Heads Blown off to Maintain "Food Embargo" on Douma?

January 7/8, 2018
(rough, maybe complete but for formatting)

First, some backgroundon market attacks in Douma:

August 16, 2015, more than 100 civilians were killed in an alleged "Assad regime" air force attack on three public markets. The crime was loudly decried, widely illustrated with images and reports, and got some attention from me and my research associates as the Douma market attack.  

While images suggest a very few girls died, primarily of nasty, sword-shaped head wounds, I found all lists combined claimed 2 fighters and 118 civilian dead: 5 boys, 3 women, no girls, 110 men (perhaps including some teenage boys). At least the smaller half of these seen at right were killed before to the blamed rockets were even fired. The image was taken within minutes of the attack by solar angles, unclear if before or after (details) - 40+ men and boys are already dead, blood dried, gathered, so.... How did they really die all at once?

And it so happens the rockets were almost surelty fired from the surface, 800m south, not from a jet as alleged. Someone running the area did this. See at right: all 4 impacts mapped exactly (see here for details on how). This arc is not a coincidence: the firing spot is at circle's center (the white circle is a bit rough, so the center is approximate - the red dots are exact, and an expert reading from those will show the firing spot).

The ruling opposition faction in Douma, strongly backed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, was at the time Jaish al-Islam (JaI). They swore they had no military presence to strike inside Douma, having agreed to stay outside the city following on recent protests by the locals. So, as they bragged, the regime must be hitting the local civilians, for their undying support for JaI. The group decided from its locations including, I presume, 800m south of the rocket impacts...

Other market attacks in Douma blamed on the "Assad regime" seem to begin in 2014 (no clear examples found earlier than that) and include …
* 2014-06-07
* 2014-06-15 
* 2015-02-09  
* 2015-06-30 (see section)
* 2015-08-12  (see section)
* 2015-08-16
* 2015-08-23

See other market attacks with the mentioned  sections - it was compiled 2015, so very dated. Other attacks were within JaI's area of control across Eastern Ghouta, but I'm not sure all which areas to list here... (so just Douma). But they held many adjacent areas from various/unclear times in 2011 and 2012 until Syrian military offensives of 2017 whittled them down, and in April, 2018, JaI had surrendered even in their home base of Douma and left the area, officially for good.

Not on that list, but covered below, are 2 sort-of market attacks that each caused severe and suspicious damage to a certain shopkeeper's head.

The 2018 Incident

Just about one year ago now, a man had his head blown off in a chair sitting at a food booth amid alleged shelling of a market (very graphic: new window for full size). Firas Abdullah, a "journalist from Douma" is one who tweeted the image 10:52 AM - 9 Jan 2018: "Died without head ! Mahmoud Wawieh, was killed today by a mortar dropped in front of him in the pubic market of #Douma_city during continuous bombardment by #Assad regime army."

The Douma-based VDC (Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria... translations /acronyms vary - they use VDC) of course has a listing for Mahmoud Younes Wawieh - civilian, married, occupation blank. Killed 2018-01-09 in "Shelling on a popular market" by "Actors: Syrian government and affiliated militias." This shelling is said to kill 7 locals, one boy and 6 men including Wawieh. They show the photo at right, smiling with what could be his child or grandchild, depending (Firas Abdullah used the same image as well). 

Scene analysis: There no sign of damage or even smoke to suggest any shelling attack within visible range. Clearly no mortar shell landed in front of him, where an intact shelf holds upright bottle of cooking oil (presumed olive). Some of it was impacted by his blood and tissues, not shrapnel. Nothing much behind him or on any other side suggests an impact there either. One jug of (sunflower oil?) is tipped over, a few apparent spatters of blood, unclear white things, and general dust (not heavy post-attack dust - it's neither floating visibly in the air, nor recently settled out).

Any artillery shell must've hit his head directly, and judging by the pattern of blood and brains, it came in from the left and a bit behind. It must not be very powerful - his head seems to have absorbed 100% of its power.

He may have been sitting right here and somehow didn't tip over. I think when he was hit (with whatever), Mr. Wawieh was leaning back to his left, right foot extended for balance (see blood on that boot, clear arc on pavement where his toes were?) - maybe pointing or reaching back with his left hand, maybe towards someone behind him or up the street, from the apparent direction he was hit... or towards that unexpected mortar shell? That would put his head a bit to the right of where he slumped afterwards...

The apparent downward angle from his head down to its splattered remains is steep. If this reflects a line of fire, it looks to me most like a man holding a very powerful gun with an exploding bullet shot him, either standing above him on the raised sidewalk, behind and to the left, or perhaps from a sniper rifle positioned up the street and high enough to fit. By this angle, it could also be an incoming mortar shell of very little power ... A few other things could possibly explain it. I'm no expert. And all these angle considerations too are provisional, hard for an expert even to be sure about, so let's not get hung up on it. Heads explode certain ways, there's unsure posture, possible deflection...

