Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS)

Massacre in Yelda town, Rural Damascusþ

Shelling.. invasion.. massacre.. the systematic killings of the Syrian regime: (Massacre in Yelda town, rural Damascus)

a Documentation and condemnation of the massacre in Yelda, rural Damascus. Which is an atrocious, Human Rights breaching crime.

Documented by the Syrian network for human rights

Date of the incident: 13-08-2012

The town of yelda is situated in rural Damascus, specifically in Al Ghouta. It’s surrounded by the town of Hajira from the south, by Bebla from the east, from the north by Al Zahira and by Al Yarmouk camps from the west. Its population is more than 150 thousand.

 

 

On Sunday, 05-08-2012, a large number of Assad’s army surrounded Yelda  town with tanks and armoured vehicles, who started shooting and shelling randomly at the town for a period of 7 days causing a large number of injuries and killing a  few number of people, as well as causing the destruction of residential buildings. As in all massacres, invasion of the town with tanks followed; forces stormed in on the Sunday(12-08-2012) and Monday(13-08-2012) of that week.

 

 

These operations of invasion and mass executions are systematic killing methods that are continuously committed by the government and the Syrian regime with an aim to spread fear and horror in a certain town and then moving on to another town or place and commit the same crimes against humanity.

 

One of the residents of the town told us that on that Tuesday, 4 of the young men who ran away from the town returned in order to retrieve the bodies of the victims from the massacre, infront of al shafi’i mosque, but upon arriving there was a car filled with Assad’s forces who began shooting at them and killed one of them. The rest managed to flee with the help of one of the cars that was present during this incident. This cost the driver his life as he was executed after being chased and caught. 

 

This massacre resulted in the deaths of 67 civilians from the town, including a few members of the free Syrian army, who we were unable to identify and document. 

The Syrian network for human rights managed to identify and document 44 names after speaking to their families and relatives and through speaking with their friends and through activists. 23 bodies were not identified and thus their names and footage could not be documented due to the deformity of their bodies. It came to our attention that a number of them held Palestinian citizenship, and were from Al Almasri family who resided in yelda.

1. Omar Al Baqa’i

2. Hassan AlAasheq

3. Ali AlMasri

4. Adnan AlBaqa’I

5. Mustafa Younus

6. Osama Abu Omar

7. Ibrahim Tyara

8. Saleh Muslim Tyara

9. Mahmoud Said (Abu Haitham)

10. Nour Qasem Sulaiman

11. Ahmad AlIsh

12. Mohammad AlIsh

13. Wael M’arawy (Abu Radwan)

14. Omran Ahmad AlArabi

15. Mohammad Ahmad Saleh

16. Nidal Ammar Bakkour

17. Mohammad Ahmad Karman

18. Mohammad Habash

19. Mahmoud Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

20. Musa Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

21. Isa Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

22. Mamdouh Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

23. Hamdi Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

24. Salem Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

25. Adnan Musa – executed by the Syrian Army

26. Jamal Sbenati – executed by the Syrian Army

27. Yasser Mustafa Naji – executed by the Syrian Army

28. Tayara (mentally disabled) – executed by the Syrian Army

29. Ahmad AlMajdalaqi – executed by the Syrian Army

30. AbdulKarim Yunous 

31. Ibrahim AlSaidi – executed by the Syrian Army

32. AbdulSalam Sbetani (Abu Adnan) – executed by the Syrian Army

33. Muhammad AlBiqa’i (Abu Ali) – executed by the Syrian Army

34. Mohammad Fawaz Ismail – executed by the Syrian Army

35. Imad ALDabah – executed by the Syrian Army

36. Jawdat AlJundi ( famous policeman) – executed by the Syrian Army

37. Abu Mohammad AlShami – executed by the Syrian Army

38. Hisham AlMasri

39. Khalil Sbetani (Abu AlFoz)

40. Defected soldier Basel Sa’ad ( Abu Hazem) 

41. Defected soldier Mohammad Ammar Munir AlMasri (Abu Anas)

42. Khaled AlKhadrawi

43. Mahmoud AlBiqa’i

44. Yahya Hammoud

The videos which document 23 martyrs which the Syrian network for human rights was not able to obtain the names of, we were also unable to make a visit to the site of massacre and dissect the bodies due to the military siege on the area and the difficulty to reach the town.

