looting its contents." Shawki's photo is cropped from a group photo included with this Arabic report from April 7. This says the victims were a father and his two sons, plus his grandfather (his father apparently already deceased). "Activists said that security forces looted the farm which contain large amounts of money, and warehouse genuine leather, and gold pieces." There was no official statement, they say, as usual "since the beginning of the events." Described as businessmen, they apparently prospered under the "Assad regime," wearing nice suits and sitting in nice chairs, stacking up gold and leather, and passing the unspecified family business down along at least three generations.
 * Shawqi Yaser Mando age 30, photo
 * Muhanad Yaser Mando age 29, photo
 * Yaser Abdulhalim Mando age 58, photo
 * Abdulhalim Mando age 90, no photo.

Perhaps most interestingly, a child of the family was also listed by the VDC as killed in nearby Houla that same day by ostensibly random shelling: Rami Mando age 10, from Homs: Houla - killed April 5, 2012 by "shelling." No photo or further details.

Mid-April Massacre in Zahraa
(forthcoming)

Hospital Finds, May 4/5
A National Hospital in Syria, 49 Adult Male Victims According to the VDC database, 49 dead men killed several weeks ago by "shelling," emerge suddenly at the/a National Hospital in Homs May 4 and 5. These (like Mohammad Zuheir Masharqa) have the note "He was one of the victims of February and March massacres. The victims corpses were found at the National Hospital, and they were buried during the past days in Kafar Aya and Bwaida villages." All are adult males, from Homs but not specified where, no ages or details given. Who found them at the hospital, how long they'd been there, brought in by who, and buried by whom are unexplained.

The stated burial locations are familiar - south of Homs. Kafr Aya is a village immediately south of Homs itself, and "Bwaida" is likely Buweida al-Sharqiya, a few kilometers south of there. Both are quite near Abel and probably the specified villages. This is similar to the same batch of 64-68 men the VDC failed to report in February (see above). That had specified the victims were fleeing from Baba Amr, had been executed, not shelled, remained unidentified, and were taken to the National Hospital at that time by the Red Crescent. But these bodies are sold as just now found there, if aged, killed by explosives, and listed with names but almost all devoid of area specifics. Two exceptions (at least) to the last rule do specify a location, both times Baba Amr: one is "non-civilian" - "FSA" and the other is a "civilian" but shown in an army helmet. The lack of location for the rest could reflect the men being originally from other areas before rebels abducted and re-located them to Baba Amr, prior to their killing south of there.

The LCC had reported of the 64 bodies, there was a subset of "47 corpses in an area between Ghajar and Tanota," which is very close to the 49 reported in May. The LCC also do not reflect anything to support the VDC's record; their daily reports of May 4 and May 5 mention nothing about bodies turning up, nor anything unusual in Homs hospitals, aside from May 5's note from nearby Qusayr that "UN Observers Will Not Enter to Witness Tanks at National Hospital, Activist Pleas." It is possible this always referred to the National Hospital in Qusayr, not Homs, given the body recovery area between the two cities.

If these two cases are one, as seems likely, it's either a strange instance of alleged body recycling, or perhaps the new "find" was simply a made-up reason to just then report the vague identities found (or decided on). If they're not the same, there is a reported total of 117 executed adult males between the incidents. Either way, the number is substantial, there are likely many missing family members who never turned up at all, and all the relevant facts remain unclear to this day.

Halmouz and Ter-Maela Massacres
May 5, 2012, near Ter Maela : 2-3 dead? This was described as a or related to a massacre, but it may not be one. Nonetheless, it may be a small one, and is interesting. The LCC daily report, May 5, shares a video: "Martyrs of Halmouz and Teir Maalleh Massacres" Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7X9UlPuHuU (unavailable). The massacre part isn't well explained, but a text entry there adds:
 * Homs: The northern countryside; Halmouz town: A mortar hit Halmouz town from the pro-regime town Jaboureen. Three individuals have been martyred immediately and they were displaced people from Karm Al Zaytoun. An injured man is in a critical situation.

