"Mr. Pesticide" Part 1: Scuttling Peace

Gen. Asaad Al-Zoubi "Mr. Pesticide"
Part one of four: The Saudis' Man for Scuttling Peace
September 18, 2019
edits Sept. 20, 21

Note: this is a decent-size part of a huge bottlenecked and delayed project I'll do in four parts, with parts 2 and 3 expected to fall in place quicker, and part 4 a bit later. There was a lot of related details I didn't know and had to do lookups, ranging from quick to fairly deep, and wanted to relate most of it in one place. Or. I was thinking two, but the first one had to be split, and in three works best. All-told, I'll explain: the Saudis' Man for scuttling peace, peddling lies, and promoting genocide.

General Asaad Al-Zoubi ( أسعد الزعبي ), born 1956, has a long history in the Syrian military from the 1970s, reaching the rank brigadier-general before he defected to the opposition side during the current conflict. It was reportedly in mid-2012, but a bit unclear, when he fled Syria and joined the opposition SNC and FSA, where he was given the rank of general. As of 2019 he holds a leadership position with US-backed, Jordan-based Southern Front, a coalition with both Islamist and secular units, allied with - but not including - Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, and al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra ("sometimes"). The southern Front promises to not be defined by its Islamist tendencies, and is vocally and/or militarily opposed of ISIS (Islamic State, ISIL, Daesh), and sometimes opposed to al-Nusra. (Wikipedia) His lack of a beard might suggest he's no Saudi-style Islamist. But with the mustache and leather jacket, he looks to me more like a Turkish Islamist, which he seems to act like. (Photo source: Geneva, Switzerland, April 19, 2016. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse)

Al-Zoubi was born in Daraa province, where his clan is large and prominent (FWIW the family name translates "doubtful"). It's spawned a previous prime minister of Syria, and their current information minister, besides this SNC-FSA sellout. The Daraa Zoubis were targeted early on in the uprising. In one case, a reported 16 of that name, aged 17-75, were the largest sector among 52 men and boys killed in a late-April, 2011 "Saida massacre." One of them was the famous 12-year-old Hamza al-Khatib. The lodged story of that event has been thoroughly disproven, by the way. (See my 2016 report - and the eldest Al-Zoubi got to be the first entry in the “Caesar photos” file.) Asaad al-Zoubi may have bought into the claims of a massacre of his kin at Saida, but it took a while before he defected sometime the following year. It's not clear what he did for the next 3+ years prior to January, 2016, when he was chosen for an important job.

Defected Syrian prime minister Riad Hijab was selected in December 2015 to head the Supreme Negotiations Committee (aka High/Higher Negotiations Committee, hereafter HNC) being formed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Wikipedia) This was to be a broadest-yet umbrella of opposition groups, ranging from moderate Islamist to extremist, but excluding designated terrorist groups, including some ostensible secular voices, at least one prominent Christian, and even a Kurdish contingent was involved, briefly. The HNC was given the power to select the opposition delegates for the upcoming peace-oriented, talk-related process called Geneva III, or the 3rd Geneva conference on "the future of Syria." Hijab selected Gen. Al-Zoubi as the "head of delegation" for the HNC but had him working with two others:

* "chief negotiator" on the team: Mohammed Alloush, acting political leader of the extremist, sectarian terrorist group Jaish al-Islam, and a relative of genocide-minded JaI founder Zahran (or Mohammed Zahran?) Alloush. Zahran's father was a salafist cleric long-ago exiled to Saudi Arabia for criminal extremism. Riyadh sent strong support to his son's JaI in Douma, so by 2016 they were holding half the Damascus suburbs hostage and  able to hit the capitol on command, besides fielding franchises throughout Syria. So Mohammed Alloush was a natural choice to head up some tough "negotiations." His marketing-heavy education and fairly polished style (well-trimmed beard, etc.) were definite recommending features as well. (some prior work on JaI bringing Hell to E. Ghouta while sending Alloush to Geneva.)

* The “we're not Islamists” guy on the team: George Sabra, an anti-Assad CHRISTIAN! apologist for terrorism and total puppet (NCSROF until 2018 anyway). He's also a writer for the Arabic version of Sesame Street, so he gets how muppets and puppets have their words written for them. (Wikipedia)

Image: HNC tweet "Head of the negotiating team Asaad Al-Zoubi and chief negotiator Mohammed Alloush arrive in #Geneva for #SyriaTalks March 2016" Sabra was off-frame somewhere, perhaps making them grilled cheeses sandwiches.

