List of massacres during the Syrian civil war

      Sieges and crackdowns:

      Armed clashes:

      During cease-fire:

      Resumed fighting:

      Rebel and Army offensives

      International incidents:

      Dozens of massacres have been carried out during the Syrian civil war to date. This is a partial list. The perpetrators of the massacres were accused to be ether the government or the opposition, though most have been found to be the work of pro-government militias known as the Shabiha.

      List of massacres

      2011

      • Between 19 and 20 December 2011, a massacre occurred in the Jabal al-Zawiya mountains of Idlib Governorate. The killings started after a large group of soldiers tried to defect from Army positions over the border to Turkey. Intense clashes between the military and the defectors, who were supported by other rebel fighters, erupted. After two days of fighting, 235 defectors, 100 pro-government soldiers and 120 civilians were killed.[1]

      2012

      • On 25 May 2012, the Houla massacre occurred in two opposition-controlled villages in the Houla Region of Syria, a cluster of villages north of Homs. According to the United Nations, 108 people were killed, including 34 women and 49 children. UN investigators have reported that witnesses and survivors stated that the massacre was committed by pro-government Shabiha.[2] The Syrian government alleged that Al-Qaeda terrorist groups were responsible for the killings, and that Houla residents were warned not to speak publicly by opposition forces.[3][4]
      • On 29 May 2012, a mass execution was discovered near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor. The unidentified corpses of 13 men had been discovered shot to death execution-style.[5] On 5 June 2012, the rebel Al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the killings, stating that they had captured and interrogated the soldiers in Deir ez-Zor and "justly" punished them with death, after they confessed to crimes.[6]
      • On 31 May 2012, there were reports of a massacre in the Syrian village of al-Buwaida al-Sharqiya. According to sources, 13 factory workers had been rounded up and shot dead by pro-government forces.[7] Syrian government sources blamed rebel forces for the killings.[8]
      • On 6 June 2012, the Al-Qubeir massacre occurred in the small village of Al-Qubeir near Hama. According to preliminary evidence, troops had surrounded the village which was followed by pro-government Shabiha militia entering the village and killing civilians with "barbarity," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the UN Security Council.[9] The death toll, according to opposition activists, was estimated to be between 55 and 68.[10] Activists, and witnesses,[11] stated that scores of civilians, including children, had been killed by Shabiha militia and security forces, while the Syrian government said that nine people had been killed by "terrorists".[12]
      • On 23 June 2012, 25 Shabiha militiamen were killed by Syrian rebels in the city of Daret Azzeh. They were part of a larger group kidnapped by the rebels. The fate of the others kidnapped was unknown.[13] Many of the corpses of the shabiha militia killed were in military uniform.[14]
      • Between 20 and 25 August 2012, the Darayya massacre was reported in the town of Darayya in the Rif Dimashq province. Between 320[15] and 500[16] people were killed in a five-day Army assault on the town, which was rebel-held. At least 18 of the dead were identified as rebels.[17] According to the opposition, Human Rights Watch and some local residents the killings were committed by the Syrian military and Shabiha militiamen.[18] According to the government and some local residents they were committed by rebel forces.[19]
      • On 11 December 2012, the Aqrab massacre, also known as the Aqrab bombings, occurred in the predominantly Alawite village of Aqrab, Hama Governorate. Between 125 and 200 people were reported killed or wounded, only 10 confirmed as dead, when rebel fighters threw bombs at a building in which hundreds of Alawite civilians, with some pro-government militiamen, were taking refuge from the fighting that had been raging in the town.[20][21] Most of the victims were Alawites.[22]
      • On 23 December 2012, the Halfaya massacre occurred in the small town of Halfaya, where between 23[23][24] to 300[25] people were allegedly killed by bombing from warplanes. Reportedly, the civilians in the city of Halfaya were killed while queing for bread at a bakery.[25]BBC correspondent Jim Muir has noted that it is not conclusive from the video that the building was a bakery. He also noted that despite initial claims by rebels that many women and children were among the dead, of the 23 people identified as dead - all of them were men. Muir added: "it is not out of the question that regime jets managed to strike a concentration of rebel fighters."[23]
      • On 24 December 2012, the Talbiseh bakery massacre took place in the town of Talbiseh. More than 14 people were killed by bombing from warplanes from the Syrian government.[26] The civilians in the city were killed while queuing for bread at a local bakery.[27]

