Talk:Homs Massacres

Page Scope
The scope is negotiable. It could include all Homs province (which stretches way back into big areas where relatively little happens), or any of these more core areas: Houla, Qusayr, Rastan, Talbiseh, al-Ghanto, etc. I say Houla has a page, Qusayr has a page, and Rastan/Talbiseh could. Hama clearly could use its own place, perhaps including Rastan et al. This could get big enough just on Homs city, immediate suburbs, etc. The Abel massacre should be included, despite being between Homs and Qusayr orbits, since Baba Amr was emptied the day before and that's likely where the killers came from. Spots to the east not in anyone else's orbit could be included; I think that might cover Maksar al-Husn - nah, too far out, unless we can connect it to militants from Homs. Different thoughts welcome. --Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Manner of inclusion: general timeline with entries, links in most cases (depending how many entries we finally have). Most links for now will be to pages, but a lot of smaller massacres will need space short of a page, which will be a section on this page.--Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

This might be a stupid page, best dome as one thread of the Homs answer to Life in Liberated Qusayr. Can be made mobile in time, so no big rush to judgment I suppose. Still a good spot to work out the massacres and a few related issues. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:25, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

I've decided Rastan is too far off, too much in Hama's orbit, and too big with an orbit of its own, to include here. But at least up to and probably including Talbiseh should be included, certainly Ghanto, Jabourin, etc. Hama and Rastan and surroundings should get their own page in time, which could get huge. Idlib's page too will be insane if it ever happens and gets filled-in. --Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Locations
The following map gives the range of districts in Homs as I could assemble it this early. The borders and labels are all per Wikimapia, some with ssome translation or shift to a spelling I'm using. I'm finding it useful enough to place things I run across, even with different spellings. Some borders left out for readability. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:34, 12 December 2013 (UTC) Color-coding: I felt compelled to color something, even though I don't have enough data yet to make some kind of demographic or protest-density infographic. Red clearly is the rebel hotbed, clearly visible. Purple = the big distruicts, somewhere ion which, the bigger massacres of February and March reportedly happened. Otherwise, blue = district as outlined on Wikimapia (note discontinuous al-Wa'er to the west) and green = outlying village, or green belt, depending. al-Sitteen street is a place cited where bodies were often dumped after murky assassinations. Different and more useful color-coding possible in time. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:36, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

Broader area map: The are shaded yellow and towns in it should be included here, I think. Surrounding areas with pages in green (Houla) orange (Qusayr) and red (Rastan). --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:58, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Full Timeline
As soon as it's half-ready this will go on the front page. --Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Some notes are meant to transport in time. I intend to have a fairly clean timeline. :) --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:51, 1 December 2013 (UTC)


 * 2011
 * April 17: page: Tellawi Family Massacre An Alawite brigadier-General and his son and two nephews (all teenagers) were dragged from their car and brutally murdered and mutilated. Both sides blamed each other.


 * April 19 (early AM): "Massacre of Time" aka Clock Square Massacre (section) City Center, App. 12 dead, "dozens," or over 200: accounts vary


 * After these April incidents and before December, there may be more but on searching around, "massacre" just doesn't come up, in Homs, very frequently in 2011. There was constant murky violence and near-daily deaths, but no one seemed to pull off anything quite like what we now know as the Syria style of massacre. April 18 they called it one, April 17, my choice, maybe not the best. Anything else even vying for a slot here gets a dot below this, in proper order. --Caustic Logic (talk) 09:51, 1 December 2013 (UTC)


 * 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. [47]"


 * August 10 or so: ""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." (source)


 * December 4-6, 2011: 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." (Al-Jazeera blog, Dec. 5) The page explores this allegation and various reports of the days December 3-7.


 * Late December "Baba Amr Massacre" - In the days before and during a long-sought visit by the Arab League's observers to the rebel hotbed starting December 27, regime forces in and around the (rebel-held?) district went on a spree of Shabiha in-home executions and strange shelling. It's not yet clear who this does or should include, and who killed them, but there was in Baba Amr in those days a "sheikh" killed in fromt of a mosque, a former local head of the Ba'ath party and his wife, a little boy shot by "regime's forces" slapped across the hood of the Arab League's truck, and quite a few others, seem collectively worth a look. (section forthcoming) --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:33, 13 December 2013 (UTC)


 * 2012
 * January 24: A "massacre" by shelling, allegedly, leaving horribly mangled victims. Bab Tadmour.