Syria, Russia, Iran, and Egypt opposed the HNC's decision to have members of terrorist groups (by their formal, legal definitions) have a leading say in "the future of Syria." They referred to Alloush's Jaish Al-Islam and to Ahrar Al-Sham, who also had at least one member involved. (Al-Masdar News) But that formula was forced through, causing visible problems from the start.

Before January was out, U.N. special envoy Staffan De Mistura complained the HNC was trying to make itself "THE opposition delegation" - a position supported by the U.S. Obama administration. As the same Al-Masdar article put it: "According to UN special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, Saudi Arabia is attempting to complicate his efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the war in Syria." In context, they were using the HNC as a tool to that end, and Gen. al-Zoubi was picked as one of its trusted operators. As De Mistura said, the core issue involved the HNC's "seriousness about the process," which was needed to "give a meaning to a peace conference.” This is the bouncing ball to follow in the following paragraphs.

It seems there was a lot of pre-dialog before any meetings in Geneva began in March. At the start of February, Reuters reported, “Bashar al-Jaafari, head of the government delegation, said on Sunday Damascus was considering options such as ceasefires, humanitarian corridors and prisoner releases ... as a result of the talks, not as a condition to begin them." But "the opposition High Negotiations Committee indicated it would leave Geneva unless peace moves were implemented (first)." Likelihood of progress: minimal. Still, an early ceasefire was agreed to by the U.S. and Russia in late February. It was the first one ever agreed on such a scale, per a Wikipedia article on them that fails to even mention the HNC. This ceasefire held with “hiccups” and fragility, through July, by most accounts, with both sides blaming each other for the all the failures.

With first meetings in Geneva planned for March 12, a March 10 Reuters report has Al-Zoubi threatening to pull the HNC out at the last moment because of “massacres” and a "conspiracy." "The head of the Syrian opposition's negotiating team said on Thursday it was not optimistic about peace talks getting under way in Geneva, and has still not confirmed if it will attend the U.N.-backed negotiations." Al-Zoubi is cited as telling Al Arabiya and/or al Hadath TV (both Saudi-run) "There is no optimism ... there is an international conspiracy and a cover-up of Russian massacres and a cover-up for (president) Bashar."

On March 12, however, they did arrive in Geneva, ready to blame the other side from a closer distance. (HNC tweet)

Add Sept. 21: A Reuters report of 6 April said "the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front … last week attacked and captured" the town of Telat al-Eis south of Aleppo, killing 11 Hezbollah fighters and 43 Syrian soldiers in the process, then "shot down a Syrian warplane on Tuesday (the 5th) and captured its pilot." This triggered, on the 6th, "intense air strikes in the southern Aleppo area," described as "the fiercest government assault in the area since an agreement to ease the fighting came into effect in February." The HNC's al-Zoubi was quoted on this story: he "told Reuters the truce was “in danger of ending” due to government violations." He referred to the February deal he apparently had nothing to do with, and seems to mean these new strikes against the designated terrorists of al-Nusra Front, who were never party to the ceasefire (although some covered "moderate" forces were working with Nusra and coming under attack). More on this issue in part 3.

By April 13, the HNC had lost its Kurdish portion (see part 2), and talks at Geneva had reached a likely related “deadlock,” and taken a recess (time frame unclear). Thing were just resuming when al-Zoubi declared, as a DW.com article puts it: "President Bashar al-Assad is the problem and Syria can only start to heal once he's gone." Or as an AP report translated his day's comments, Al-Zoubi said president Assad is a "disease" and Russia is "not serious" about the obvious cure of removal from power, the only hope for Syria's future. (Associated Press)

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said a transitional government as proposed amounts to a coup d'etat and "will never be accepted". He noted how most of the world except Saudi Arabia and Turkey have given up on pushing for Assad's removal. Mekdad explained "if we have to proceed" with talks, "then we need to forget or we need others to forget the dreams they had for the last five years." (Belfast Telegraph) But Zoubi knew it was destiny, not a dream. Parliamentary elections in Syria began at the same time, but he said, also on the 13th, “These elections do not mean anything.” Because they don't require Assad to step down, they were "theater for the sake of procrastination" – that is, putting off the inevitable. (Reuters) Basis for expecting progress: slim.

