dianadarke

Analysis of a War Crime #Syria

If the negotiators in Geneva could be made to watch Channel 4’s footage tonight of the massacre at Al-Bayda I would defy them not to come up with a peace solution for Syria tomorrow. The cold-blooded, pre-meditated execution which the film documents is gut-wrenchingly chilling, mothers forced to watch their children being beheaded in front them, young children forced to watch their fathers’ throats slit. I could not stop crying. How can anyone who has witnessed such things go on to lead a normal life? How can they ever forgive the perpetrators? Putting myself in their shoes, I cannot begin to imagine how they can rebuild their lives.

Thank goodness for the dedication and determination of Human Rights Watch to pursue the facts behind such cases. The evidence that the massacre was carried out by regime soldiers aided by paramilitary shabiha on hundreds of civilian villagers is overwhelming, Human Rights Watch concludes. They are still working on proving it fulfilled the criteria of ‘ethnic cleansing’:

Related articles

• Syria: Mass Executions by Government Forces (hrw.org)
• Assad forces to blame for massacre of 248 people – human rights group (independent.ie)