Hula massacre (Syria)

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The Hula massacre occurred on May 25th and in the morning hours of May 26th, 2012 in the Syrian community Hula (also Haula or al-Hula , Arabic الحولة) belonging settlement Taldau (also Taldou , Arabic تلدو). According to previous reports, 108 deaths, including 49 children, 34 women and 25 men, and over 300 injured. The vast majority of those killed were shot dead from close range in their homes, and only a few of the victims died in combat or from shell fire. The massacre takes place against the background of the uprising in Syria and is primarily attributed to members of the Shabiha militias loyal to the government .

The Syrian government blamed insurgent fighters for the massacre and denied any responsibility of its own. The UN Human Rights Council held a special session because of the massacre, condemned Syria's attitude and actions and called for the perpetrators to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court . At the same time, there was increased international isolation of the government of President Bashar al-Assad , which was expressed, among other things, in the expulsion of Syrian diplomats by the USA, Great Britain, France, Japan, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland and other countries.

In its report, published on August 15, 2012, the UN Human Rights Council's commission of inquiry into Syria stated that government troops and Shabiha militias allied with them were responsible for the killings in Hula. The commission based itself on analyzes of the access routes to the crime scenes, the loyalties of the victims, the security situation in the area at the time of the crime, including the location of a checkpoint of the government troops, as well as the evaluation of testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses, taking into account those in the official report of the information provided by the Syrian government. In a preliminary report published on June 26th, the commission chaired by Brazilian human rights expert Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro had not yet expressed any certainty, but based on the information available at the time, it had already signaled that it considered responsibility for forces loyal to the government to be likely. Forces loyal to the government not only had easier access to the specific crime scenes from their positions, but the killings also showed similarities to other investigated incidents in the past, for which the responsibility of the government was documented (in part in the same report).

background

Growing olives in the Hula plain

The municipality of Hula is a group of several settlements located on a fertile plain in the Syrian Governorate of Homs , about 25 km northwest of the city of Homs .

The inhabitants of the individual villages in Hula are partly Sunnis , partly Alawites and partly Shiites . The Alawites are more inclined to support the Assad government, since Assad is himself Alawi, as are the Shiites, who feel particularly connected to Iran, which in turn supports Assad. Taldau, the scene of the massacre, is a predominantly Sunni settlement.

Taldau is about 5 km southeast of Kafr Laha, the main town of the municipality on the road to Homs, with a little over 15,000 inhabitants. After nearby Homs became a stronghold of the rebels and a unit of the Free Syrian Army took up position in the village, the residents began to support the rebellion against the Syrian government, although the arterial roads were controlled by checkpoints of the Syrian army.

course

According to reports by activists from Hula, a demonstration took place after the Friday prayers on May 25, 2012 and government forces fired at the demonstrators, who killed several people. To avenge this, the fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the village attacked the checkpoints of the government forces in the area, but then had to back off and finally withdrew from the village. Subsequently, residential areas in Hula were shelled with heavy weapons (mortars and tank cannons), which resulted in numerous casualties among the civilian population.

According to a statement by Abu Jaafar, an activist in Hula, the shelling started immediately after the noon prayer on Friday: “We prayed and wanted to protest afterwards, like every Friday. Then the army started bombing our settlements. ”According to reports, the Free Syrian Army withdrew from the village to attack the surrounding checkpoints.

The security forces fired at the houses almost continuously for almost twelve hours. Militiamen loyal to the government are said to have come from the Alawi villages during the night. They reportedly broke into homes and wiped out entire families. Men, women and children are said to have been shot in the head or stabbed with a knife.

According to information from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “more than 700 armed men under the leadership of Abdurrazzaq Tlass and Yahya Yusuf in three groups from Rastan, Kafr Laha and Akraba attacked three roadside checks by the army around Taldou”. During the fierce fighting with the outnumbered Sunni soldiers, "rebels, supported by residents of Taldou, wiped out the Sajjid and Abdarrazzaq families." The motive given is that those families refused to join the opposition. The victims were almost exclusively members of the Alawite minority who were considered loyal to the government. These reports are contradicted by Spiegel, whose reporter was told on the spot about the intrusion of Assad troops into Hula. According to this information, only Sunnis live in Hula and no Alawites loyal to the government.