Two days later, Zoubi used fresh alleged attacks on Aleppo to declare “the regime ... sends a strong message that it doesn’t want a political solution, but a military solution that will bring destruction to the whole country.” He added that same-day administrative moves showed Damascus was “not serious about the political solution” and “divorced from reality.” (Reuters 15 April). Back in reality, 17 April, "Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will remain in power for just four months longer, until a transitional government takes control of the war-torn country" according to HNC's Mohammed Alloush. The form of it wasn't agreed yet; "another HNC source" (al-Zoubi?) outlined a proposal for a new government they recently heard, but rejected: "Effectively, Assad would stay in a ceremonial position. But we categorically rejected the proposal," the source added. (The New Arab - 17 April) They're way too 'in touch with reality' to settle for that. A "disease" has to be wiped out, not compromised with or left as a figurehead. They preferred the deal they had (?) where Assad would be out of power in four months time.

Also on 17 April, al-Zoubi paused his confident peace-talking and transition plans to send out word to the fighters: “We will not stay for long negotiating.. .In the event a missile targets them (rebels), they have to retaliate with ten missiles,” … rebels “must gain control of as many areas as possible, they must take advantage of the ceasefire as the regime has done”. (Reuters)

It must be noted, and here seems good: it's not always clear even now what exactly the “criminal Assad regime” has really done as opposed to just been accused of. We can suppose the Syrian military were killing and weakening the militants, and perhaps this alone was cause to demand a halt to attacks. But it's the alleged criminal targeting of homes and hospitals, etc. that's put forth as the reason. These allegations are never proven, usually dubious, and often disproven (a good example in a moment...) On the basis of  crimes that might be entirely fictional, the “transitional government” could only exclude the current government ("Assad or any ruling group"). (Sputnik News)

So the terrorist-linked panel insisted on the regime's agreeing to suicide, basically, while green-lighting militant attacks on government-held areas and civilians. Then on April 21 when the government still insisted on fighting instead, and was still getting blamed for atrocities, the HNC really promised to walk out, calling talk pointless until the military situation changed - but NOT in the government's favor. (Reuters)

Six days later (27 April) came an allegation they didn't comment on (that I saw) but a great example of the kind: Al-Quds Hospital in Aleppo, allegedly bombed by Assad forces, killing 55 civilians. But the hospital was clearly not “reduced to rubble” as reported by MSF, and almost certainly not hit from the air at all (no damage to the roof or any external wall). Some internal explosions are seen, but these are provable from 4+ distinct bombs placed in different spots and triggered simultaneously to mimic an airstrike – an inside job. It did injure and kill some people, mainly in the emergency room (number there unclear, but 55 dead seems strangely extreme). And the most famous death of the “last pediatrician in Aleppo” Dr. Maaz likely didn't happen. Some clues suggest he coordinated the inside job, and a shady video edit might cover him leaving the ER prior to the blast there he might know just how to avoid. THIS is the kind of fake crimes people like Al-Zoubi eagerly pass on as true, never wanting to ask questions, perhaps knowing how fragile the illusions really are.

But it took that, everything before, and another month's worth of allegations before finally, on 29 May, the HNC started delivering on its promises. Chief negotiator Mohammed Allosuh resigned that post over the lack of progress in removing Assad or halting the allegations against him. About four months he pouted and threatened to run away from Geneva and the HNC before he finally did. Meanwhile, as DW reported, “the head of the main Syrian opposition delegation Asaad al-Zoubi also told the Saudi al Hadath TV channel that he too wanted to be relieved of his post, but did not confirm he had taken a similar step."(DW) Al-Zoubi was still called the leader of the HNC in articles as late as October 8, 2016. (Reuters) But the HNC delegation was led by a Naser al-Hariri when it participated in the new Geneva peace talks that commenced in February, 2017. (Wikipedia – HNC)

I didn't dig much past that, but it apparently didn't go well at Geneva IV in 2017 either. In February, the HNC rejected moves by the UN's Staffan de Mistura to re-exert control over delegate selection for the talks, and insisted the Kurdish PYD could not sit under its umbrella. (as they had non-Islamist George Sabra explain: "should the (PYD) want to take part, it has to do so on the regime side.”) (Rudaw) By mid-November, the HNC still existed when its founder, Riad Hijab, was among a dozen opposition figures who "resigned, apparently in protest of others being too willing to accept the continued rule of a man (Assad) they view as a discredited tyrant." (Sarah El Deeb and Philip Issa, Associated Press, 22 Nov.)

