Daraya Chemical Incident, November 30, 2012

The First Bodies Tossed Across Obama's "Red Line" in Syria
Part 3.5: Daraya Chemical Incident, November 30, 2012
August 16, 2018
(rough, incomplete, updates to 8/20)

This is one of the earliest and murkiest chemical incidents I hadn't even noticed until just now. 3 men and perhaps a teenage boy as well, killed in Daraya or, actually, nearby Moadamiya, west Ghouta, on or around November 30, 2012.

First, the context: other alleged fatal attacks and reports around the same time, mostly in East and West Ghouta, and especially here in Daraya:

* 11/17, a single displaced child from Douma killed in East Ghouta 

* 11/23, a single displaced child from Douma killed  in East Ghouta 

** http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/02/what-happened-little-ways-from-douma-in.html

* 11/30: Daraya/Moadamiya, 3 men killed: with this plugged in, we have a strangely clear pattern of one alleged attack every week in this build up. And this unnoticed incident is most likely what spurred Obama to reirterate his "red line" threat/offer on December 3. Then reported-as incidents begin, on the same schedule:
* 12/6, reports of the army launching chemical weapons in Daraya, no word on casualties
** http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-happened-december-6-and-22-2012-in.html
* 12/8, vague reports of some chemical use in Aleppo
* Mid-December: Questions have arisen about the most prominent incident yet, that 11/30 one? Accusations chill. 
* 12/22, reports of Syrian soldiers advancing on militants in Daraya, attacked with some yellow gas that causes 7 of them to die within an hour.
** http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-happened-december-6-and-22-2012-in.html
* 12/23, not to distract, but Assad forces killed 7 civilian men with chemical hand grenade that emit white smoke, up in Homs... This becomes the leading claim of Assad CW use, but is questioned and soon shelved. Accusations otherwise chill until March 19, 2013, where most half-informed folks start the CW attacks narrative. Some odd things there...
http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2017/02/what-happened-on-march-19-2013.html

Victim, Mohemed Quraitem:
Mohammad Anwar Quraitem
Muhammed was known as Abu al-Nour. He was one of the first people to call for dignity and freedom …
https://english.enabbaladi.net/martyrs/

Between August 20-25, hundreds of Darayya residents were massacred after the regime stormed the city, shelling it and carrying house-to-house raids. It was the most dramatic moment in the city's recent history, and it deeply affected the Enab Baladi team. The trauma caused by the loss of friends and relatives and the death of one of the project’s co-founders, Mohammad Quraitem, soon after, led to the subsequent decentralization of the project, which spread to other cities. They started publishing in the northern areas free of regime control, such as Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib, where there was more room for work.
http://syriauntold.com/2014/02/grapes-of-my-country/

Kholoud Helmi, founder of Enab Baladi newspaper: “The first one we lost was the CEO, Mohammad Quraitem. He took the decision to stay in my hometown after we left and he was killed by a missile that hit his home...."
https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2018/05/womans-place-resistance/

Victim: Abdulrahim Sharbaji, aka Abu Musab:
claims Abu Musab defied the regime in 2011, was arrested brutally, held for 28 days, then released by court order. He was urged by his mother to flee, but preferred to remain under threat of warplane bombing.
On Wednesday, November 28, 2012, an air strike targeted the house where he was staying with his nephew Marwan
and his companion, Mohammed Qoreitem, with a rocket believed to carry poisonous gases
Their pure blood tells the soil of the homeland and their pure souls rise in the sky. With a new dawn.
Dec 2012 https://www.enabbaladi.net/archives/4906

11/30 Incident Details

Martyred: November 28, 2012

On Wednesday 28 of November 2012, touch was lost with Abu al-Nour when he went to see his life-long friend Abdul Rahim Sharbaji and his friend Marwan Sharbaji in their house in Moadamiya. His visit coincided with a number of raids by Mig warplanes over the area. Missiles were dropped which likely carried toxic gas substances. On Friday 30th of November and after two days of searching for him, he was found a martyr in the house of his friends and beside him are his friends, Abdul Rahim and Marwan Sharbaji, in a very bad shape because many missiles dropped on the house and no one could reach them.

https://english.enabbaladi.net/martyrs/

Mohammed Anwar Qraitem, 34, Daraya, Graduate of psychology -Media Activist

2012-11-30, shelling

Known as (Abu al-Nour), He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city. Participated in various service and revolutionary business in the city was arrested in 2003 as a result of his participation in field activities including clean-up campaigns and the fight against corruption,  One of the most wanted since the beginning of the revolution. Has two daughters, Reem and Yara.