      2013

      • On 15 January 2013, government troops stormed the village of Basatin al-Hasawiya on the outskirts of Homs city reportedly killing 106 civilians, including women and children, by shooting, stabbing or possibly burning them to death.
      • On 15 January 2013, twin explosions of unknown origin killed 87 people at Aleppo's university, many of them students attending exams. The government and opposition blamed each other for the explosions at the university.[28]
      • Between 29 January and 14 March 2013, opposition activists claimed that they were able to fish out 230 bodies out of a river in Aleppo, accusing government forces of being the ones who executed the men since the bodies came down the river from the direction of government-held areas of the city. However, Human Rights Watch was able to identify only 147 of the victims, all male and aged between 11 and 64.[29]
      • On 23 March 2013, an alleged chemical weapons attack was carried out in the town of Khan al-Assal, on the outskirts of Aleppo. 25–31 people were killed. Both the government and the rebels traded blame for the attack, although the opposition activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that 16 of the dead were government soldiers. According to the government, 21 of the dead were civilians, while 10 were soldiers. Russia supported the government's allegations, while the United States said their was no evidence of any attack at all.[30][31][32][33]
      • Between 2 and 3 May 2013, the Bayda and Baniyas massacres occurred in which pro-government militiamen allegedly killed between 128 and 245 people in the Tartus Governorate, apparently in retaliation for an earlier rebel attack near the town that left at least half a dozen soldiers dead. State media stated their forces were seeking only to clear the area of "terrorists". In all, the military claimed that they killed 40 "terrorists" in Bayda and Baniyas.
      • On 14 and 16 May 2013, two videos surfaced of the execution of government soldiers by Islamic extremists in eastern Syria. In one, members of the groups Islamic State of Iraq and Bilad al-Sham shot dead three prisoners in the middle of a square in Ar-Raqqah city, whom they alleged were Syrian Army officers.[34][35] It was later revealed that two of the three killed prisoners were not Syrian Army officers, but Alawite civilians. One was a dentist and the other was his nephew, a teacher.[36] The other video showed the Al-Nusra Front executing 11 government soldiers in the eastern Deir al-Zor province. That video is believed to had dated back to some time in 2012.[37]
      • The Hatla massacre occurred on 11 June 2013, when Syrian rebels killed 60 Shi'ite villagers in the village of Hatla, near Deir el-Zour. The killings were reportedly in retaliation for an attack by Shi'ite pro-government fighters from the village, a day earlier, in which four rebels were killed. According to opposition activists, most of the dead were pro-government fighters but civilians were killed as well, including women and children. Rebels also burned civilian houses during the takeover. 10 rebel fighters were killed during the attack. 150 Shi'ite residents fled to the nearby government-held village of Jafra.
      • On 18 June 2013, 20 people were killed in a Grad missile attack on the home of Parliament member Ahmad al-Mubarak, who is also the head of the Bani Izz clan, in the town of Abu Dala. Opposition activists claimed that he was killed by government forces. However, Ahmad al-Mubarak was a well-known government supporter and one of his aids was executed by rebels a week earlier.[38]
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      See also

      Portal icon Syrian civil war portal
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      References