An assassination? Maybe this was caused by a very powerful gun meant for shooting down aircraft, in the bed of a truck parked nearby? I wouldn't think so but for Eva Bartlett's 10 June, 2018 RT report "Torture, starvation, executions: Eastern Ghouta civilians talk of life under terrorist rule" (brought to my attention recently). This relates allegations of summary executions, robbery, kidnapping, torture, organ harvesting, etc. (adding greatly to some of my own writing on JaI atrocities here, and see also here for the bigger picture). I'm not convinced all these stories are true, but I am convinced most of them and their overall picture of things is at least "based on a true story." A living hell was imposed on them by criminals enabled by the "world community" just to further another regime change campaign.

Bartlett spoke with a young man named Khaled, who reported a 2-day imprisonment by Jaish al-Islam, tortured on suspicion of working with the government. Khaled also spoke of an execution he witnessed in Douma:

“They came in a truck with a 23mm (anti-aircraft) machine gun and blew off his head. Then, they accused the Syrian Army of killing him.” A photo on his mobile phone showed a headless man sitting in a chair, no remnants of shelling. 

“Jaysh al-Islam blew his head off for selling food cheaply, because they wanted to keep prices high, so that people stay impoverished and would have to work for them in tunneling or join them in fighting.”

It's not clear if the above is the scene referred to, or the exact image, or if Khaled had his own view of the same scene (or a different one?). But this happened about 6 months before that article, and fits the description. It's not really clear he witnessed it, or is telling the correct details, but it seems plausible, and he seems credible. This 23mm is a big gun, truck-mounted or towed artillery, basically, so it would be on the street. The angle from Mr. Wawieh's head to any truck could make sense, especially if it was parked up the sidewalk, just around the next corner (a way off frame to the right). 

But again, nothing is clear enough (to me) to say what the directions must be, nor what weapon is really needed to do this. But I'll try anyway. This … maybe. 23mm is not big diameter, but the shells are long, I think, packed with some explosives, and fired with great force. I suspect it would pierce his head, bursting it, pushing matter forward and exploding a moment later, spraying brains and such down and in all directions from a spot just past his head. I can see that, again, especially if they were parked just around the nearest corner, firing almost along that wall. He might have been facing them, asking "what, are you going to shoot me with THAT?" 

The 2015 incident
As strange as this kind of "Assad regime shelling" might seem, it's not the first time it had happened, at a public market, in Douma. Images of this were posted at the time including the still at right on Facebook by @sedemkdad August 26, 2015. A video of the scene is still available at Live Leak, noting "very bizarre way to die even the body didn't moved.. after a direct hit by bomb fragments." Indeed - arms folded, legs crossed, just chilling as if for a portrait photo from this very angle, when BAM … he stays in just that posture, as his head explodes?

The VDC attaches a crop of this image to its entry for Saif al-Deen Ahmad al-Fawal, from Douma. Occupation blank, killed 2015-08-26 "due to regime`s army forces shelling." This is a different market shelling 10 days after the big incident I had studied. This didn't come up as an incident to list, but it could be added to the list. Does the same kind of market-related tension underlie both incidents?

He's just one of nine people the VDC lists as killed in the area by shelling this day (2 from Erbeen, 7 from Douma, including 2 girls) 

Scene Analysis: Unlike the 2018 scene, there is nearby damage consistent with shelling, smoking hole in the side of a building, an injured or dead person brought out (video's end), dust in the air, even some jumbling near the killing site (a man picks up a light metal object next to the victim's tables). This doesn't prove who did it. 

But as the arranged posture suggests, nothing explosive happened right at Mr. al-Fawal's stand, except just inside his skull. In this case, he appears staged, given an unrealistic, casual posture presumably held just before he died. Originally, he was likely seated here at the event, then might have stayed upright, or tipped over, depending on the angle. Some blood/material flew down around the chair, and a lot of just blood trickled across the ground underneath his smaller table, remaining wet. That would likely come out of the stump if he spent some minutes laying there on his back or side.

This table was most likely tipped over and then re-arranged along with him - note the things closest to the alleged mortar strike are set nicely, while things a few feet away are naturally jumbled (not to the right degree for shelling, but consistent with a man violently tipping over). 

Maybe not tipped fully over … He was running what seems to be a tea stand; little cups, saucers, a teapot neatly arranged on his smaller table as he was propped in this position for the video. More saucers, boxes perhaps with sweet rolls are on the larger table, one box slid halfway off. It's hard to read, but that's a taller table set a bit apart. See at right looking down between the tables - hanging box on the right is higher up. A clear dish atop a pink box was chipped recently, but not shattered - maybe by that box once tipping all the way into it? Same with the opposite side of the blue tray to the left, chipped by … something else, or it's been re-arranged. Would he use chipped dishes? Maybe. It wasn't the best of times. If he were a newly-dead guy whose tipped over body and stuff were being disrespectfully re-posed, he probably would. 