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45532#.W3VS3vZFzuh

Nov. 30 video Local Council of Daraya city - Media Center

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkOc9hGas1M

The martyrs Mohammed Qoreitem and Abu Musab al - Shurbaji (plus an unnamed and not-messed-up teenage boy, also not wounded, poss. suffocation case - hands tied in front is for body handling, not hostage binding - prob. not a clue)

Marwan not seen. 

Nov 30 video, "DarayaCity Syria"

Daria, three martyrs of suffocation with toxic gases

suffocation of three Martyrs with poison gas
Martyr Abu Musab al - Sharbaji
And the martyr Mohammed Anwar Koreitem "Abu Nur"
And the martyr Marwan al-Sharbaji

We do not confirm or deny that they have been exposed to chemical and leave it to the experts in this field

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y3k_zM55Sc

damaged door, going to the alley, around the back side, 5 pairs of footwear outside.
Just inside the door Abdelrahman's body is laid - dusty footprints all around. 

in the bathroom, Mohammed Quraitem, laying flat, black liquid smeared all around, toilet askew, tipped over washbasin, bizarre scene...

Marwan not seen. The boy not seen. 

Seen later, face apparently washed off some but stained...


Abdelrahim, 68, 2012-11-30, shelling
Known as (Abu Mosa'ab ), He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45531#.W3VPqfZFzuh

The shelling did something in particular to his hand (wrists?) and his face (enhanced views below). Notes coming but for the record, not a clear case of the later "Douma mask of death." Quite similar though... bizarre. Considered below.

Marwan 47 real estate office owner, 11-30, shelling
Known as (Abu Eyas), He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45542#.W3VP3vZFzuh

??? Looks more Like Mohamed.

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45533#.W3VRAfZFzug
Hamdi Salem Abu al-Laban, 17, non-civilian, FSA, Daraya, 2012-11-30, shelling
He was martyred as a result of the random shelling in the city

Clinical Signs

What the hell happened to these guys???

The date ambiguity and mention of "bad shape' due to inaccessibility suggests the bodies had decayed some, explaining the odd features. But note the victims' bent knees seen in situ, are about the same after gathering and display. this means rigor mortis, which fades in and out within a day or so. These guys have probably been dead at least 8-10 hours, and perhaps more than 24 hours, but not 2 days. If they were decaying, it would take longer to be visible, and would look different.

I realize these don't look like chemical weapons victim should, but they might look like some insane idiot's impression of what they would look like. They don't look like much else that makes sense either. 

Of the three messed-up victims, 2 look similar: gray face with little marks. Maran has white foam visibly coming from his mouth and nose. that suggests pulmonary edema, fluid buildup in the lungs, consistent with a few chemicals, and other causes.

As for Abdelrahim's strange face - I've been considering this with others on Twitter. There's one view that the marks are blood he was laid face down in - not a puddle, but soaked into fabric, perhaps. That seems possible, but ...

To me, it looks more like a non-washing, permanent stain or burn of the skin - possibly a flammable material splashed or wiped on, then lit up. Possibly a chemical applied that was then exposed to another chemical and became corrosive. The cleared are around his eyes could be explained by the glasses he sometimes wore. https://www.enabbaladi.net/archives/4906 (picture included in the graphic below)

What might explain this: wearing glasses, and squinting in anticipation (green lines), Abdelrahim was splashed in the face with some flammable liquid with a slight angle from below, and angling higher up on the right side (our left). Perhaps unbound, he removed his glasses after, wiped his eyes (closed, but eyebrows up) and his (furrowed) forehead, and his mouth fairly clean, except at: the facial hair line, and his uppermost forehead furrow. The backs of his hands are black-gray. Cheek is gray (upper, cheekbone area and lower, jawline area. Next, maybe some heat source was blasted on his face right at his nose, still coated: This burns black. Further away areas still coated ignite briefly and burn the skin red. Cheek and hands, farter away, stay gray.

And other possibilities exist. 

other sources:
https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/02/252905.html (dead link, said to report on this story)

LCC daily Syria News updates, via Uruknet.info
Nov 28
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93058&fb=1
Damascus Suburbs: Heavy shelling with missile launchers and heavy artillery is reported at the cities of Mouadamyeh and Daraya. Also, gaseous and poisonous bombs were thrown, these react on the ground, release oxygen and result in suffocation. (if release oxygen means consume oxygen, this sounds like vacuum or fuel-air bombs. That could explain a damaged home, a burned face, 2 (fuel-coated?) faces, and 3-4 cases of suffocation. But I don't think that's it, considering)
Also noted: "Mudamit Al ShamDamascus : 2 month old baby taking his last breaths due to injuries sustained by bombing with warplanes" (video deleted)

November 29, 2012 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93083&fb=1
Warplanes Spray Gases on Daraya and Kafersouseh in Damascus suburbs
(video just shows a large dust cloud rising in the distance)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZWkffVkMVA

Nov 30 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93118&fb=1
includes videos noted here: "Martyrs Muhammed Anwar Quraitem, Abdulraheem Sharbaji and Hamdi Abu Laban in Daraya, Damascus Suburbs" - "result of Suffocation by Toxic Gases in Daraya, Damascus Suburbs"
Text updates include: "Damascus Suburbs: Daraya: Three people were martyred at the hand of regime forces, their names are: Abdelraheem AlSharbeeni, Mohammad Anwar Qretiam, and Hamdi Abolaban."

