Dozens of Shiites Reported Killed in Raid By Syria Rebels
Source: New York Times
BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 60 Shiite Muslim residents of a village in eastern Syria were killed in a reprisal raid by rebels, the government and opposition figures said Wednesday, the latest in a string of massacres underscoring the sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict.
A Syrian official called the killings, which were reported to have taken place on Tuesday in Hatlah, a village in the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zour, a massacre of civilians. Anti-government activists said most of the dead were pro-government militia fighters who had attacked rebels one day earlier. But some of the activists nonetheless condemned the Hatlah attack as a destructive act of revenge that showed the powerlessness of moderates among the mostly Sunni rebels to rein in extremists.
What was not in dispute was that several battalions of Sunni rebels, including members of extremist Islamist groups, stormed the village and, in video posted online by antigovernment activists, could be seen setting houses on fire as they shouted sectarian slogans, calling Shiites dogs, apostates and infidels.
“This is your end, you dogs,” a man off camera said as he panned across what he said were the corpses of “pug-nosed” Shiites, including one with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head. “We have raised the banner of ‘There Is no God but God’ over the houses of the rejectionist Shiite apostates,” one fighter chanted in another clip as a black cloud billowed above the village and jubilant gunmen brandished black flags often used by the extremist Al Nusra Front and other Islamist fighting groups.
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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0
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atreides1
(16,091 posts)Not a big deal...it is the rebels who want freedom from the current regime that burned down the houses and murdered 60 people...the ones that our government wants to support!
formercia
(18,479 posts)Free Syrian Army seizes Hatla after clashes with armed Assad loyalists
Wed, 12 Jun 2013 – 15:52
Joud Hassoun
In the village of Hatla in Deir Al-Zor, clashes between the Free Syrian Army and a group of armed locals working for the regime resulted in rebels taking hold of the village. The clashes lasted for a few days according to a source who spoke to Syria Newsdesk.
The source indicated the particularity of the situation, Hatla being a town with a partly Shiite population. The regime had attempted to arm Shiite residents and incite them to attack the rebels. As a result, nearly 30 armed locals attacked an FSA checkpoint near the town. The FSA responded by charging the town, killing some of the armed men and capturing others.
A rebel source denied rumours that have been circulating about an alleged massacre of women and children in Hatla. The source said that the attack was targeted armed Assad loyalists exclusively.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had claimed earlier that 60 individuals who belong to regime-backed armed groups have died in Hatla, indicating that the operation followed a previous attack by a number of town locals targeting a rebel site.
--snip--
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)That phrase brings back memories. Anyone else remember?
pam4water
(2,916 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)If by some turn of fate, it were the US getting invaded and mudhole-stomped, would the people taking up arms to protect their homeland have been dubbed "Bush Loyalists" or something?
It's a dismissive term meant to strip legitimacy from people who - get this - don't want to be ruled by the assholes they're fighting against.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)I probably wouldn't post this but its really only a brief look into the minds and action of the rebels.
I've never seen the rebels before and I was amazed to see their dress, attitude and guns.
Again, extremely disturbing. I separated the .jpg so it would show the opening picture.
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/h5kgnh2SCMY/sddefault. jpg
I'm against the rebels, because I have seen a lot of them over the internet. They look exactly like Assad describes them. His discription of them were a bunch of thugs, criminals, gangs and Tafiri Terrorists. Then I look at the Syrian Army, in uniforms battling the rebels. The Syrian Army may be torturing civilians and the rebels, but I've only seen visual torture over the Internet by the rebels. Now there is a civilized way of fighting, and then there is a babaric way of fighting, like mutilating your dead corpses or eating out their private parts. Or shooting unarmed defenseless 14 year old kids. Then there is blowing up civilians with car bombs. This is why Assad has turn the tables in Syria, among public opinion. The civilians are more scared of the rebels, than they are of Assad. There are also reports of looting, and these foreign rebels taking the loot back to their own country. All you have to know is,have any civilians that fled Quisar has actually returned there, while the Syrian Army is in control now. The people calling themselves the command of the FSA, don't really have any control over these fighters in the field. These people do what they want, when they take over a village or town.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)It's in Assad's interest NOT to show what HIS forces do...so you may be getting one side of the story.
It's funny ( maybe not so funny ) how the word terrorist is used by Assad...we both know that he has aided terrorists either directly or indirectly with Iran.
I hope he's figured out that when you create a civilian killing machine MONSTER , you can't control who it kills.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Gawd, I really hate the term "terrorist" and its variants. It seems like its mostly a term of polemics and adds little informational value. I try not to use it. I call people like Al Qaeda and Al Nusra "jihadis." I don't quite know what to call Hezbollah. The most powerful politico-military-social welfare formation in Lebanon?
John2
(2,730 posts)it, he doesn't let the Western Press follow the operations of his military, and you can understand why,but the Russian Press and other more friendly Press has been allowed to follow the Syrian Army operations. He also lets the Syrian Press televise operations against the rebels. Some of those videos have gotten out over the Internet of actual combat. Much of their operations look like a Western or American Army in combat, and the Press actually has identification on them saying the Press. I've seen a battle where a Russian Journalist was actually reporting the battle while if was happening.
There was a battle where they killed a lot of rebels, and recovered weapons with Israeli markings. There was also a battle, the Russian Journalist witnessed, rebels used chemicals in their mortars. I've seen video where a bunch of rebels were captured and questioned by the media. According to Wiki, they have thousands of them in custody. Maybe they torture the rebels behind closed doors, but I haven't seen it after they caught them on the battle field. I've also seen video after the Syrian Army retook a village with people cheering. They had people representing the Press right there. The claim is the Syrian Press, is a mouth piece for the Government. Most of them, That I've seen are women, and many of them young. They speak very good english. It is almost, if they were Western or American women. They seemed more Liberal, then extremist or facist. I have to say, I wouldn't call them bad looking either. 
jessie04
(1,528 posts)to ( ALMOST ) make Assad look more (heaven help me) humane.
Wait till Hamas gets in the game... They wrote the book on torture and barbaric murder.
John2
(2,730 posts)heard? Hamas turned against Assad. They rather support the Salifist rebels. I guess their allegiance depends on the highest bidder.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)Hamas though has its own special brand of inhuman barbaric murder and atrocities that the rebels can only dream about.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)Syrian doctor, in unprecedented note, asks Israel to save patient’s life
http://www.timesofisrael.com/doctors-note-attached-to-wounded-syrian-treated-in-safed/
( I guess the enemy of my enemy.....)
I suspect he was a rebel since that area is controlled by rebels.
jessie04
(1,528 posts)Syrian troops and rebels are recruiting children to fight in the country's civil war and some have been tortured by government forces for having links to the opposition, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Wednesday.
The report issued after Ban's special envoy for children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui, visited Syria in December said thousands of children have been killed in the violence, "while thousands more have seen family members killed or injured."
The report also said children are recruited, killed, maimed or raped by government forces and armed groups in Afghanistan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Yemen, as well as by armed groups in Mali, Colombia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Iraq and the Central African Republic.
Conflict between Sunni and Shia communities in Syria has now moved beyond its borders, polarizing countries across the Middle East. Channel 4 Europe's Lindsay Hilsum reports.
The United Nations considers anyone aged under 18 to be a child.
Ban said that in Syria, torture and ill-treatment of children accused of associating with opposition forces was a worrying trend.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)jessie04
(1,528 posts)what are they expecting from these rebels?
Lets say they win and Assad leaves... WTF is Syria going to be??
another Afghanistan?
another Iran?
a democracy??......not a chance