Who were these other people worth resigning over? They sound more correct. It could better be said the tyrants in Turkey and Saudi Arabia were discredited by Syria's continued defiance. In fact the tyrants were starting to acknowledge it themselves, even as some more zealous agents held out; the same AP article explains “Aides told local papers that Hijab, in his resignation Monday, was protesting Saudi Arabia giving up on calls for Assad to step down. Media reports suggested Saudi Arabia didn't invite HNC to the 2017 Riyadh meeting." A lack of invitation sounds like a lack of favor. In fact, Hijab's Wikipedia entry states “in 2017 he resigned as head of the (HNC) group following Saudi pressure.” (Wikipedia – Hijab)

It seems the HNC was dissolved after this, dropping off the radar. Nothing past 2017 is mentioned in the relevant Wikipedia entry. Even the visionary Saudis were "out of touch with reality" so the HNC's people retreated to their shrinking kingdom of truth. It might take longer than those four months, but the diehards seemed to maintain faith in the inevitable forced end of Assad's rule, even if the whole world procrastinated over it.

The approach taken by the High Negotiations Committee was never likely to advance a peaceful settlement. But they took that approach anyway, maybe because they planned to fail and blame the other side. It could be said - as Staffan De Mistura suspected early on - that they were never serious about the peace process. Instead, it seems they were engaged in an unstated and criminal process to pursue the Saudis' preferred military non-solution.

Since outright regime change was becoming unlikelier by 2016, it seems they adopted a policy of regime-bleed; delay the inevitable resolution so Syria can remain embattled, demonized, sanctioned and suffering until its will was broken, or as weakened and wounded as possible. The end goal isn't clear to me - perhaps as simple as having one less or one weaker ally for Iran in some big war against them planned down the road. Most likely it's a cluster of reasons mostly related to that regional struggle, including competing oil pipeline schemes and the like. But there can hardly be a morally straight reason for this kind of deceitful and murderous policy.

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On to part 2

Upside-Down Terrorist Crimes on Display in Geneva?

Fail Caesar Part 8: 
Upside-Down Terrorist Crimes on Display in Geneva?
April 9, 2016
(last edits April 10)

This article is modified from a forthcoming report: Do the Caesar Photos Show Rebel Crimes in Syria? This preview raises a few interrelated points I'd like people to see before 'peace talks' in Geneva resume this week. Even though, no sooner had I put this up, than Jaish al-Islam took credit for a chemical weapons attack in Aleppo, spurring calls for their political leader to be permanently barred from negotiations (emerging on RT to start)

On the verge of 'peace talks' in Geneva in late March, 2016, the Caesar photos were put on display there, to help clarify why the Syrian government – one party to the talks - had to go. The exhibit was hosted by the Swiss Press Club, at a site near the Palace of Nations where diplomats swarm.   UK Special Representative for Syria Gareth Bayley spoke there, saying “The Caesar photos are compelling evidence, brutally and forensically documented, of the Assad regime's calculated widespread attack on the Syrian people,” adding that “accountability must be central to a settlement in Syria.” A woman presenter, claiming to be a former prisoner in this system, “told a hushed room full of journalists and diplomats that she had a message to those at the Palace of Nations,” MiddleEastEye reports, “from her experience “under the criminal Assad regime”.” Exhibition organizer Yahya Al Aridhi said the victims were Syrians, Jordanians and Palestinians killed in “a non-stop Holocaust in Syria” committed by its government.

But the photos may actually show a genocidal murder spree by Islamist opposition fighters against their own captive enemies. The photo displayed at right (Photograph: Philippe Desmazes/ AFP/ Getty Images, via The Guardian) is placed upside-down, which might in itself be interesting. This photo depicts alleged detainee #63, as listed, from small-time branch 248, from the July 27, 2013 folder. Here in Geneva, they've blurred: his eyes, numbers on a card and on his chest, and his left forearm.

This teenage boy is better seen in several fuller photos in a gallery for child victims published by Zaman al-Wasl. The same one is shown here, right-side-up. Between all these, we can see he was starved, suffered mild neck burns but no evident body torture, and had his eyes damaged – they seem raw but present. He has a little blood or orange fluid from the nose.

The photo has clearly been altered in a paint program, which is unusual but not not unprecedented. It seems this is usually done to clarify a number, but this paints over and changes both the hospital and detainee numbers. The hospital number (bottom) is now 4450/b. The top probably matched the chest writing before, which says he's #62 from 248. And stranger yet, before that his body had said unclear number, for branch 215. This was partly washed off and overwritten, but still faintly visible (a simplified 3 at the end, and the 215, are fairly clear - see below). And it seems like his forehead, coated with a thin layer of soot or dirt, had its identifying tape removed along the way.