 

http://youtu.be/dcc8fr5aZPY

http://youtu.be/31qYwh-wlc4

http://youtu.be/8rwF7B8kz0A

http://youtu.be/Uswfg-f9ZCo

http://youtu.be/XeCLgk9Bw_U

http://youtu.be/PNqN599_5jQ

http://youtu.be/v5bX0GrPKQo

http://youtu.be/J2K8SZ6C18U

http://youtu.be/uqWqiQ6Gc28

http://youtu.be/BABBpRQXji8

http://youtu.be/9ndQde6EHKs

http://youtu.be/vog7xtkSCSQ

http://youtu.be/qDQMq_MjFy4

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401305243268058&set=a.401305169934732.67045022.280891885309395&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401305206601395&set=a.401305169934732.67045022.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Attachments 

Firstly the victims and injuries:

 

Victim Yasser Mustafa Najib:

http://youtu.be/G0nYOzJNtCI

Mustafa Yunous who was shot by a sniper near Saif Mosque:

http://youtu.be/q8MBVVR-3gs

Osama Abu Omar who was shot by a sniper and killed.

http://youtu.be/o7g98J-jwKw

Pictures and videos of Mohammad Habash who was shot by a sniper:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=400078420057407&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

http://youtu.be/2IB_CSid3EE

Saleh Muslim Tyara

http://youtu.be/2-5SkO6l5mo

Jawdat AlJundi who was killed in a summer execution in his home:

http://youtu.be/AogWjh_lBdY

Mahmoud Sa’ad (Abu Haitham) whose body was recovered from under the rubble 

http://youtu.be/7IyQ5x_jxl0

Khali Sbetani (Abu AlFoz) 

http://youtu.be/nwTt01NbSsQ

? Adnan AlBiqa’i who was killed in a summary execution

http://youtu.be/9bwgZR07rxc

A few of the victims of summary execution were buried and their tombs were attacked

http://youtu.be/J3Z7aPnByIQ

http://youtu.be/CLfDFwyp17E

Mohammad Ammar Munir AlMasri 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401210086610907&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Defected soldier Mohammad Ahmad Karman

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=523365361023128&set=a.504766692882995.127922.504585392901125&type=1&theater

Khaled Khadrawi

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401763109888938&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Ibrahim AlSaidi, a Syrian Palestinian teacher who lived in AlMagharba neighbourhood in AlYarmouk camp, he was killed in a summary execution 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=402036809861568&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Mustafa Naji who was killed as he was trying to pull out one of the bodies

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=402038479861401&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Abdul Salam Sbetani

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=402098169855432&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Wael M’arawi (Abu Radwan)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=405248439540405&set=a.296922977039619.70811.28

0891885309395&type=1&theater

Mohammad AlIsh, 36 years old, Killed in a summary execution in his home

Ahmad AlIsh, 16 years old

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=405301286201787&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

Unidentified victims: 

http://youtu.be/dcc8fr5aZPY

http://youtu.be/31qYwh-wlc4

http://youtu.be/8rwF7B8kz0A

http://youtu.be/Uswfg-f9ZCo

http://youtu.be/XeCLgk9Bw_U

http://youtu.be/PNqN599_5jQ

http://youtu.be/v5bX0GrPKQo

http://youtu.be/J2K8SZ6C18U

http://youtu.be/uqWqiQ6Gc28

http://youtu.be/BABBpRQXji8

http://youtu.be/9ndQde6EHKs

http://youtu.be/vog7xtkSCSQ

http://youtu.be/qDQMq_MjFy4

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401305243268058&set=a.401305169934732.67045022.280891885309395&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=401305206601395&set=a.401305169934732.67045022.280891885309395&type=1&theater

corpses of some of the victims

http://youtu.be/Et_ikwB_D4g

http://youtu.be/GMJ1ISDiH-U

http://youtu.be/LZNcEgYmuK4

http://youtu.be/A776EM2Gqas

http://youtu.be/N_nmRdl1DAQ

http://youtu.be/3qZ3i09Taa8

secondly: the destruction which was caused by the heavy shelling of the area:

http://youtu.be/KwggXn1mlqQ

http://youtu.be/vvg5Vfx3QvY

http://youtu.be/SSBDVQuh1oQ

http://youtu.be/KXvc5LE9aE8

http://youtu.be/BEhXIQnsJTA

http://youtu.be/WaTMlN91R8I

http://youtu.be/XA5-SlxhFUA

http://youtu.be/OZZ7FeXpftc

http://youtu.be/njxXJumky6Q

http://youtu.be/HF_QOz5a8-I

http://youtu.be/f17_yA6lXcc

http://youtu.be/xIRKa1Kf2mk

http://youtu.be/a9mIq6SFgEc

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=404158102982772&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.403113036420612.67045534.280891885309395&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=404158812982701&set=a.296922977039619.70811.280891885309395&type=1&theater