Syria: Mallouk Family Massacre, May 2013

June 27, 2015
(incomplete)

SNHR's massacre report (review page with links) lists a Mallouk Family massacre on 17 May, with "killing based on sectarian background," and pro-government Shia-type perpetrators, as usual in their findings. By this, two families were hit, 13 documented dead, including 9 children, 3 women, one man - executed with knives. The killers  robbed/looted, and burned the bodies. The victims were from the Waar (or Wa'er) district of Homs city, set apart to the west by the green belt along the al-Assi river. It remained a rebel hotbed into 2015 even after the Old City was cleared of rebel fighters.

For May 17, 2013 the VDC lists 7 names from Waar noted as "Seven Martyrs due to regime`s shelling on the neighborhood." These aren't massacre victims, they say, but include 6 men and a boy, two from a Shahoud family (see Khunayfis Massacre), 3 named Baki, an al-Din and an unidentified. There is no one named Mallouk, but these deaths are suspect, likely part of any massacre.

Then the next day, May 18 ... they have a Mohammad Ali Mallouk from Waar killed "by regime's army and Shabiha and they buried his body." And they have 8 victims named Mallok from Waar. This is what the SNHR was talking about, in part. All civilian, from Waar, killed May 18 by " Field Execution." Notes: "More than ten martyrs slaughtered with knives and then their bodies were burned."
Abeer mallok    woman age 35, married
Abdul Rahman mallok boy age 11, unmarried

Amal mallok    girl age 17
Ahmad mallok  boy age 15
Abdullah mallok   boy age 11, unmarried
Marwan mallok  man age 50
Thrwat mallok  manage 42, married
Zeina mallok  woman, age 18, married

So there are the 9 Mallouk family members, and the 4 likely related, to the SNHR's 13 total. Let's also say 13 total, and those 13, (listed as) killed over two days. Rebels knew where in the woods to find the bodies and were filming them on the 18th - so perhaps to be fair that should be taken as discovery date, not death date per VDC. Still, rebels quite likely knew where they were, because they had burned them there, after murdering them, for whatever unclear reason.

Videos of the victims bear out the description - mostly unrecognizable, sanitized, safe for Youtube human charcoal. One exception at least with some skin left better captures the essence of this horrible crime. All these are still available, short (0:06-0:33), dated and uploaded May 18

* v=EUYQfVM5QyE 0:33
* v=acrOpcSzXmg 0:33
* v=zfes7thWOzU 0:12
* v=RBUtGBbxkaY 0:06
* v=HadoKoP-HUA 0:15 Homs forest, some of the bodies that Hrguetha Shabiha have not been identified (inset still is from this one)

Also in the VDC's records (see above) 4 Waar rebels are listed killed May 18 by shelling, one by shooting - perhaps when the authorities responded to calls of a terrorist massacre in progress. The army probably moved in ... and maybe that's why the VDC really means the killings didn't happen 'til the 18th. But then, it heightens the incongruity of rebels finding the bodies just laying there the same day, in full daylight, either mid-morning or early afternoon it seems from the sunlight.