The original number – on tape or on the body - is supposedly written at the MI branch prison. But they wouldn't do the correction there, unless they briefly forgot which branch they worked for. That's unlikely, so it seems to be Caesar who knew better and corrected them, and then corrected himself later. (see FC5 who's doing the writing?)

Or perhaps he corrected himself twice. The following graphic draws on further views of the same boy in the Zaman al-Wasl photo gallery. These include the body next to his, starved to almost the same exact degree and with eye damage, but by a different division, and left more of a purple color. By number and face, that's 215-3879 as listed by SAFMCD, with the 215 left off here and that 9 looking strange. Comparing this to the boy's traces, I think they were 215-3871 and 215-3873 (see graphic, lower middle – gold writing is offset, original marks are to the left and a bit above).

It's really hard to say just what happened here, let alone why. But having such questions lying around is certainly not a good sign. However sloppy the work, who's calls did Caesar alter here, and based on what? How quickly does that ink dry? And why does the blamed branch seems so flexible and arbitrary? It doesn't seem to matter just who killed him, so long as it was Mukhabarat.

Note for holocaust/genocide-watchers: the top photo shows the the boy 248-63 has on his left forearm a clear curved sword tattoo usually taken as meaning he was Shi'ite, (lower right corner above) with unclear writing above it. The older victim may have a small simplified sword on his left arm. Was this the regime's 'kill the starved Shi'ite prisoners day' at both 215 and 248 branches? There are several other cases of Shia-suggestive tattoos, besides Alawi and Christian and various clues the captives were partly captured soldiers of the SAA or allied militias, as the report will explain (for now see FC6).

But the boy's telltale tattoo is blurred away in Geneva, along with his mess of conflicting “Mukhabarat prisoner ID numbers.” It didn't matter just who killed him, so long as it was someone inside “the criminal regime.”

Sitting atop the possibly misdirected photo furor and seeking “accountability” is the US-Saudi-backed opposition group, the High Negotiating Committee (HNC), who made the call to show the Caesar photos there, perhaps to influence negotiations. As the Guardian reported:

The High Negotiating Committee has so far failed to lift the issue of political detainees to the same level of importance as humanitarian access. To underline their position, the opposition exhibited a selection of the “Caesar” photographs – images of hundreds [sic] of detainees held in Syrian jails that were smuggled out Syria in 2013. The event was attended by many western envoys in a show of solidarity.

And sitting atop the HNC as it leverages this dubious evidence is their chief negotiator Mohammed Alloush (right, using a photo of suffering to make a point). He has promised “we will consider the resumption of negotiations for an effective transfer of power,” as soon as “the United States is able to force [the Syrian government] to stop the bombing, free prisoners and allow the entry of aid” (in other words, once foreign military intervention finally tips the balance in their favor). He earlier dictated, also from Geneva, that “the transitional period should start with the fall, or death, of Bashar al-Assad” and “those with blood on their hands can have no part in a reconstituted Syrian army,” or likely in much of anything.

Syria is not prepared to negotiate with a leader of a terrorist group currently barred from talks anyway. Alloush is a proud and founding member of Jaish al-Islam (JaI, Army of Islam, logo at right), and a close relative of recently-killed JaI leader Zahran Alloush (reportedly his brother, or cousin, and/or brother-in-law – reports conflict).

Based in Douma, about 10km northeast of Damascus, Jaish al-Islam is a leading faction within the Syrian Islamic Front, pursuing a Wahabbi-inspired Islamism for Syria, and is saddled with a slew of of credibly alleged crimes including the sectarian beheading massacre in Adra, in December, 2013 (partly detailed in a longer article here). Zahran Alloush in his time he promoted Islamism, denounced democracy and secularism, admired Osama bin Laden, and often worked with Syria's al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra in a “brotherly” way.

He advocated Sunni supremacy and genocide against Alawi and Shia citizens, vowing “the mujahedin of Sham (Damascus/Syria/Levant)” would “crush the heads” of the “enemies of God” (people of the Shia and Alawi faiths, and the Persians/Iranian ethnic group). He promised his holy warriors would “wash the filth” of Shi'ism from Syria “forever, if Allah wills it,” and promised to re-establish the ancient Umayyid Caliphate (see Landis, Alloush himself on video).