 * 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, left where opposition activists would find them and be able to prove the "Shabiha" slaughter, as they branded it.


 * January 30: section, Mohammad Family, Jan. 30: Again, Karm al-Zaytoun, another family - of 6, named Mohammed as reported - is killed in their home. Held in it and tortured for five days, rebels learned, but then the killers just walked away and let the rebels walk in and film it. Some horrible signs are a little too-exposed, similar to what the shelling here often does, but this time they swear humans - Shabiha anyway - did this stuff deliberately, over days, probably in front of each other.


 * February 3/4: page: Khalidiya Massacre 138 listed victims in Khalidiya, 181 total in Homs this day. Reports say "Assad regime" shelling kills over 200 civilians, largely in Khalidiya, on the eve of another UNSC meeting to, perhaps, pressure the butcher Assad from power. The government says rebels massacred hostages they were holding and falsely labeled them as killed by the government's necessary offensive against the abductors of Syria''s people infesting many districts of Homs. (this pattern of strangely fatal alleged shelling repeats all through these allegations, but is perhaps most acutely central in this case) 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. This will warrant more study. Also, it's said some victims on video were chained in their "home" and some were allegedly recognized as citizens previously taken captive by rebels.


 * February 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 or so 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.


 * 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)


 * 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, or 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.


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


 * April 15: Wikipedia: "SANA also reported that terrorists killed 12 civilians in the Alawite, pro-Assad, neighborhood of al-Zahra in what seemed like an FSA attack on the neighborhood."


 * May 4/5: Hospital "find" of "February and March massacres" victims - app. 50, all or most adult males, all killed by "shelling." section: Hospital Finds, May 4/5


 * May 4/5: Halmouz/Ter-Maalleh massacres: in two villages north of Homs, mortars kill and char an unsure number of people, some displaced from Homs' Khalidiya district. section: Halmouz and Ter-Maalleh Massacres


 * 2013
 * January 15: page: Haswiyeh Massacre Once again, over 100 people were killed in a Homs massacre! 106 to Houla's 108, everyone crowed. Shabiha killed that many locals, they said. Others (actual locals living there) said an al-Nusra front suicide mission killed about 30 civilian locals, and apparently about 75 militants were killed in the following battle.


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


 * April 11: Graphic Video: A Massacre against an Entire Family 04/11/2013 Description:
 * ''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 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.''
 * Comment: "All alawits must die"


 * May 27: page: Al-Duvair massacre The Christian village of Duvair/Duweir is on the northwest fringe of Homs, almost touching Busatin al-Haswiyeh, where the Haswiyeh massacre was carried out by uncertain rebel units, four months earlier. 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. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:24, 4 December 2013 (UTC)


 * September 19: section: Jabourin Bus Attack App. 19 killed in a terrorist roadside bomb attack on two busses carrying people to the Alawite village of Jabourin, north of Homs near Talbiseh.

(forthcoming, God forbid)
 * 2014

Specific Events
Those 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. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:03, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
 * That 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. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 02:21, 10 November 2013 (UTC)

A year later, Rose al-Homsi posted an account from witness to the April 18 protest and the night-time violence. 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 from the parked vehicles, if they came and asked. "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." Doesn't sound like much of a massacre, really. But then, there's the other witness cited for this report: "One of the injured protesters that were present there 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 yes, that is a weak point in this "miserable" tale.

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 had not seen with their own eyes the dead bodies, since they had ran away." The CDV databse shows a total of 12 documented martyrs in Homs April 18 and 19 combined, sharing 8 family names between them. Let's say all are from this murky "massacre"; and that's probably the size of it, roughly. One factor to consider is that "the number of missing people is very high," 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..." --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:46, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

Later, in mid-March, 2012, two men described as something like Shabiha were put on rebel video as having admitted involvement in this massacre. copied from Talk:Karm al-Zaytoun Massacre: A rebel news story on the video added 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) --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:03, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Bahader-Akkra Family Massacre
January 26, 2012 - a massacre in Karm al-Zaytoun (KaZ). LCC report Syria News - January 26 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos) Videos from Homs, graphic indeed, purport to show "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 some of the worst imagery imaginable. I've looked at these videos before with no context. I thought I had written down notes but cannot find them. We see brutal deaths - clearly sliced throats on babies, hacked-open or smashed-apart skulls on all ages, etc. Just the freeze-frames at the 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.