A UN team of UN observers from UNSMIS stationed nearby came to Taldau the following Saturday morning, where they found the bodies of 85 dead in a mosque , including 34 children and 7 women. A superficial examination of the corpses showed wounds typical of shotguns or artillery fire. According to the locals, other corpses were supposed to be in another mosque, but this could not be visited for security reasons. In Taldau the observers found ammunition cases from tank shells and artillery shells as well as fresh traces of armored vehicles . Many buildings were destroyed by heavy weapon fire. Later that day, in another mosque, observers saw three other bodies with gunshot wounds and four bodies with serious facial injuries. Another 6 to 8 bodies with traces of massive abuse were found at a checkpoint. The observers also saw preparations for the victims to be buried in a mass grave. Satellite images of the presumed location of this mass grave and of building damage in Taldau have since been published by the US government and the Huffington Post .

The UN monitors spoke to residents and local representatives of the Free Syrian Army and the Local Coordinating Committee (LCC) and interviewed eyewitnesses. According to their statement, members of the Shabiha militia loyal to the government, who had come from a neighboring village, entered the village and murdered the residents. Later, the number of victims found rose to 108 dead, including 49 children, 34 women and 25 men, and more than 300 were injured. The majority of the victims are civilians who were executed by gunfire in their homes. Less than 20 of the dead were killed by artillery or tank fire, said the spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights , Rupert Colville, in Geneva. "The majority of the victims" were killed in "collective executions" which, according to residents, were carried out by the Shabiha militia.

Jihad Raslan, described by the British daily The Guardian as a former major in the Syrian Air Force, who deserted on the Saturday following the events and did not return to his base in Tartous, is an important eyewitness whose account of the murders in Taldau matches those of the residents . He said he was on home leave in his house, just 300 meters from the site of the massacre. He saw several hundred armed men, clearly identifiable as members of the Shabiha militia, who broke into the village of Taldau in the early afternoon following a rocket attack and murdered there for around 15 minutes. He knew many of the victims personally. Ruslan described the murders as a clear crime of the Syrian government.

The Syrian government denied being responsible for the massacre. However, since ammunition cases from tanks and artillery were found in the village and the rebels do not have such weapons, the claim that al-Qaeda terrorists were responsible for the Hula deaths found little international faith.

According to Hula residents, UNSMIS monitors refused to come to the rescue when the massacre began. "We called the observers during the massacre," says Abu Emad, an activist from the city of Homs, a few kilometers from Hula. “They refused to come and stop the killing. Damn the observers, damn the whole mission. "

On the weekend after the massacre, there were demonstrations against the UN in the northern province of Idlib, during which UN flags and photos of Kofi Annan went up in flames. To intervene, as the UN observers apparently expected, they lack the mandate. In addition, they cannot move freely in the country, but have to adhere to the requirements of the Syrian army.

According to information from the International Committee of the Red Cross, thousands of residents fled the attacked settlements as a result of the massacre . Around 5000 alone would be poorly supplied in Burj al-Kai, about 5 km away.

In the days following the massacre, more and more images and video material of the consequences of the massacre, in particular of the arrival of UN observers in Hula and the burial of the victims, appeared on internet platforms such as YouTube and Flickr , including very disturbing images of the mutilated corpses of children, women and men. In part, these recordings illustrate the statement made by UN observers in Ban Ki-moon's letter that some of the injuries found were "consistent with artillery fire".

Reactions

Syria

Syrian government

In a statement following the meeting of the UN Security Council, the Syrian UN ambassador, Bhar Jafari, stressed the importance of understanding the background and all events in order to be able to classify the crimes.