As far as we know, Jaish al-Islam committed the murders shown in the Caesar photos. This isn't proven, but the report will explain some compelling evidence I've discovered that they in fact are to blame. Zahran promised the "enemies of God" that they would "taste “the evil of torture in this world before Allah will make you taste it on the Day of Resurrection.” At right are two more victims from a starved-Shia-killing day, 215-3669 (cropped) from the 7-7-2013 folder, and 215-3670 (strangely, listed by SAFMCD as 227-3670, way out of their usual sequence but also dated 7-7 - see the shoulder scars and patch of light on the collarbone).

Also, JaI wants to help overthrow Syria's government. They're formally designated as a terrorist group only by Syria, Iran, Russia, and Egypt, while enjoying active support from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and ambivalence from allies of those nations; they're considered part of the “moderate Islamist” alternative "to both Assad and ISIS" sponsored by the West and the Gulf monarchies.

JaI's wikipedia page lists Zahran's close relative and fellow thinker Mohammed Alloush as their current “political leader.” Gulf News says he studied Islamic law, Islamic banking, and marketing, and started with Zahran's JaI in 2012 (then called Liwa al-Islam) founding "underground cells" in Douma. Note: the Caesar photo marketed massacre started slow in late 2011, and only came in heavy from November, 2012 and forward, about 1,000 per month on average. Now he's in Geneva pushing for “accountability” and deciding who is “the terrorist” in Syria. He's doing that sitting on a throne of accusations, including these thousands of photos of people like 248-63, 215-3669, 3670, and 3879, as labeled - probably by their killers. These are victims of a massive crime that Alloush himself might know all about, from the inside.

Jaish al-Islam, Protecting the Syrian People

Jaish al-Islam, Protecting the Syrian People
April 3, 2016
Modified from upcoming report

"Cages of Protection"

It wasn't long ago that Jaish al-Islam recieved some unfavorable publicity for apparently caging captured men and women “believed to be Alawite officers and their families,” in some 50 tiger cages, paraded around Douma in late October, 2015. They promoted the idea with the slogan “cages of protection,” deploying the captives as human shields claiming to to believe it might stop indiscriminate bombing by the “Alawite regime.”

The move was widely denounced in normal channels, but an activist told Al-Jazeera this was more JaI democracy and the locals supported it; “most people decided to place those prisoners from the Alawite sect and high-ranking regime officers in cages so they can taste our misery.” This disgusting display, compared to the stated reason for it, and where they got the people, does much to reveal the twisted management style of JaI that no decent person could support.

Al-Jazeera heard quickly, and predictably, how the alleged regime airstrikes continued (the “Army of Islam” might say this is because “Assad” doesn't even care about his own people). They heard JaI was “moving the prisoners to the rooftops of homes as a supposed deterrent,” but still activists told them “that 250 civilians, including 50 children and 20 women, were killed by government forces in attacks during the last three days alone.”

But this is a nationwide total: The VDC records 256 total "martyrs" from 10-30 to 11-1 (and less in all other spans they might refer to), including 26 women, 51 children, 139 civilian men, and 49 rebels, killed by all causes across all of Syria. Douma's share was sizable – 71 . There's no word whether any of their human shields were among those killed. But the VDC records 4 local but unidentified women killed November 1, all at once with a mortar shell, presumably of regime origin, as they say “while they were heading to a medical point in the city” for some prior reason. That makes little sense. Four women is, of course, about one cage's worth.

Reason: to Prevent (Their Own False-Flag) Attacks

One of those deadly attack the cages failed to stop, as common in Douma, was at a public market. Many such attacks have been reported, blamed on cruel regime shelling, sometimes with “barrel bombs.” These events have killed many hundreds total, in addition to other alleged shelling, bombing, snipers, etc. in an area (Douma) that's fairly depopulated.

But these "market attacks" are odd, and tend to kill almost totally men and older boys, suggesting the victims were segregated like captives before they died. The early November attacks were said to kill 71 civilians in Douma. 56 share the note “market,” and of those, 48 are men. This is pretty standard. Some presume this means rebels are laundering their battle deaths, and it could be. But as with the Caesar photos victims, much evidence says these – at least partly - really were civilians, just split-up by age and sex; the men are killed in huge numbers, with far less women and children taken captive, or perhaps taken but saved for other fates.

