Ghouta "FSA" Fatalities

 Ghouta Chemical Massacre(s): "FSA" Fatalities

April 18, 2021 

Recently I noticed this line from a Sept. 2013 statement by Liwa al-Islam, denying ...

"In the targeted areas in Gouta, there was a battalion affiliated with Liwa al-Islam. Ten soldiers of this battalion were killed and around 50 were injured."

There were a lot of presumably affiliated militants who died in E. Ghouta all spring and summer, often related to each other, and to civilians targeted for killing in the same span - maybe their affiliation was just then expiring? (see here for some details on that)

The VDC martyrs database I've long used in finally defunct - the general site is marked unsafe, having certification expire nearly a year ago, and I checked that the site still exists, the database I used for years simply doesn't. 

ACLOS, citing what was there: Non-civilian deaths in what included a government offensive against rebels and rebel-held areas: of 301 men listed as dead from the gas attack, just 13 are listed as non-civilian. The same number of "FSA" men were listed as killed with other weapons, for a total of 26 acknowledged rebel fighters killed in the Damascus suburbs that day.

And Liwa al-Islam claims ten of the 13 gassed were from a single LaI-affiliated battalion?

From saved files: Starting with two or maybe three listed as killed "in the Jobar neighborhood," when it turns out no rockets landed there - though it seems they were launched from there by Lia al-Islam, denials aside. Also the wind almost surely would carry an drift away from Jobar. Early reports of fatalities there were later explained as confusion - people from there, or taken there after exposure elsewhere. Maybe it's the same for these. 

#1 194. Mujahid: Abdul Rahman Medawar (Abu al-Bashar) / from rural Damascus, Douma, with "Army / free" (FSA, general term, maybe Liwa al-Islam) "killed in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus" 

I think VDC in English gave "Trochanter" as his family name, and/or another list from Facebook (link dead) also translated Trochanter but gives Arabic " عبد الرحمن المدور " Abdul Rahman Al-Medawar. Another list mentions that he was "of the Mujahideen of Al-Farouk brigade" - the only specific formation mentioned. There was a photo. He looks like a possible sarin victim, dead of asphyxiation, a bit cyanotic, red, roughed up eyes, mucous from the nose. Possibly related: giant beards and gas masks don't mix all that well.

#2 178. Mujahid: Safi Khaled Al-Nabki  ( صافي خالد النبكي ), the / Damascus - Jisreen Army / free / "cited (killed) in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus" The rebel (coordinating) media office in Douma called him "unidentified," killed by "barbaric shelling." Douma revolution on Tmblr. That could explain the massive head wounds  leaving him with bandages all over and "raccoon eyes" from cerebral bleeding. However the VDC lists the same guy as a victim of the day's poison gas attack, the only CW victim listed as from Jisreen district and identified fine as Safi Khaled Al-Nabki - 92786. Of course no gas was credibly reported in Douma.

#3 victim 92785, Muhammad Aakash Balla, the only martyr of the gas listed as from the outlying Saqba district. An active list says he was civilian. But per VDC< he was a local "FSA" fighter, with photo and video that's a better fit - unscathed outside, inside leaking foamy yellow fluid, perhaps a bit blood-tinged. He and Safi, from the outlying districts, were reported together in a pair of oddball entries (92785, 92786). Interesting. Maybe both Jobar deaths logged in Douma.

#4 180. Mujahid: Asad Sosag / Damascus - Rankous رنكوس Army / free / cited in Zamalka city of the Rural Damascus - VDC Asad Sosaq 92749 Non-Civilian FSA photo (not saved), from Rankus, killed 8/21 by Chemical and toxic gases

in Zamalka, three fighters who came from al-Bukamal to help wound up dead

#5 Mujahid ** : Mahmoud Jumaa Al-Aran, 50 years old / Deir Ezzor - Al-Bukamal  / martyred in East Gouta Rural Damascus as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

#6 Al-Mujahid: Abbas Asaad Al-Barghout, 21 years old / Deir Ezzor - Al-Bukamal / martyred in East Gouta Rural Damascus as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

#7 Al-Mujahid: Hassan (Abu Ahed) (the nickname did not arrive) 21 years old / Deir Ezzor - Al-Bukamal / He was martyred in Eastern Ghouta Rural Damascus as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

And four more "FSA" martyrs were from the Daraa area. Two are related

#8 * Martyr : Mohamed Hassan al - Balkhi / Daraa - Al-Najih / martyred in the East Gouta Rural DamascusDamascus, by chemical weapons

#9 Mujahid ** : Nasser al - Balkhi / Daraa - Bosra Sham, FSA, martyred in the East Gouta Rural Damascus, by chemical weapons

And so are the other two men from Daraa province, and both are named Sami Qanbas/Guenbs (different middle names = fathers - likely cousins), and both of them had other family members die with them, so not jut out in the fighting.  