Three killed "instantly" and another critical implies a possible death toll of four. The video beneath that entry shows only a damaged building. (0:48) Another video shows one victim, adult male, slightly mangled: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJwFkw2LCbQ Syria, Halmouz +18 A mortar hit Halmouz town from the pro-Assad town Jaboureen. 5-5-2012] (2:33) The description says "they died in Halmouz while being displaced and away from home! ... This is Kofi Annan's ceasefire plan."

Ter Malea is just north of Duveir. Jabourin (placed for the bus attack, see below) is near Halmouz (within mortar range), according to the video title above. So it must be further north, closer to Talbiseh. It's all Homs area, close enough Khalidiya residents in numbers fled the violence there, only to have it quickly track them down anyway.

The VDC lists no one from Halmouz, and only two victims in/from Ter-Maela (Teir Maalle) in May, both on the 5th:
 * Ahmad Joukhdar
 * Zakaria Mahdy Al-Rayes

LCC otherwise agrees - of the three who died instantly and the fourth in limbo, all they name in the post is "Teir Ma'alla: martyrs, who fell after a mortar was fired: 1-Young Ahmad Jokhdar 2- Young Zakaria Mahdy Al-Raes." But strangely, elsewhere in Syria, this:
 * ''Raqa: Student Mostafa Khaled Al-Ibrahim was arrested from the Faculty of Civil Engineering campus, and he was taken to an unknown direction. he is from Teir Ma'alla in Homs,

That could be coincidental, but there was a third victim from there named. With a little imagination, and questioning whether Mr. Ibrahim was taken from the government-secured campus, or somewhjere more militant-accessible.

Ibrahim is a common name, but appears frequently in these massacres. Raes doesn't seem to, but Jokhdar seems to be a rarer name that's often an Alawite one. Consider in Homs unnamed male, Bab Sbaa, "shelling," 3-23-12, and unnamed, misspelled al-Jokhdar male Al Jpkhdar, October 24, 2013. From Salamia, Hama, he "was shot by one of the barriers to regime forces "Local committees" and after a search of the car turned out to have been killed by mistake, He is Alawites," CDV noted. The grammar makes it less than clear who ran the checkpoint he was shot at - both sides could have something translated "local committees." But Jpkhdar appears in the "regime casualties" list (as rank: civilian), and not on the martyrs list for those killed by the regime.

Sept. 26, 2012
(forthcoming) Sept. 26, 2012 was the Deadliest Day to date, with an unusual burst of smal-to-mid-sized massacres coordinated nationwide to break a record set in July. Homs had its share, a spike in killings but not a huge one - 35 dead total. Two Shurbaji men and a Sabouh were killed in Jobar. Otherwise, 18 more adult males, field executed in al-Bayada, and swiftly handed over to opposition media. VDC list. Names: Allawi, al-Farran, al-Tahhan, Hamid, Ahmad, and five unidentified.

Kafr Aya and Jobar Massacre(s)
January 20, 2013: Activist reports claim more massacres in the outlying soutwest areas of Homs: Massacre in Kafr Aya and Jobar in #Homs, #Syria…bordering Baba Amr. 1 year on, we make the same calls." An urgent plea from Dr Mohamad Al-Mohamad in Jobar, next to Baba Amr:
 * The Baba Amr field hospital inside Jobar neighborhood is making an urgent plea to all Free Syrian Army fighters, Alnusra brigade, anyone who fears God, Free Syrian Army in the suburbs of Homs to come help the people of Jobar immediately as well as the people of Kafr Aya and Alsultaniyeh as massacres are taking place.
 * The Alawites have made it clear they are now killing and destroying what is left of us and trying to push us out of our areas to take control, this is part of an old plan that is now being put in place by force. We call upon all fighters to come break the siege on Homs immediately, why has everyone left Homs why have you all left Homs, the city of the revolution the centre of the revolution...

Kome Family, April 2013
All Homs April 9, civilians only = 23 martyrs, 17 killed by execution and worthy of note. Nearer the top, a man, a boy, and a girl of the Kome family from Karam al-Shami died by "Detention - Torture - Execution." The girl's name is Mery, age 15. her entry notes: "Field Executed with her father and brother after being arrested on Deba Checkpoint, the bodies were given from Homs Military hospital with torture marks on their bodies." Martyrdom location: "Homs: Hasya" There may be a Hasya somewhere, but this is quite likely Haswiyeh, perhaps where they fled, or were taken, before being killed there by whoever, in the unknowable space between the checkpoint abduction and the hospital hand-over.