According to his representation:

“... after Friday prayers, 200 to 300 fighters armed with anti-tank missiles , grenade launchers and machine guns drove on pickups from different directions to a rally point in Hula, where they attacked the security forces between 2 p.m. and 11 a.m. […] We are not talking about a half-hour attack, but about a targeted and planned operation. After attacking the security forces and the military, the militants started killing civilians and then drove to another village where they set fire to the state hospital, homes and farmers' crops, and then set dozens of innocent civilians in another Murdered village near Hula (al-Shumariyeh). So it's not about a single incident, but about a whole series of operations that took place in the small villages of the region. "

He made no assumptions about the identity of these "fighters". As an alternative to al-Qaida fighters suddenly appearing between the fronts of the Syrian army and the FSA, CIA and NATO "death squads" operating from northern Lebanon are being traded in the blogosphere , assumptions made by, for example , the American historian Webster, who specializes in conspiracy theories Tarpley are supported.

Jafari said the Syrian government had set up a commission of inquiry to find those who committed these heinous massacres, bring them to justice and punish them according to Syrian law. He also protested against any interference in the internal affairs of Syria and remarked in this context: "Nobody can want to be an arsonist and a firefighter at the same time, which unfortunately applies to many members of the Security Council."

In a preliminary investigation report, the Syrian government blames around 800 insurgent fighters for the massacre and claims that the army was not in the area where the massacre took place. All victims allegedly belonged to families who did not participate in the uprising; the massacre initially targeted relatives of a member of parliament in revenge, but then spread to other families. Investigations into the massacre were made difficult by the presence of armed men. US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called the investigation report a lie. There is no evidence to support this account. In its interim report of June 26, the Syria Inquiry Commission of the UN Human Rights Council found on the basis of the preliminary report submitted by the government that the Syrian investigation did not meet internationally defined minimum standards with regard to the necessary independence, thoroughness and impartiality.

Free Syrian Army

Little is known about the representation of the Free Syrian Army. However, one of its spokesmen declared the UN peace plan to be "dead" on a television program broadcast by CNN on May 27, 2012 and called on the FSA fighters to "take revenge" for the massacre.

International reactions

The UN Security Council unanimously condemned the massacre on May 27 after receiving a briefing from Major General Robert Mood, head of UNSMIS, of the observations in Hula. No guilty party was named for the massacre. The use of heavy weapons in residential areas has been cited and strongly condemned as a violation of the United Nations peace plan :

“Members of the Security Council strongly condemn the killings of dozens of men, women and children, and the wounding of hundreds more in the village of El-Houleh near Homs, confirmed by United Nations observers, in attacks involving government artillery and armor in residential areas were shot at several times. Members of the Security Council also condemn the killing of civilians by close range shooting and serious mistreatment. […] Such outrageous use of force against the civilian population constitutes a violation of international law and a breach of the obligations under resolutions 2042 (2012) and 2043 (2012) of the United Nations Security Council, to which the Syrian government has committed itself. "

- UN Security Council press release of May 27, 2012

On June 1, 2012, a special session of the UN Human Rights Council took place in Geneva , after 21 of the 47 members requested one. A resolution called for an investigation into the massacre and prosecution of the perpetrators, preferably by the International Criminal Court in The Hague . The behavior of Syria was condemned and the consistent adherence to the UN peace plan was demanded, especially with regard to the use of heavy weapons in residential areas. In its announcement, UNHCR Navanethem Pillay explicitly advised that "those who order, assist, or fail to prevent attacks on civilians can be held criminally responsible as individuals". The resolution was passed by 41 votes to 3 with two abstentions. Russia , China and Cuba voted against the resolution .

In response to the massacre, on May 29, Australia , Bulgaria , Germany , France , Great Britain , Italy , Canada , the Netherlands , Switzerland , Spain and the United States expelled the Syrian ambassadors in a coordinated action. Turkey and Japan followed on May 30th .