Possible targeting check 
The same basic story is suggested; someone targeted each of these food sellers for some reason, and made up a fake regime-blame story in each case. This would suggest their true reasoning is best left unsaid, for legal or PR purposes. Maintaining that "Assad food embargo"  as a pressure on the people, as cited by Khaled for the 2018 case, sounds like about the right motive to me. Bartlett for RT also heard of another man arrested 15 days by JaI for selling rice without their approval. He was released, but others wouldn't be so lucky.

For both possibly targeted men, who else of that name and area (possible relatives) was killed in what alleged ways, before and after these events? I checked the databases of the Douma-based VDC. Sometimes clear patterns emerge, but not here. As often is the case, there are
* civilians killed in disputable circumstances,
* some rebel fighters showing that sympathy within the family, and
* some soldiers in the Syrian Arab Army, showing a division of beliefs.

This leaves it unclear which way these two men would have leaned, especially vis-à-vis Jaish al-Islam; JaI were also opposed by many opposition armed groups, at least for periods until they were each crushed...

In fact, it seems likely the victims of the final massacre with chemicals, for which pres. Trump bombed Syria … might be relatives of a prominent military opponent:  Mohammad Diab Bakrieh, commander of the Douma Martyrs Brigade from the murky sniper killing of his son, I think, until his own killing in unclear circumstances in April 2014 - the same day an apparent civilian relative was also shot dead in a supposed coincidence. His DMB soon formed a Jaish Al-Umma coalition that rebelled against Jaish al-Islam, largely over their brutality to locals and hoarding of food. This ran off and on from September, 2014 to January 2015, when they were ruthlessly crushed by JaI. (this is months before the big market attack, when civilians who had supported that uprising were pushed again to protest, and bad events followed.) Survivors of the group were hunted down. Their families, unclear... The survivors of Bakriyeh's group who could regrouped and formed an alliance with the Syrian government instead. 

Yeah... a bunch of his likely relatives named Bakriyeh also died in an unsolved chemical mass murder on 7 April, 2018 - just as JaI prepared to flee Douma, and would see a last chance to kill off any hostages they didn't want to set free. So it's worth looking into these things.

Wawieh - poss. relatives of the shopkeeper killed in 2018
واوية
The VDC lists only a few killed, mostly from Douma, mostly civilian. The shopkeeper is the most recent. Going back in time, here are most of them:

* boy killed by landmine 2016-07-25
* man killed by sniper 2015-11-14
* man killed by shelling 2015-08-24 (2 days before the OTHER shopkeeper died, FWIW)
* man killed by shelling, warplane, "massacre" 2015-08-12
* boy died 2015-07-12 from "starvation because of the siege imposed by the forces of regime" (or perhaps: hostage not well enough cared for)
* A Wawieh woman died 2015-03-05 from warplane shelling
* a man killed 2015-02-22 warplane shelling (face photo: looks a bit starved?)
* Thayer Wawiyeh with "FSA"  (meaning opposition forces, usually not ISIS or Nusra Front), killed 2015-01-04 in "the clashes." Actors: Armed opposition groups (not regime, not ISIS = JaI?)
* Another "FSA" killed by regime's army in clashes at Mahin, Homs, 2013-11-07
* Another non-Civilian, corporal in "regime's army," killed in Homs : Naziheen 2012-02-11. Militants were just being chased out of Homs after running it as a horror show for a couple months. Unclear why he's on the "killed" (formerly "martyrs") list. He's also listed in the right place - regime forces/"other statistics" #7906

Al-Fawal - poss. relatives of the shopkeeper killed in 2015

الفوال

Nael Foal, from Dummar (not Douma, but not far away). Non-Civilian, "Regime's army." Killed 2014-02-25 in Deir Ezzor by Shooting. Unclear why he's on the "killed" (formerly "martyrs") list - he's also listed in the right place - regime forces/"other statistics": #117351

Some are civilians, like Mahmoud al-Fawal (a man from Douma
"Martyred by the regime`s army forces sniper`s gunfire" 2014-01-18) or Rokaya al-Foual, (woman, age 65, from East Ghouta somewhere, killed
2013-11-21 due to "lack of medical supplies and prevent her from going out because of the siege of the forces of order" (or perhaps: hostage of the forces of chaos not well enough cared for)

And some are "FSA" like Mohammad Rateb Ali al-Fawal, from Douma, aka Abo Ali Tibieh - killed 2016-02-08 in Damascus Suburbs: Tal Sawan "during the clashes with the regime`s army forces." Abd al-Hadi al-Fawal from "Damascus Suburbs" - Adult - Male (by photos, app. 16) - Non-Civilian, "FSA" "media activist" "called as Abo Moseab" - killed 2013-09-25 in East Ghota "during the clashes with the regime `s army."  Yaser, also FSA, killed 8-31-13 in Otaibah clashes. Not so much getting killed by other rebels with these few...