#10a Mujahid ** : Sami Mohammad Kurdi Samih Muhammad Qanbas / Daraa - Al-Harrah  / shield - warm Army / free / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons. Somehow his wife (name unknown), 3 children, and his mother (family name unknown) suffered the same fate, presumably in their home-away-from-home.

#10b** Martyr did not reach its name (the wife of the martyr Sami Mohammed Guenbs ) / shield - warm / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

10c** Martyr : Fatima (the nickname did not arrive) Sami's mother: (Umm Sami Qanbas) / Daraa - Al-Harrah / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

10d* Child: Abdul Karim Sami Guenbs / shield - warm / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

10e* Child: Abdullah Sami Guenbs / shield - warm / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

10f Girl ** : The names of Sami Guenbs / shield - warm / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

The other Sami Guenbs was maybe more of a newlywed, dying alongside only his wife, whose name again was unknown. 

11a ** Martyr : Samih Mohamed Guenbs , / shield - warm / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

11b ** Martyr did not reach its name (the wife of the martyr Samih Mohammed Guenbs ) , / shield - warm / cited in the town of Zamalka Damascus countryside as a result of the bombing of regime forces to chemical weapons

That would be just 11 listed for E. Ghouta, affiliation unclear, but LaI claims just ten, all from a single unit allied to them. If that 10 and this 11 are the same, it's odd how so many could be killed unless grouped in combat, in 2 groups (Jobar, Zamalka) - especially none is from Jobar or Zamalka, only 3 from E. Ghouta at all, and they tend to die in displaced-seeming little groups - and then how some died with their family members too. , all those from Daraa dying alongside relatives.

Unclear if any of those is this militant-looking guy who apparently died in the basement of the old Tuberculosis hospital in Kafr Batna, E. Ghouta. Is that 12 or still 11? Are any of these people rellatives of his?

The one from Rankous, Asad Sosaq, has company - but apparently in West Ghouta, not East. 

12a Aaked Al-Bettar #92789 - Non-Civilian FSA - From Damascus Suburbs: Rankus, Killed 2013-08-21 by Chemical and toxic gases. Notes: "He was martyred with his wife during ambulance her" - photo 

12b Wife of Aaked Al-Bettar #92788 - Civilian - Adult - Female - Damascus Suburbs: Rankus - killed 2013-08-21 by Chemical and toxic gases. Notes: "She was martyred with her husband." 

It's not as clear where these died; Rankous had no sarin attack ever reported, and is just as far from Zamalka as it is from Moadamiya. FSA man Sosaq died in "Zamalka," but perhaps off fighting, and this FSA man died with his wife - presumably not fighting. And also, an apparent relative from even further out of town is said to die in Moadamiya, Western Ghouta. Bitar is a fairly common name, but...

12c Jamil Mohammad Beetar #91999 - Civilian - Adult - Male, from Lattakia (Alawite majority but with plenty of Sunnis), he was in Damascus for some reason. Died 2013-08-21- Chemical and toxic gases. Martyrdom location: Damascus Suburbs: Mouadamiyeh. Photo: not saved, prob. portrait, not showing him dead.  

A similar-named Gamel (Jamil) al-Betar, middle name Mahmoud (not Mohammed), age 33, from Rankus, died a month later. That may be the same man, considering listing differences, but presumably not. He was among some 15 men and boys in Rankus named Bitar killed in a supposed mosque bombing a month later, listed differently between 9/27, 9/29 and 9/30/2013. 46 total killed, and 1/3 are named Bitar. It wouldn't be surprising if the other 2/3 were all intermarried with them. http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Alleged_Chemical_Attack,_August_21,_2013/Victims_Analysis#Al-Bitar

Hussam Ismael al-Bitar Adult male 9/27 9/29 "explosion" "indiscriminate shelling" From Aljoulan , Altelawia clan" - apparently  the largest clan in the Golan Heights (Jolani). Otherwise, all "Rankus," no more Latakia people listed.