The only Douma market attack I've studied closely - and it was very closely - was the one on August 16, 2015, and this will shed some light on the rest of them (see investigation review for more). Perhaps the most famous and widely-decried example, this had about 120 civilians reportedly killed when a fighter jet hit the market district with four fuel-air or "vacuum" missiles at mid-day. There are 4 such impacts in the market strip, with some injured and dead seen at each site. But most deaths seem to be unrelated; lists show at least 110 men, about 12 boys (mostly older, so “fighting age men”), 3 women, and no girls (the lists seem to be incomplete). Two key findings:

1) Analysis shows at least 40 of the men and boys were dead, fairly dry, and gathered for burial at roughly the same time as the impact of the rockets blamed for killing them. The attack was probably around 1:20-1:25 pm, while the earliest photo of bodies was taken (right, timed roughly by sunlight angles) was somewhere between 12:55 and 1:25 PM. That means they were killed well before the “missile attack.”


2) The southerly direction of fire and evenly arcing pattern of impacts (right – the red dots are exact) virtually proves they did not come from any circling jet, but from a fixed surface position about 800-820 meters south of the stricken markets. (see the review, and here for the mapping explained.) These would be rockets, not missiles, fired by allies of the killers to provide the public explanation for the rows of corpses from the massacre earlier in the day.

A Reuters report heard from someone and concluded that the attack seemed to be “retaliation” for a recent victory, “by the Islamic Army rebel group, which enjoys strong support in Douma.” So the “regime” was aiming for the group's civilian support base. JaI Spokesman Islam Alloush (no relation to Zahran) said “We do not have any presence in the residential areas” and so couldn't themselves be the target. A “civil defence officer” told al-Jazeera from Douma. “There are only civilians here - no army and no opposition forces. Residents do not permit any armed person in this area. ... The market was intentionally targeted.” Operating outside the city then, we should wonder if one of JaI's positions was, perhaps 800m south of Douma's market district.

Finally, some more disturbing clues in the August 16 attack: no girls were listed as killed, but at least four are shown in pictures, all with head wounds, and one clearly looks like it was caused by a sword. One teenage boy was clearly pulled apart, as if tied between two vehicles driving opposite ways, in a terroristic fashion employed by Islamic State and others. Rockets don't do this. Then he had his face cleanly burned away, maybe just to mimic a fuel-air “vacuum missile” and, still alive in some clinic, was passed off as another victim of the day's Assad fighter jet “massacre” in Douma. If this happened there (unverified), JaI will at least know about it.

So really the market and similar attacks seem to be or include unacknowledged terrorist massacres of gender-segregated captives. It should be noted the victim don't have to come from Douma itself but anywhere JaI has a reach. Real explosions can be arranged with things like rockets. Then they can blame the death on the rockets and blame those on “Assad.” Later they decided to put other stolen people into “cages of protection” to help show they really do believe it's all coming from the sky, and the world has to come give them a Libya-style “no fly zone.”

Securing the Props

If that sounds outlandish, consider how they get the props for the October performance: As AFP reported, citing the opposition SOHR, “most” of the caged people “were kidnapped by Jaish al-Islam two years ago outside Adra al-Ummaliyah, a regime-held neighbourhood in Eastern Ghouta.” The report added “a Jaish al-Islam spokesman was not reachable for comment.” Another al-Jazera report quotes an activist agreeing “the men and women in the cages were detained during battles in Ghouta and Adra.”

This “battle” is also the Adra massacre, infamous to some, unknown to most (see ACLOS (talk) page unless the main page is ever filled in). This major sectarian beheading spree was the only time the army of Alloush would have direct access to most of Adra, a sprawling, mostly-government-held district northeast of Douma. Early on December 11, 2013 thousands of Islamist fighters from the new JaI coalition, Jabhat al-Nusra, and allies, swarmed over defenses and seized control. A large number of soldiers were killed and captured, and then civilians were executed in their homes, according to prepared lists. An unclear number were beheaded in the open, their bodies left in the street and their heads reportedly displayed on trees. Some were said to be cooked alive in the ovens of a bakery the rebels overran. One family was killed when the father blew them all up along with some militants to prevent their being captured. These accusations aren't proven but are precedented and quite credible.

