While the world’s attention is on ensuring the government of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can no longer use chemical weapons against its
population, “we shouldn’t forget that Syrian government forces have used
conventional means to slaughter civilians,” Human Rights Watch reminds us on
Friday.
Syrian government and pro-government forces executed at least
248 people in the towns of al-Bayda and Baniyas on May 2 and May 3, 2013, Human
Rights Watch says in a report
released Friday. It was one of the deadliest instances of mass summary
executions since the start of the war in Syria in March 2011, it notes.
The 68-page report, “‘No One’s Left’: Summary Executions by Syrian Forces in
al-Bayda and Baniyas,” is based on interviews with 15 al-Bayda residents
and five from Baniyas, including witnesses who saw or heard government and
pro-government forces detain and then execute their relatives.
Human Rights Watch says:
Working with survivors and local activists, Human Rights
Watch compiled a list of 167 people killed in al-Bayda and 81 in Baniyas. Based
on witness accounts and video evidence, Human Rights Watch determined that the
overwhelming majority were executed after military clashes ended and opposition
fighters had retreated.
The actual number of fatalities is probably higher,
particularly in Baniyas, given how difficult it is to access the area to
account for the dead.
“While the world’s attention is on ensuring that Syria’s
government can no longer use chemical weapons against its population, we
shouldn’t forget that Syrian government forces have used conventional means to
slaughter civilians,” said Joe
Stork, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Survivors told
us devastating stories of how their unarmed relatives were mowed down in front
of them by government and pro-government forces.”
The Syrian government acknowledged its military operations in
al-Bayda and Baniyas but said its forces had killed only “terrorists.”
Ali Haidar, minister of state for national reconciliation
affairs, told the Wall Street Journal that “mistakes” may have
been committed in the operations and that a government committee was
investigating. But he also said the government was forced to act to deny rebels
a foothold in a part of Syria that many considered the heartland of the Alawites.
On the morning of May 2, Syrian government forces and
pro-government militias clashed with opposition fighters in al-Bayda, a town of
about 7,000 residents 10 kilometers from the coastal city of Baniyas. The area
is considered a Sunnite antigovernment enclave within the largely Alawite and
pro-government Tartous governorate.
Witnesses said that after the local
opposition fighters retreated, at about 1 p.m., government and pro-government
forces entered the town and proceeded to search the houses.
Over the next three hours, the forces entered homes,
separated men from women, rounded up the men of each neighborhood in one spot
and executed them by shooting them at close range.
Human Rights Watch also documented the execution of at least
23 women and 14 children, including infants.