      1. ^ "Syria unrest: Jabal al-Zawiya 'massacres'". BBC News. 19 January 2012. 
      2. ^ Nebehay, Stephanie (May 29, 2012). "Most Houla victims killed in summary executions: U.N.". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2012. 
      3. ^ "Syria: Armed Terrorist Groups committed Taldao, al-Shoumarieh Massacres". DP News. SANA. May 29, 2012. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012. 
      4. ^ Allafi, F.; Said, H. (May 26, 2012). "New Massacres by al-Qaeda-linked Terrorist Groups against Families in al-Shumariyeh and Taldo in Homs Countryside". Syrian Arab News Agency. Archived from the original on May 26, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012. 
      5. ^ Gladstone, Rick (May 30, 2012). "U.S. Envoy Sees Grim Outcome for Syria". New York Times. 
      6. ^ Militant group claims killing of 13 in Syria
      7. ^ "New Syria 'mass killing' reported ahead of UN meeting". BBC News. 1 June 2012. 
      8. ^ "Syrian factory workers ordered off bus and executed in third massacre in a week... as Hague refuses to rule out military action to oust Assad's brutal regime". Daily Mail. 1 June 2012. 
      9. ^ Gun battles rage in streets of Damascus – Middle East. Al Jazeera English (4 October 2011). Retrieved on 10 June 2012.
      10. ^ "Syria Qubair: Bloody traces of massacre seen in village". BBC. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012. 
      11. ^ Chulov, Martin (7 June 2012). "Syrian regime troops and militiamen 'seen walking towards massacre site'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2012. 
      12. ^ "New 'massacre' reported in Syria's Hama province". BBC News. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012. 
      13. ^ "Twenty-five Citizens at Least Killed in a Massacre by Terrorist Groups in Daret Azzeh in Aleppo". Sana.sy. 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2012-06-22. 
      14. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57458624/syrian-govt-rebels-massacre-dozens-of-shabiha/
      15. ^ "Dozens more bodies found at Syria massacre site". Los Angeles Times. August 27, 2012. 
      16. ^ "Syria crisis: Daraya massacre leaves a ghost town still counting its dead". The Guardian. 7 September 2012. 
      17. ^ "Final death-toll for Friday 24/8/2012: More than 210 Syrians have been killed on Friday," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (24 August 2012). Retrieved 5 May 2013.
      18. ^ http://www.nowlebanon.com/BlogDetails.aspx?TID=2619&FID=6
      19. ^ Fisk, Robert (29 August 2012). "Robert Fisk: Inside Daraya - how a failed prisoner swap turned into a massacre". The Independent. 
      20. ^ Up to 200 hurt in attack on Syrian Alawite village – activists. Reuters (6 December 2012).
      21. ^ Mackey, Robert. (18 December 2012) Accounts of a Siege in Syria Differ on Rebel YouTube Channels and British Television. The New York Times.
      22. ^ 125 victims in Syria Alawite bombing. News.com.au. Australian Associated Press, 12 December 2012
      23. ^ a b Syrian peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in talks with Assad
      24. ^ "Air strike on Syria bakery 'kills dozens' - Middle East". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2012-12-24. 
      25. ^ a b "At least 300 killed in regime airstrike near Syrian bakery". English.alarabiya.net. Retrieved 2012-12-24. 
      26. ^ Asad Forces Bomb another Bakery in Homs
      27. ^ UN envoy worried after talks with Syria's Assad
      28. ^ Massacre of over 100 reported in Syria's Homs
      29. ^ Bodies in Syria river likely killed in govt areas
      30. ^ Syrians trade Khan al-Assal chemical weapons claims
      31. ^ Alleged chemical attack kills 25 in northern Syria
      32. ^ Syria chemical weapons: finger pointed at jihadists
      33. ^ Syrians trade blame over 'chemical attack'
      34. ^ Execution video surfaces in Syria
      35. ^ Executed as they waited on a pavement kerb: Terrifying assassination video of three men by 'Islamist rebels' shows new front in Syrian propaganda war
      36. ^ Raqqa province
      37. ^ Video shows Islamist rebels executing 11 Syrian soldiers
      38. ^ Idlib province

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      Last modified on 18 June 2013, at 14:15