Actually, that's about it, aside from the shocking videos begging an explanation. We guess there was a massacre connected to this, and once again rebels scooped up the evidence up before anyone else could. 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. That's a little odd. --Caustic Logic (talk) 15:17, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

The VDC martyrs database is more helpful here, ppresuming 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.
 * 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." = 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. At least six children, and at least five women, all civilians and absolutely mauled in their homes, left where opposition activists would find them and be able to prove the "Shabiha" slaughter of the type that would become so famous four months later in the form of the Houla Massacre. --Caustic Logic (talk) 15:17, 30 November 2013 (UTC)
 * 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."
 * Other KaZ (3) field executed, same notes, same video as above: Kenana Affara AF age 28 - Waed Hamsho AF age 19 - Samir Wahoud AM age 50.
 * As I've previously noted elsewhere, around this time (I didn't even save the date) "Late January, 2012" someone posted a video, now pulled, claiming "Shabiha record their own Homs massacre, rebels later found and published "Syria Shabiha Cell Phone Secrets - Self Video of Homs Massacre." Wouldn't it be interesting if the "Shabiha" who cut these kids' throats recorded some part of their massacre, and rebels managed to get it from them, as well as the bodies, within a matter of five days at most? Not only did I not save the video, I don't think I watched it, and cannot find a mirror posting of it anywhere. Can another brain help? --Caustic Logic (talk) 15:43, 30 November 2013 (UTC)
 * The massacre of the Mohammad family below might be a candidate too, with more back-story to it a video might have assisted in. --Caustic Logic (talk) 11:53, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

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.--Caustic Logic (talk) 11:53, 1 December 2013 (UTC)
 * 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.--Caustic Logic (talk) 11:53, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

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:
 * Syria News - January 30 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
 * The number of martyrs in Syria until this moment has reached 100, among them are 8 children and a woman. 76 people were martyred in Homs, among them are two families, one in Karam Zeitoun and the other in Rasta. [sic]
 * ...Homs
 * 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!

Cited video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E44MkwaXCo. Under heading "(01-30-12) Karam az-Zaytoun massacre | Homs | Child, Ahmad Al-Muhammad Murdered by Assad" another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXwaodGhMp0. The description they provide is fair enough, and few people if any need to watch this filth. It's one of the more hideous things I've ever seen, especially the baby with guts squished out, the "disabled" boy in a poorly-improvised diaper, and mom's blown-out (or they say pulled out) eye ... All but mom are laid out in their underwear in good lighting so you can see where humans with tools - not random shelling and they acknowledge it this time - dug holes into the soft parts of all their bodies, it looks like. They suggest the torture was done to members of the family in front of each other just for the added emotional anguish of it, and made a point of spreading it out over five days of living hell. And it could be so; they seem to be the experts, or know the experts, in what happened. The five days would have started about January 25, the day before some exuberant new criminals in the KaZ area slaughtered people from two other families (see above).

Besides the videos, the text reports in 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. Also, 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).
 * "...able to arrive to the home of the murdered family" obviously is more accurately rendered "caught at the scene of the crime." Or ... it's not clear yet what this means. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:50, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

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. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:50, 1 December 2013 (UTC)
 * 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.

Sebil-Cairo Street Massacre
February 7, Sebil, Wadi al-Arab, and "Cairo Street" - at least 18 killed This massacre re-sets the pattern, so evident in the Khalidiya Massacre three days earlier, 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." The LCC report had this to report: "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: Adult female Sabah Ahmad Alwan is also listed by VDC as married, to who unstated.


 * 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 Sabil 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.

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 (4 members). 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 (I need to study the videos someday) 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 Sabil, 4 on Cairo Street, Skaff and Mihini = these rebels managed to scoop up and collect at least 18 bodies - likely 20 or more - for this "Wadi al-Arab Massacre." Shabiha did it, they say, but again mobile rebels got the bodies. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:42, 6 December 2013 (UTC) and --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:34, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Jinyat Family Massacre
February 20, 2012 - Malaab district

(forthcoming)

Abel Massacre, Feb. 27 2012

 * LCC Feb. 27
 * Today, Monday, ended with 144 martyrs including 64 in Baba Amr neighborhood who were slaughtered in Abel area in Homs, ...
 * Homs: 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.