April 9 Qusour Finds
All Homs April 9, civilians only = 23 martyrs, 17 killed by execution. Three are covered above, and 14 bodies were reported found, mostly of people from Qusour area, including five children. The date of death is apparently grossly inaccurate: Five were identified and contained this note:
 * A mass massacre that was committed towards the residents of Qusour neighborhood was found today. People believe that it occurred in the time between the 4th and the 5th months of 2012. The bodies of 3 adults, 4 children (aged between 14 and 15), a child about 8 to 10 years old, and a grown woman were found near Al-Hal market; their hands were tied to the back and they were completely burned. The ages are according to the doctor


 * The identified: Tamer Mohammad Zouheir Soos Am - Salim Abdulsalam al-Shaherli AM - Mohammad Ahmad Qaysoon CM - Hayfaa al-Najjar AF - Ahmad Qaysoon AM.


 * 9 others unidentified, all listed as adult male, with a shorter version of the note.

The activists do not explain where and how these bodies were found, they think, about a year after the people died. Given that and the reported burning - of all bodies, it sounds like - it's reasonable that many weren't identified. How they identified the other five is not explained, but that too can be done, even without the inside knowledge of the case rebels seem to deny here but may actually have. It could be too that the victims died far less than a year prior to this.

Qaddour Family Massacre
On April 10, 2013, another ten victims of an apparently Bedouin family of rural Homs were martyred, with great cruelty. Including 7 children (an eighth child had reached 18), the Qaddours were massacred by, according to opposition sources, "Shabiha" of specific families they named. Whether or not "both sides blame each other," ACLOS encourages and pursues skepticism of claims like that. There's also cause for concern over an 11th victims at least - the mother of the children killed - said to have survived.

The victims listed, per the VDC, each labeled with the area of Homs "Kherbat al-Tin," cause of death: field execution, and the notes "A massacre committed by Kahla family - they are Shabiha" regime's armed thugs", where more than ten people from Qaddour family field executed after being tortured, then the Shabiha stole all their cattle."
 * Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour Adult Male, age 45, married with children
 * Samaa Ramadan al-Barjes Adult female, age 75, married and has children
 * Thelejan Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour Adult male, age 18
 * Khatma Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, female, age 17
 * Jasem Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, male, age 10
 * Hanadi Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, male, age 9
 * Jaber Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, male, age 8
 * Samya Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, female, age 7
 * Hadi Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, male, age 5
 * Soumaa Mohammad Thelejan al-Qaddour child, female, age 2

There's an extremely graphic video, 2:40, of the victims. Local activists, visibly extremely upset, try to upset their audience showing close-ups of horrific injuries - sliced throats, gouged-out eyes, etc. and a lengthy explanation in Arabic. (ACLOS has not analyzed the content of the video yet)
 * English language posting: Syria, Homs: +18 A Massacre against an Entire Family 04/11/2013 (English susbtitles and description, wrong date). The top comment below says in response: "All alawits must die"
 * Arabic posting: مجزرة في ريف حمص الغربي بالقرب من قرية تل الشور 10-4-2013 +18 with proper date. This posting - uploaded April 11 - is shared with each of the VDC entries.

Video description (first video):
 * The Shabiha of Abbas family along with the Shabiha of the neighboring villages attacked the victims' homes, which are tents they have been living in for twenty years near the village of Tal al Shor among three pro regime villages of Alawite majority. The attackers tortured the victims, executed them with pullets in the head and then slaughtered them with knives. They also stole 700 heads of cattle, in addition to the victims' property of money and gold....
 * Note that two Alawite families - Abbas and Kahla - are named between these sources, and so set up for revenge.
 * ''... Note that the mother of the children is still being treated in Al Zaim hospital in Homs. She is in a very critical condition and we ask Allah to recover soon.''
 * The VDC listed the only dead female as aged 75, so clearly not the mother of any of these 8 children, ranging from 2 to 18. It's troubling that among the dead the only thing missing is the female(s) of childbearing years (we have no guarantee this was the original number minus one - there are many childrten there, as well as a gap between two clusters). This obviously raises the question of whether the mother(s) or any missing daughters truly survived in a hospital, or in some worse condition as war booty alongside the cattle and gold.