Waleed Muhmood al-Foual, "FSA" - killed 2013-12-13 in Damascus Suburbs: Adra. Oohh… He's one of those killed during JaI Nusra Front murder-kidnap raid - the VDC's founder Razan Zaitouneh was abducted just before this offensive, of which they kept an odd record (ACLOS). Jaish al-Islam ran it, along with Jabhat al-Nusra (and he's "FSA" so...). Adra is where they got these people at right. Was Waleed Al-Fawal one of the attackers, presumably? Several were killed, including on the 13th. That would put some locals of this name in a JaI friendly camp, but that's far from a guarantee for others, four years on...

Conclusion

Logic-impaired Islamists have already noted the parallel with this implausible head-shelling happening to certain shopkeepers in Douma, at least twice - and blamed Assad's shelling and the world's silence for making this scene repeat. An example at Deskgram (auto-translated):

"Malo Bashar kills his people as his throne .. Hraaam you ... Haraam you, the massacres and scenes repeated and the oppressors and one of them there is always their only sin, they ask for the livelihood of the Halal of God and not with their arms and ammunition to the complainant"

Rather, I think it shows some of the twisted governance of the foreign-backed Takfiri scum left in charge of the people living in East Ghouta, and especially in Douma. Bartlett for RT another man arrested 15 days by JaI for selling rice without their approval. The 2015 incident followed just after the horribly shady massacre involving alleged Assad attacks on markets. It served the same horrific effect. News stories from around the time of the January 2018 incident, referring to supposed food blockade on Douma and its controlled territories:

Nov. 2017: Raed Srewel, an activist in the city of Douma, said expectant mothers were underfed, leading to a greater prevalence of heart conditions in infants as well as infections such as meningitis.
...the government has continued to impose a siege on the area...
“There is great hunger among the people,” Srewel said. ..."The basic pillars of life are absent here.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/13/assad-regimes-starve-or-surrender-strategy-is-a-war-says-amnesty

March 2018, as JaI's end drew very near: "The UN has warned of impending starvation if aid cannot reach the area, where international deliveries have long been erratic and obstructed by the Syrian government... A convoy of relief trucks crossed front lines into eastern Ghouta on Friday and unloaded all its food to the trapped population despite the fighting."
https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/03/12/syrias-douma-said-to-be-facing-catastrophe-as-assad-regimes-assault-grinds-on/

In between: a guy had lots of cooking oil (up front: olive? behind: larger gallons of maybe sunflower (Solina? other brand)) - there was some food, and people could use this to fry up quite a lot of it. …he seems willing to sell, but nowhere near sold out yet and already dead. With his head blown off, his oil and whatever else will presumably taken by someone, but not taken yet... Despite the claimed starvation, this wealth is not being freely looted. Clearly the vigilant-looking men here are keeping that under control, perhaps until they can cart away the loot themselves? 

The regime gets blamed for a cooking oil embargo, prices stay high, scarce food goes unfried outside certain circles … they might call it the tempura club. 

Over the years, I've seen this; the ruling Islamists had some people - including some likely relatives of each shopkeeper under study - starved to the bone from a total food cut-off, as others just went slightly undernourished or, if well-connected, put on weight. This was always proof of unequal food distribution, not any embargo imposed by Assad. I've had only to repeat the same point from 2013 onward. Here's one from the time and area under study, Turkish propaganda source. 

How could he force people to stop sharing? There is no human decency embargo one can impose. The people have to be assholes themselves. Consider Yaser al-Doumani, who started quite thin, but would swell all during the brutal siege, and report all chubby on the April 2018 chemical massacre of the Bakriyeh family (lower right). During this time, he ate fine. Many other did the same. Is that because they felt the Jihad must be fed first, and maybe overfed second, while the common people needed some suffering "to build character"?

Add 23 Feb. 2019: Interesting twist: the illustration chosen to show how some enjoyed a reverse food embargo in Douma, Yaser al-Doumani - recently revealed his real name: on Twitter, he's now Yasser Yassin al-Fawal ( ياسر ياسين الفوال ), and he prefers his earlier image and that blue sweater. Isn't he proud of how resourceful he is to have eaten so well during that horrible sieged?

So, coincidentally (?) he's another relative of the (tea vendor?) Saif Al-Deen Al-Fawal mysteriously decapitated in 2015. I don't suppose it directly matters, but seemed worth adding.