Videos: none. Top photo (7 shirtless adult males laid out dead) captioned: "BABA AMR: Some of the bodies of the 64 martyrs of Baba Amr."


 * Wikipedia, Siege of Homs:
 * On 27 February 2012, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 68 bodies were found between the villages of Ram al-Enz and Ghajariyeh and were taken to the central hospital of Homs. The wounds showed that some of the dead were shot while others were killed by cutting weapons. The Local Coordination Committees, another opposition group, reported that 64 dead bodies were found, all adult men. These two sources hypothesized that the victims were civilians who tried to flee the battle in Homs and were then killed by a pro-government militia. [147][148]

This is the second massacre in Abel we've considered at this site. The first was later, the Abel massacre of March 25, 2013. That time, at least 14-21 locals were slaughtered by Shabiha, beheaded or hacked-up and burnt, with the killers making videos that, along with the bodies, were in rebel hands in short order, allowing them to "prove" the claim it wasn't them. This was the day after Baba Amr was announced cleared and safe, yet again, by the Syrian Arab Army. When far more died in Abel in 2012, it was the day before Baba Amr was cleared - announced on Feb. 28. Retreating, enraged rebel brigades of Baba Amr were apparently both stronger and more on-the-ball in 2012. --Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

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 - a father, a mother, a son, and three daughters, with little to no details given, and entirely 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, lots, embedded right there, that can take forever to load AND then upset you)
 * 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 father looks maybe bloated but some people do, and neither he nor anyone is discolored or old looking past maybe a day or so (it's either before or after rigor mortis). The combined suggestion, however logical, is that the Shabiha spent some days with these people, perhaps torturing them, before killing them around Dec. 26, and then leaving the site for activists to find on the 27th. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

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 a bit all over, leaving little circular orange wounds, and horribly burned legs, to the bone in spots. I don't see anything obvious I'd call mutilation, aside from by fire, but I'll trust their assessment. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Homs: Khaldiyeh: Massacre of the Darwish family: Father's Body Mutilated - 2-27-12 Al Khalidiya

This is a boy of - I don't know, ten? He's a tad on the chubby side, and died badly. He too is burned all over, 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 smoke-stained forehead and blackened lips, perhaps beyond ordinary smoke inhalation. The order of operations is unclear. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
 * 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 causes dark eyes (early decay?) Another girl is smaller, maybe 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


 * Saving of copies failed on all of these - Youtube is now blocking more videos in a more aggressive way. I'm saving still when I do. Also, many videos are now pulled, which is why saving was and is important, so history says boo to Youtube. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

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. He's listed as killed by simple shooting, and from his face alone we can't make any link to this burning massacre. --Caustic Logic (talk) 12:19, 13 December 2013 (UTC)

Mando Family Massacre
April 5, 2012: LCC Daily summary:
 * 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 photo 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 (random?) shelling: An adult male of the Mando family was among those 100+ civilian males killed in the Khalidiya Massacre by "shelling" on February 3/4. --Caustic Logic (talk) 13:42, 6 December 2013 (UTC)
 * Rami Mando age 10, from Homs: Houla - killed April 5, 2012 by "shelling." No photo or further details. --Caustic Logic (talk) 07:45, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Hospital Finds, May 4/5
A National Hospital in Syria - 49 dead men from weeks ago, all adult males killed 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," south of Homs. All are adult males, from Homs but not specified where, no ages or details given. Kafr Aya is immediately south of Homs itself, and "Bwaida" is Buweid al-Sharqiya, a few kilometers south of there. --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:08, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

I spotted this just skimming the VDC database. Killed by shelling, Homs, May 3-6: May 3 = 0. May 4 (Friday) = 43, all adult male. May 5 = 11. May 6 = 0. Total = 54 and here I can get a list of 49 with that note about "February and March massacres." --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:08, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Two exceptions (at least) to the rules specify a location, both times Baba Amr: one is "non-civilian" - "FSA" and the other is a "civilian" but shown in an army helmet. --Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

There are less familar-to-me names here than with Khalidiya - but one common family name is Janseiz - 3 members: Adham Janseez - Sadeq Janseiz - Akram Abdulrazzaq Janseiz --Caustic Logic (talk) 10:08, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Halmouz and Ter-Maalleh Massacres
May 5, 2012, Ter Malla and Halmouz, near Talbiseh
 * LCC: Syria News - May 5, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
 * Video: "Martyrs of Halmouz and Teir Maalleh Massacres"
 * 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. 