The death toll is unclear. One detailed early report had at least 63 defenders killed (8 Palestinian fighters, 25 police men, 12 NDF members, and 18 SAA soldiers) and 60 civilians executed (including state employees, 6 Bakery employees, and civilians - mainly Alawi, Druze and Christians). SOHR heard a smaller numbers of civilians (around 30-40) were killed, all of them Alawi, Shia, and Druze. Other reports had over 100 civilians butchered, and perhaps 400 killed in total.

Witnesses reported to RT the attackers were mainly non-Syrians under the "black flags of Jaish al-Islam and al-Nusra Front. Some of them were singing ‘Alawites we have come to cut off your head’s song..." According to some reports, the operation was commanded by Zahran Alloush. Even Reuters heard "Several blamed the Army of Islam, … "Zahran Alloush has committed a massacre," one activist based in the Damascus suburbs told Reuters."

There's no proof of ISIS involvement, but it's possible at this ambiguous stage – they were part of the Islamist team in Latakia a few months earlier (see below), but starting to fight with others in some areas by this time. This might matter, as the VDC director Razan Zaitouneh had been accusing ISIS of murdering activists, and she was abducted and disappeared on the night of December 9/10, just one day before the grand Adra offensive. 

If left alone, the VDC might have finally broken their silence on JiA crimes and criticized the Adra massacre, or maybe not. As it is, with their director just kidnapped, they recorded no soldiers or civilians killed at all on the bloody first day.  During an occupation to about Dec. 29, VDC records about 90 combatants * and 45 civilians killed (33 men, 8 women, 3 boys, 1 girl. Two died on the 12th, several on the 14th and 16th, and the rest over the final days - ACLOS). By this, nine Adra civilians died, along with 36 people from other places who were living there (this could mean they're religious minorities or government loyalists who felt safer in Adra than in the place they left). They died during the rebel occupation but they from: government starvation and regime sniper (one each), 11 executed by regime forces, and the rest killed by government shelling.

* 65 rebel fighters killed during a week-long battle, and 37 "regime forces" – but none on day 1. 3/4 of these are listed as from Tartous or Latakia, suggesting killed for being Alawite. A colonel from Tartous is listed on the 12th with the note “he blew himself up.” They don't say why, and don't list any family dying with him.

Most likely the first day's mass-killing is just unreported here, and these later deaths are acknowledge but laundered hostage executions, and should be added to the likely total death toll for the Adra Massacre.

Official reports were that at least “dozens” of civilian captives were taken south from Adra, towards Douma. Al-Monitor reported in May, 2015 "the Al-Baton jail reportedly held a few hundred women and children taken prisoner from the Adra al-Omalia area. The men who had been taken alongside them are believed to have been executed." This is similar to the tactics used a few months earlier in the joint Islamist conquest of several villages in Latakia near the Turkish border, by Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS, Ahrar al-Sham, and alies – all of similar mindset to JiA. The men were all killed, with no age exemption, with some women an children (about 200 total killed) while about 200 women and children (aged 13 and under, usually) were taken as property and used as bargaining chips. In this case, two years later JaI was tossing around metal boxes full of the people they stole from Adra. 

But their politcal/sales director Mohammed Alloush - a brother or cousin of slain JaI leader Zahran Alloush says things like this: “Abducting people is not part of [our] approach.” (see Time, at the time of the Zaitoneh abduction and Adra offensive). And so, like Ahrar al-Sham and sometime even Al-Nusra, Jaish al-Islam is considered by outside backers as "moderate Islamists," perhaps worth supporting as a counterweight to "both Assad and ISIS." Perhaps coincidentally, Western and Gulf governments and human rights groups considered the events in Adra unclear, and never really clarified them, and the story was forgotten.

But Zahran Alloush probably committed a massacre in Adra, and probably many others. And now his close relative, fellow thinker, and JaI political leader Mohammed Alloush is in Geneva as the head of the opposition "High Negotiating Committee" (Al-Monitor). At Saudi insistence, leading the push for “accountability,” deciding who has “blood on their hands” and  who is “the terrorist” in Syria. Alloush is tasked with forging an agreement with the Syruian government to end hostilities, but wants US air strikes first, and demands the "fall or death of Bashar al-Assad" before the "transitional period" can begin.

Syria refuses to talk (directly) with a member of a terrorist group. It seems current protocol blocks Alloush's involvement anyway, as a member of a terrorist group. But having picked a member to lead their team, Saudi Arabia seems sure they'll get that changed in time. Staffan deMistura is optimistic about talks towards a settlement, as the only shot there is at ending the suffering in Syria. The US urges both sides to take advantage of this golden chance, or things will get worse.