Location: Khirbet al-Tin is not pinned down, but the video description says it's near a village of Tal al-Shor, presumably Tall Shawr on Wikimapia, the square village centered here on Google Maps. It's just southwest of Homs then, by Lake Homs, with Jobar, Qatinah, and Abel being nearby areas.

Jabourin Bus Attack
September 19, 2013 (forthcoming)

Nabk: Al-Faeouri Family
December 8/9, 2013, Nabk: Ten relatives from Deir Baalba, Homs, displaced to the Damascus area, are killed there - around Nabk - in Decmeber 2013. By VDC records, on December 8, four adult men were killed by "shelling" in "Damascus Suburbs: Nabk." Described as "FSA," they apparently came to fight, but quite possibly not. Their last names all are al-Saleh al-Faeouri. Then, 6 members killed Dec. 9 by "shooting" somewhere in "Damascus suburbs." Same basic area, four adult females and two adult males, all named al-Darweesh al-Faeouri except one woman named al-Afnan al-Faeouri.

That's an unusual pattern, but meshes with the previous day's to suggest 4 husband-wife sets and two single men, all coming to fight or to be there for the fighters. The name Darwish has been of interest here, frequently massacred (see talk page section), and Faeouri is emerging as a frequent name killed singly within different massacres.

Nabk: Alnshywaty Family
At least four members of a Alnshywaty family (Arabic: النشيواتي) who were displaced from Bab Dreib district by violence there. They relocated to the Damascus area and were massacred there during a time of firece fighting between terroriist hordes and the national military, who surely blame each other.

(This is one of a growing number of Homs massacres, same names and patterns, but happening outside Homs in the community of those displaced, especially those unfortunate enough to wind up in Nabk, Damascus province, in December 2013. (talk page section)
 * December 26, 2013: SOHR Facebook post:
 * An internally displaced family of four (husband, wife and their daughter and the wife's sister) from Homs were killed overnight in the town of al-Nabek. Activists accused regime forces of killing them and burning their bodies. A rebel leader was killed in the eastern Ghouta clashes. Clashes continue in Adra between ISIS and regime forces, supported by Hizbullah and other militia.

The family is unnamed, but the VDC eventually listed them. From Bab Draib, Homs, Date of death: 2013-12-25. Martyrdom location: Damascus Suburbs: Nabk. Cause of Death: "Other." Notes: "A massacre of a family whose bodies were found burned at the hands of members of the Iraqi forces and the Lebanese."
 * Mamdouh al-Nshaiwati Adult male, "called as Abo Shafeeq." (this means he's a rebel guy, I think)
 * Fariha al-Nshaiwati Adult Female, wife of Mamdouh Alnshaiwati
 * Sawsan Mamdouh al-Nshaiwati Adult Female (the daughter, implicitly)
 * Fawziz al-Nshaiwati Adult Female, sister of Fariha

al-Noaemi Family, December 2013
On December 28, 7 members of the al-Noaemi family were reported massacred in the "Ezzedine" area of Homs province. ACLOS does not have this pinned down yet. VDC list for Ezzedine, all December = 10 martyrs, nine from this family. On December 28: Notes	The family of Abdulla Khaled Saoud al-Matar al-Noaemi slaughtered by Shabbiha forces, including his 6 children
 * Abdullah Khaled al-Seoud al-Matar al-Noeimi Ez al-Deen Salim Cause of Death: Other
 * shortened names for the others: his wife, Najem, Sohail, daughter 1, daughter 2, family 7, all listed as Adult-Male.

Same day, different family: Usama Awad al-Matar killed in Ezzedine by "shelling." Different day, same family: Nour al-Huda Husain al-Saroot al-Noaemi girl, age 2, photo after death, and Mohammad Aysar al-Fayad al-Noaemi boy, baby by the photo, both killed December 23, five days before their relatives, by random "warplane shelling," specifically with "explosive barrels." Otherwise it seems to remain a fairly quiet town.