Reactions of individual states:

  • Germany: The German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle sharply condemned the actions of the Syrian army and blamed President Assad for the massacre: “Anyone who disregards resolutions of the Security Council uses heavy weapons against their own people must expect serious diplomatic and political consequences. [...] He must pave the way for peaceful change in Syria. ”According to the Berliner Zeitung on June 9, the federal government is not clearly convinced of the Assad government's guilt.
  • Austria: The Syrian ambassador was summoned to Austria. He was not expelled because he also had functions as a representative of Syria at the UN organizations in Vienna.
  • Switzerland: The Syrian Ambassador, who is accredited to Switzerland and is based in Paris, was declared persona non grata by the FDFA by sending a diplomatic note to Syria . The justification for the move was that Syria was systematically violating UN resolutions.
  • France: French President François Hollande no longer ruled out military intervention in a television interview with France 2 on May 29 . The prerequisite is to convince Russia and China of such a step, whereby a solution "does not necessarily have to be military".
  • United States: The US Secretary of State Clinton condemned the massacre in the strongest possible terms and called for increasing international pressure on "Assad and his cronies, whose rule based on murder and fear must come to an end". The Syrian Chargé d'Affaires in Washington was expelled on May 29, 2012. Jay Carney , President Obama's spokesman, explicitly called Assad's account a "lie".
  • Turkey: In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry described the massacre as a " crime against humanity ".
  • Israel: According to a May 27 press release by the Israeli government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "disgusted" by the "continued massacre of innocent civilians" by President Bashar al-Assad's army, including stressing that Iran and Hezbollah are one "An inseparable part of the Syrian atrocities" and the world must act against them. Defense Minister Ehud Barak welcomed the deportation of the ambassadors and at the same time called for tougher measures against Syria, because he “doesn't think that Assad lost even an hour of sleep because of these deportations”.
  • Iran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned the murders and called for the perpetrators to be punished, even if the government should prove responsible. He does not know who is responsible, however, it should be remembered: “It would be of no use to the government. Why would this government kill its people when it would only bring them negativity? So we need to shed light on the matter. I'm not excluding anyone. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Most Houla victims killed in summary executions: UN ( Memento from May 30, 2012 on WebCite ) - Reuters message from May 29, 2012 (archived)
  2. ^ A b Statement by Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Human Rights Council 19th Special Session on “The deteriorating human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the killings in El-Houleh” Geneva, June 1, 2012
  3. ↑ Syrian Government forces and anti-Government groups responsible for war crimes: UN Commission of Inquiry (PDF; 73 kB), press release of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from August 15, 2012 (English)
  4. ↑ a b Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (Word document, 9.16 MB, 102 pages), report of the United Nations independent commission of inquiry into Syria of August 15, 2012, especially on Hula, pages 10 –12 and 64–68 (English)
  5. ↑ ". Nevertheless the CoI considers did forces loyal to the government may have been responsible for many of the deaths" Oral update of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (PDF, 1.1 MB), Oral interim report of Syria - Commission of Inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council of June 26, 2012, item 55 (page 11), accessed on July 4, 2012 (English)
  6. ↑ Oral Update of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (PDF; 1.1 MB), Oral Interim Report of the Syria Inquiry Commission of the UN Human Rights Council from June 26, 2012, item 51 (page 10), accessed on 5 June 2012 July 2012
  7. ↑ a b Oral Update of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (PDF; 1.1 MB), Oral interim report of the UN Human Rights Council's Syria Inquiry Commission of June 26, 2012, Appendix (page 21), accessed on July 4th, 2012
  8. ↑ 2004 population statistics of the Central Bureau of Statistics in Syria (Arabic)
  9. ↑ a b Ulrike Putz: The night of death of Hula. In: Spiegel Online , May 27, 2012.