The bodies shown are charred. Ter Malea is just north of Duveir, Jabourin (placed for the bus attack, see below) is near Halmouz: a graphic video says "Syria, Halmouz +18 A mortar hit Halmouz town from the pro-Assad town Jaboureen. 5-5-2012" 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.--Caustic Logic (talk) 06:01, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

Two others from May 5, not part of this massacres list are from "Teir Maalle" - Zakaria Mahdy Al-Rayes and Ahmad Joukhdar, age 29, shelled in al-Ghanto. The latter is sometimes an Alawite name - one "Jpkhdar" was shot at a rebel checkpoint "by accident." Listed as "regime forces." So apparently these are not the same -

Jabourin Bus Attack
September 19, 2013, near Homs and Talbiseh

19 people, most or all civilian and mosr or all Alawite, were killed when terrorists detonated a roadside bomb nest to two buses transporting people to the Alawite village of Jabourin, just north of Homs. Location: Ard al Jabburin on Wikimapia - right by Talbiseh, near the arbitrary cut-off line between Homs and Rastan orbits. Reuters reported "A roadside bomb killed at least 14 members of President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite on Thursday ... The blast targeted two buses near the Alawite village of Jabourin, 13 km (8 miles) north of Homs city, said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. ... Citing a source in a local military hospital, Abdelrahman told Reuters that nine of the victims in Thursday's explosion were civilians while the others may have belonged to the National Defence Forces, a loyalist paramilitary group. He said that clashes broke out between rebel fighters and members of the NDF after the explosion.'' An AP report said "A Syrian official says a roadside bomb has targeted a bus in the country's central province, killing 19 people. The official at the governor's office in Homs province says Thursday's explosion in the village of Jbourin also wounded four people on the bus. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The village is predominantly Alawite, a minority sect to which President Bashar Assad belongs, but it also has Christians and Sunnis. It was not immediately clear why the bus was targeted.''

Army Presence in Homs
One of my goals here is to lay this timeline of atrocities out side-by-side with the timeline of military presence vs. pull-back in Homs. I've been vague on that. The Wikipedia page plus what I'm reading elsewhere help little. Altogether, so far, there's disagreement in the record as to when the army pulled out, how fully, and for how long. Locals in al-Bayada in late November at the time of the The Killing of Sari Saoud claim there was no army there, then, but that may have been a local pull-back of a case of posts chased away - there was a serious rebel offensive in the preceding days. It seems in early December Syria agreed to pull back from Homs, did so soon after, and by year's end activists and Arab League observers alike agreed there was at least no visual military presence there. Allegations of army this and army that, snipers, incursions, and of course distance shelling, continued all throughout.

Wikipedia's page does note: "On 23 January, a military officer at the main city hospital claimed to foreign journalists that rebels have taken control over two-thirds of the city with army casualties being at 4 to 5 dead and 10 to 50 wounded soldiers and security officials per day." When the army allegedly unleashed artillery on Khalidiya on the night of February 3, citizens reported the dead shown on rebel video as relatives taken hostage. SANA reported:
 * “Had the army been here, our houses wouldn’t have been shelled and those innocent people wouldn’t have been killed,” said Da’d Darwish from Ikremah neighborhood, sobbing with fear and anger.
 * The citizens called on the Syrian army to enter the city of Homs to protect them from the crimes of the armed terrorist groups that have been killing and abducting citizens and shelling the houses and neighborhoods.

It's not clear just when they came back in on this popular request, but it was by the 28th of February they announced the full re-conquest of Baba Amr, well on the path to re-securing all of Homs. I don't believe they ever did agree to a pull-out of that type, ever again. --Caustic Logic (talk) 14:57, 4 December 2013 (UTC)