Family Targeting? Quraitem

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/ar/martyrs/1/c29ydGJ5PWEua2lsbGVkX2RhdGV8c29ydGRpcj1ERVNDfGFwcHJvdmVkPXZpc2libGV8ZXh0cmFkaXNwbGF5PTB8MT0lRDklODIlRDglQjElRDklOEElRDglQjclRDklODV8

first:Mumen Sayah Quraytem, Car Sprayer, shot by the Air Force Security agents 2012-02-04
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/14122
Then two soldiers killed by "Armed opposition factions"
Fadi amer Qreitim, with "Regime's army" killed by shooting, 2012-06-09
www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/18553
Sergeant Kheder Reda Qretem of "Regime's army" killed by shooting, 2012-07-10.
born in in Ghour (Shia town next to Houla?) killed in Sayeda Zainab (Shia suburb of Damascus)
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/ar/details/martyrs/68234
Only the latter appears in the usual place for killed soldiers: not martyrs, just "other statistics."
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/otherstatistics/68234

Then 2 killed by "shelling" just before Daraya massacre, 2 killed in it (one in the cemetery, by a sniper), then Mohamed in November, then Quraitems mostly die in Hayan, Aleppo, starting abpout a month later.
1-03-13 5 Quraitem killed in Hayan - Martyred due the air raid on the town
10-09-13 5 Quraitem killed in Hayan - Several civilians martyred in a massacre caused by regime's mortar shelling from Zahraa town
July 29-30 and Aug. 12, 2016: 15 apparently related Quraitems killed in 2 rounds of warplane shelling, first the men, then the women and children. Non-maiden names for the women suggest possible Christians. But all these in Hayan are some distance to be clearly applicable to the same name in Daraya.

http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2016/08/syria-hayan-missile-massacre.html

Family Targeting? Sharbaji
Sharbajis of the peaceful sort were being killed and disappeared in Daraya in these days and for about a year -

Ousama Mozher Shurbaje, 28, farmer 2012-11-26

Detention - Torture - Execution

Known as (Abu Tieser). His body was delivered by Mwasat hospital in 26-11-2012 after he was arrested in 22-11-2012 in a farm in Darkhabya area

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/44831#.W3VQM_ZFzuh

Mohammed al-Shurbaji, fireman, 11-25, shooting

Son of (Abu Majed). Martyred by sniper gunfire

http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45007#.W3VQePZFzuh

Nabil was arrested in February, perhaps released and arrested more secretly in late January, 2013, app. photographed dead at Hospital 601 sometime in February, 2013 ("Caesar photos"), then claimed killed on April 3, and again more widely publicized on May 3, 2015.

http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2018/08/caesar-photos-victim-profile-nabil.html

Mohamed, Yehya, Maan, etc...

(Nidal Sharbaji) is a graduate of the Media College in Damascus and one of the leaders of the peaceful movement in Daria, and of the activists' partners Yahya Sharbji and Ghayath Matar

http://www.skeyesmedia.org/ar/News/Syria/1057

Relative activists? Two brothers, Maan and Yehya Sharbaji, perhaps cousins of his, also featured in the Caesar photos story, or maybe just through the newer expanded civil registry story, which I need to look at some more. They came up there as confirmed dead. The proof of regime murder: he was believed to be held in their prisons (evidence, perhaps...), and now they have a record - "he is listed in civil records as having died on January 15, 2013. 

https://eaworldview.com/2018/07/how-assad-regime-killed-man-roses-death-activist-yahya-sharbaji/

There are no details on the place or cause of death." Hundreds have supposedly been identified as dead in recent weeks as civil registries are updated - some were reported to be incommunicado regime prisoners, like Nabil Sharbaji, some also seen in the Caesar photos. 

https://globalvoices.org/2018/08/05/after-years-of-silence-and-denial-assad-regime-issues-death-certificates-to-disappeared-prisoners/

Sharbaji - Yehya and Mohamed arrested, a Ghiath Matar killed in the arrest

Yehya was executed in Saydnaya years ago and that Mohammad passed away due to illness and lack of medical care in prison.

http://www.shrc.org/en/?p=24669

App. brothers Yeyha and Mohamed appear, but named Matar

VDC lists Yehya and Mohamed as killed around their arrest time in a massacre?