  10. ↑ Alexandra Sandels, Rima Marrouch: Shelling of Houla area in Syria reportedly kills at least 90 In: Los Angeles Times , May 26, 2012 (English).
  11. ↑ a b c Gabriela M. Keller, Julia Smirnova: “Inside were children with their heads beaten” In: Welt Online , May 28, 2012.
  12. ↑ Rainer Hermann: Syria - One Extermination in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 13, 2012
  13. ^ Rainer Hermann: Again massacre in Syria - New findings on those killed by Hula Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from June 8, 2012
  14. ↑ Men with clubs. Who is behind the Hula massacre? In: Der Spiegel . 25 (2012), June 18, 2012, p. 84.
  15. ↑ a b c Letter from Ban Ki-moon to the President of the UN Security Council of May 27, 2012 (PDF; English)
  16. ↑ Probable location of the mass grave in Taldau: 34 ° 52 ′ 49.8 ″  N , 36 ° 31 ′ 23.7 ″  E
  17. ↑ Hauptstrasse in Taldau - DigitalGlobe image of the Huffington Post; Coordinates of the image center: 34 ° 52 ′ 24.8 ″  N , 36 ° 31 ′ 33.3 ″  E
  18. ↑ Probable Mass Burial in Tall Daw ( Memento from June 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) - humanrights.gov from May 31, 2012
  19. ↑ Syria Massacre Captured By Satellite Cameras - Huffington Post article from May 31, 2012 with photo series
  20. ↑ UN observation team confirms murder of 32 Syrian children - article on Focus Online from May 28, 2012
  21. ↑ Martin Chulov: I saw massacre of children, says defecting Syrian air force officer in: The Guardian, June 2, 2012, accessed June 9, 2012
  22. ↑ Stopped, tied up and shot - taz article from June 1, 2012
  23. ↑ a b Al-Jaafari: States Interested in the Success of Annan Plan Should Stop Arming and Embracing Terrorists ( Memento from May 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) - message from the Syrian news agency SANA from May 28, 2012
  24. ↑ NATO's death squads responsible for Houla massacre: Analyst. In: friendsofsyria.wordpress.com , May 31, 2012 (interview with Webster Tarpley , English).
  25. ↑ M. Ismael, F. Allafi: Initial Report of Judicial Investigation Committee on al-Houla Massacre: Victims belonged to Peaceful Families who Refused to Stand up against State. ( Memento from June 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Syrian Arab News Agency , May 31, 2012 (English).
  26. ↑ USA describe Syrian investigation report as a lie. In: Spiegel Online , May 31, 2012.
  27. ↑ Oral Update of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (PDF; 1.1 MB), Oral Interim Report of the Syria Inquiry Commission of the UN Human Rights Council from June 26, 2012, point 58 (page 11), accessed on 4 June 2012 July 2012
  28. ↑ Rebels swear revenge for massacre - Spiegel-Online on May 27, 2012.
  29. ↑ Syria had accepted the plan brokered by Kofi Annan , the former Secretary General of the UN , which included a ceasefire on March 26th.
  30. ↑ https://www.un.org/Depts/german/sr/sr_11-12/sr2042.pdf
  31. ↑ https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/Syria%20SRES%202043.pdf
  32. ^ Security Council Press Statement on Attacks in Syria
  33. ^ After the massacre in Al-Hula: UN Human Rights Council condemns Syria ( Memento from December 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) - article in the Frankfurter Rundschau from June 1, 2012
  34. ↑ a b c Wave of deportations against ambassadors of Syria - article in the NZZ of May 29, 2012
  35. ↑ a b UN Human Rights Council announces special session on Syria for Friday - Article in Welt Online from May 30, 2012
  36. ↑ Hollande promotes military operations in Syria - article in Zeit Online from May 30, 2012
  37. ↑ Syrian truths, Syrian lies in: Berliner Zeitung of June 9, 2012
  38. ↑ Secretary Clinton on the Massacre in Haoula, Syria ( Memento of May 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) - Clinton's tweet of May 26, 2012
  39. ↑ Expulsion of Syrian Charge d'Affaires Zuheir Jabbour ( Memento from February 17, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) - humanrights.gov on May 29, 2012
  40. ↑ USA accuse Assad of lies in connection with Hula massacre - Welt Online from June 4, 2012
  41. ^ After the tragedy in Hula: Turkey expels Syrian diplomats - RIA Novosti report dated May 30, 2012
  42. ↑ PM Netanyahu Condemns Houla Massacre - Press release of the Israeli government (English)
  43. ↑ Israel urges tougher action against Assad - Reuters report of May 30, 2012 (English)
  44. ^ "It won't bring any success to this government. Why would this government kill its people because this can only bring negativity to it? So we must shed light on this. I don't exclude anybody. “ Ahmadinejad sees no breakthrough at Moscow talks - Reuters report of May 30, 2012

Coordinates: 34 ° 52 ′ 35.4 "  N , 36 ° 31 ′ 29.5"  E