Syria Says Rebels Killed 123 People In North, Majority Civilians

[Purveyor]

Source: REUTERS

BEIRUT | Sat Jul 27, 2013 11:57am EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian state media accused insurgents on Saturday of killing 123 people, the majority of them civilians, during a rebel offensive this week to take the northern town of Khan al-Assad.

A two-year revolt-turned-civil war has left more than 100,000 people dead and both forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels are accused by rights groups of war crimes.

State news agency SANA said that "armed terrorist groups" committed a "massacre ... mutilating the bodies of the martyrs and throwing them in a big hole on the outskirts of the town, in addition to incinerating a number of (their) bodies."

The accusations come a day after a rebel group, calling itself the Supporters of the Islamic Caliphate, posted a video on YouTube of around 30 bodies of young men piled up against a wall who they said were pro-Assad militiamen.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/27/us-syria-crisis-killings-idUSBRE96Q08O20130727

[pampango]

1. "The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group, cited activists on Friday

in Khan al-Assal who said that more than 150 soldiers were killed on Monday and Tuesday in and around the town, including 51 soldiers and officers who were executed.

Having won Western support in the early stages of the revolt, the opposition has since succumbed to infighting between moderate and hardline Islamist groups. Meanwhile, Assad has been able to rely on Iran, Russia and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group to support his crackdown.

Thanks for posting this, Purveyor. Always good to know what the Syrian state media is saying.

[John2]

2. It is very

easy to find out what they are saying, if you type in Syrian News, then you get SANA. I've been looking at what the Syrian Observatory claims and the Syrian Government. They didn't just give words but they also produced photographs of the victims' bodies if you can the sight of it. They weren't the only officials there verifying it either. There are other groups gathering evidence now in Syria besides the Russians. They put it on Syrian TV also to Syrian citizens. They do have TV. like we do. They also reported a Russian female journalist was injured by the rebels and hospitalized. Sooner or later the real truth will come out and somebody is going to be embarrassed.

To me the people doing the killing for the rebels are liars, murderers and thieves with no morals. Those soldiers that were lined up and executed, the rebels bragged about it. That is a war crime, similar to what the SS did. Then again, who really knows if these were really Syrian Soldiers. They might have burned the bodies and mutilated them to hide their identities. Either way, it was a crime.

[pampango]

3. It is indeed a war crime. Unfortunately, both sides do it - the "vast majority" by the government

according to Amnesty International .

It is interesting that this war crime committed by rebel forces was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group. While some have contended that this group never reports rebel abuses that is not true.

Since government forces are committing the vast majority of the war crimes, it would be interesting to see how often the Syrian state media or the Army public relations office have reported on abuses done by government forces.

[John2]

5. Isn't Amnesty International

headquartered in Britain, the same as the Syrian Observatory? Do you think Cameroon has any influence over what gets reported? So what makes anything different coming out of Britain than Syria?

I monitor what all sides are claiming and Syria does have their supporters, not agreeing with those organizations controlled by the West and their Arab Allies. The motive is to give a justification to invade Syria. They can't get anywhere on the chemical lie, so they need to demonize him on the Human Rights front. Assad according to them is the worst monster in the World.

The only problem is, they are being exposed for their own atrocities. I've decided which side is the worst liars, murderers and thieves. Especially when you collaborate with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Al Nusra, and Al Ansar, supported by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. That includes the Muslim Brotherhood, which have things in common. They all want to establish Sharia Law.

So the notion from Amnesty International is secular governments like the Assad regime, are more guilty of human rights abuses than those groups? Those are the groups that commit suicide bombings and cut off heads for Blasphemy. The same groups that believe women have no place in politics or education.

The Syrian Observatory doesn't use the same math I use either. Their claim is Assad killed 100,000 of his people. The last time I looked by their numbers,25,000 Syrian Soldiers was part of their math. It also included over 17,000 pro militia and 145 Hezebullah fighters.

They claimed over 35,000 civilians. Who are they counting as civilians, Alawis,Christians, Turks or Sunni rebels? Sunni rebels are not civilians but combatants. Was the Sunni boy they murdered part of their math? How about the politicians or the Syrian Journalists?

Where does Amnesty International get their information from? Do they get it from the same rebels committing war crimes? The reason I asked is because we don't know if they are telling the truth. How do you know the soldiers the Syrian Observatory reported was executed wasn't really civilians uncovered by the Syrian military, that was about to be release. They could have released information ahead of time to distort the truth.

In World War II, when the Allies moved into an area controlled by the Nazis, they discovered atrocities. The Syrian Observatory could be set up as a front just for propaganda by the Saudis or Qatar, to push their agenda. They want us to give them more weapons and to invade Syria. These people have used the same techniques before and people should be on to their deceit by now. Do you really trust these people? Go by what is public and can be proven, and not by people that rely on secrecy.

[Igel]

7. It's hard to believe AI sometimes.

They have a bias, and that means they have an asymmetrical standard.

If an anti-government group reports that the government committed an atrocity it's much more easily believed than if the government reports that the anti-government "rebels" commited an atrocity.

One requires a higher degree of evidence than the other. You see bodies, they're called "government militias" as the excuse for no uniforms, and it's okay. You see footage of bodies and they're not in uniform but the government's calling them "rebel militiamen", and, well, you need evidence that it's not just civilians rounded up and gunned down.

It doesn't mean they don't report atrocities by the rebels. It does mean they don't report atrocities by the rebels.

The difference is in the grammar. Yes, if it is sufficiently proven that the rebels committed an atrocity, then they will report it. It's not an absolute rule that they never report them. However, the general practice is that they don't report such things because they're seldom provable. It is a general rule.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. The people who did this are the de facto allies of the US.

Which has decided it gets to say who rules Syria.

[David__77]

6. Al Qaeda is the only opposition force that "seizes" anything.

And yet the US government is actively supporting it. The neocons and "liberal internationalists" have gone wild.