…

Sept. 6

Syria News - September 6, 2011 (Warning: Graphic Videos)

http://www.uruknet.info/?new=81203

Daraya: The activist Yahya Sharbaji, born 1979, was detained this morning in the city of Daraya in an ambush that was set up by security forces. They exploited his family ties, as they had detained his brother Maan Sharbaji before and forced him to call his brother and ask him to come rescue him, claiming he had been shot in his foot during a raid of his home. The injury could not yet be confirmed. As Yahya was taken to his brother’s house by his friend Ghiath Matar, security forces emerged from hiding, chasing the activists before abducting them. It is well known that Yahya Sharbaji is one of the most prominent young acitivsts that advocates a commitment to the peaceful struggle of the Syrian revolution and contributed to many initiatives to ensure the peaceful nature of the movement and the unity of Syrians. For that, he gave flowers and water to soldiers and members of the security forces during demonstrations.

Ghiath Matar, killed by gangs, seen w/lashes and gunshots on video

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/world/middleeast/in-syrian-town-uprising-turns-into-grim-standoff.html

The government told Mr. Mattar’s family that he had been shot by “armed gangs,” a phrase that has become a euphemism that the government uses to describe its opposition.

Four days later, Mr. Mattar was dead, and footage showed he had suffered from burns, lashes and bullet wounds. The fate of Mr. Sharbaji remains unknown.

when a group of 15 people, including his 80-year-old mentor, Jawdat Said, a Muslim scholar who advocates political change through nonviolence, tried to see if he was in the hospital, guards denied he was there and prohibited them from entering.

Family Targeting? Abo al-Laban

VDC, All Laban matyrs from Daraya, and it's Abo/Abu al-Laban we're looking for: Just 15, mostly sporadic, but first is:
Sami Mahmoud Qet al-Laban, "Defected Soldier" killed 2011-08-12 by Field Execution
http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/14115#.W3p-o_ZFzIU
Notes: 'He was a soldier in Lattakia, who was sent to Homs on a task to suppress the demonstrators, where he escaped from Security Forces so that he does not kill protesters. Hence, he was killed." So he didn't really escape into the arms of the Islamists, just tried to...

- 4 Abu al-Laban civilians killed in the time frame of the August 2012 Daraya Massacre (mostly of hostages held by retreating Islamists, it seems). Then Four Abu al-Laban with FSA killed 11-23 to 12-18, 2012 (the boy above is the second one.)

Last entries, and none since: two men identified as tortured detainees in March, 2015, meaning "Caesar photos" identification. One has the photo shown, and its date clashes with their reported arrest date. details moved to http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2018/08/caesar-photos-victim-profile-ahmed-and.html

Two Other Victims?
Dec 1 http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93154&fb=1
Syria News - December 1, 2012 (Warning: Graphic Videos)
Local Coordination Committees of Syria + Videos
Mudamit Al Sham, Damascus, Martyr child Mohamed Jamal Ziada,originally from Dareya. Mohamed was killed from injuries he sustained due to shelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyezSmJAARM
He was already noted November 29, closer to the Nov. 28-30 incident in/near Daraya/involving Daraya people...  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m93083&fb=1
Child Martyr Ahmed Ziadeh from Daraya 

VDC lists him as dying that day: Ahmad Jamal Zyade http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45476#.W3pdw_ZFzIU
… along with a brother, Mu`ayd Jamal Ziadeh, both from Daraya, "Martyred due to Aircraft shelling. he was buried in Mouadamyah" http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/details/martyrs/45477#.W3pdxfZFzIU
No images for Mu'ayd, but Ahmad has the video, and an ugly photo at VDC. Comparing - left, video: Recently washed hair and face - unclear wounds/material/hair/stains across the eyebrows, forehead, temple. No wounds seen, blood from mouth and nose … heavy pink foam? Bloody pulmonary edema? It would mainly come out the mouth, being too thick to come out the nose. Later, as the air bubbles pop, the blood will come out more easily. Later, he would look bloodier, and more purple - the purple seems worse higher up the head, including in the eyes, perhaps damaged - his right eye seems badly swollen. Unclear small dots appear on his face. Plenty of fresh blood coming out the nose. Still can't see if there is or isn't any external injury to his body, or if this was maybe a chemical inhalation injury. Considering what we see here, what was going on all around in time and space, I suspect both of these "displaced" kids were horribly killed with caustic gas, as some of the first bodies tossed across Obama's Red Line.