Fail "Caesar," Part 9: Prior Documentation of Torture

Fail "Caesar," part 9 

Prior Documentation of Torture
June 11, 2016
edits June 12

There are probably far too many possible parallels to cover all, but I've chosen one especially interesting and perhaps telling instance to start with. There may, and may well not, be some others I take the time to feature.

Lashing a Kid in Mleha

One common feature of the "Caesar photos" is serious lashing abuse with cables (or "tramlines") - something either side and perhaps both sides might be doing. But in this case where it's clearly said to be by the regime, it doesn't appear to be true. So is it true with the photo victims?

This allegation and contrary evidence come, as they often do, from the same rebel video -on Youtube, posted as +18 Syria| Barbarian Torture of a Young Man by Regime Forces in Suburban Damascus 15/4/2013 (by channel Bashar Assad Crimes Archive 3) The victim is a boy or young man, aged maybe 17-19 or so, a bit slender but decently-built for his age, but here seeming like a complete weakling. He's first seen, still in great pain, walking unsteadily into the clinic, helped by one man as another films and tells us this is Mleha, western Ghouta.

Al-Maliha on Wikimapia is given as part of East Ghouta, but on the western edge, south of Ain Tarma and next to Christian-majority Jaramana. Inside the clinical blame chamber, the young man says he was detained by security forces at Ma'araba checkpoint (location unclear), as he was coming from the airport (south of Mleha) so headed north, past (FWIW) Hatite at-Turkuman area. He was apparently on his way home from somewhere; his ID showed he was from Jobar (a bit to the north). He tells the activists his place or origin is the sole reason for the beating they gave him (this is a common theme in rebel propaganda).

It was a severe beating, done, he says, with electrical cables. I quick count at least 30 lashes, it might be 40 is that's a real standard here, for whoever. Each stroke ruptured tissue - no light beating this - their crossing paths left red and black mass damage all over his back. There's also  unseen damage to his chest he moans over ("oooh, my chest"). 40 lashes on each side, we hope not.

Here's what's more than just odd - the implied narrative, considering what he says and what we see together. He was stopped by organized (regime) thugs and severely beaten. Then in very quick order he was released by them, and somehow came upon a kindly group of different but also organized men, the kind who often wear leather coats and get around on motorcycles, and don't look overtly Jihadist. In this case, they have their own media team and a quasi-medical blame chamber. They might even have their own checkpoints around!

The kind of trauma this boy was just put through will cause a sort of shock that causes a person to go weak like we see here, for a short time afterwards. (precise science, maybe later...) For a thin person like this, it might last a bit longer than usual. Did he choose to come here immediately after the checkpoint, still in pain and shock, to document the crime immediately? Before he could even bear to move, or walk steadily on his own, did he walk here, or try to sit down in the car seat and drive in this state? How long was the journey? 

And how long does that shock last? That's unclear at the moment, but 5-10 minutes seems reasonable. When the boy stumbles over his name (it's not shared in the video), the cameraman tells him five minutes will settle his nerves to talk.  He seems to be an expert in recovery time from just this abuse. Does he encounter it often, in his line of work? He thinks it's (length of journey) plus another 5 minutes. That's most consistent with a journey of close to zero minutes.

In at least one spot, the boy's skin is broken - still wet, not even scabbing over. This and the fresh shock at least strongly suggest he was just then beaten, maybe one minute before the video starts - obviously by these kindly helpers or their friends, not by distant "regime thugs." And he says what they would want him to say, true or not. This is standard, of course  . "Regime thugs" did it, say activists with video, and the just-tortured or just-killed victims they can show you always agree, either silently or in pained and timid words as happened here.

The area and time of this dubious incident are possibly relevant to understanding what the Caesar photos show. This is similar lashing to that seen in the photos from deeper inside the regime prison system (as it's been sold). Damascus suburbs in 2013 is when masses of apparently unidentified corpse poured through hospital 601 to be documented by the soon-to-defect "Caesar" - accelerating massively in the months leading up to Caesar's defection and the Ghouta alleged sarin attack (August 20 and 21, respectively).  Analysis says the bulk of his 11,000 implied victims came in at an average rate of about 1,000 per month up to August. These were tortured, starved, and killed, usually without any visible wound to explain it - instead, there are signs of chemical exposure.

The bottom image at right is a "Caesar" photo victim, #1237 from branch 227, as labeled by the killers, in the February, 2013 folder. * 227-1237 was lashed about as severley, on the front, with a similar kind of cables (at least 33 lashes pointed to here, from the Carter-Ruck report). His unseen back might also be lashed up, inverse of the kid above - may be lashed on both sides. 1237 also may have also suffered some chemical exposure, as with chlorine, that additionally burned the lash marks. This gassing, as with most, was probably the cause of death.
 
* compare to full body shot with numbers from SAFMCD video, matching #s and details on this SAFMCD face shot with date indicated.

Anyway, they would say 1237 was taken, maybe at a checkpoint, detained and  abused, in part just like the lashed kid around the same time and place they had this story about ...

Ghouta Masacres by District, part 6: Hazza

Ghouta Massacres (plural) by District
Part 6: Hazza
May 10, 2015
(incomplete)

Background:

Fairly little is said about this smaller, less-populous district next to Ain Tarma, in relation to the August 21 incident or in the records of those killed in the whole war (182 martyrs listed as from Hazza , 2 so far this year, 14 in the Ghouta incident) It was not hit with any of the alleged Sarin rockets, but some came near to its boundaries (as understood, and shifting) It would be the most affected by any Sarin that drifted, by the best guess as to actual wind direction at the moment. If the wind blew east or E-SE like records suggest, much or most of Hazzeh should likely be covered.

So unlike Jobar, for example, martyrdom location: Hazza might make sense, depending on the actual science of the alleged Sarin stormfront ...

 

Victim Records

Table tallies: Early count of at least 50 dead (unclear, 50-67) final count = zero maybe rounded down, or just ignored - not mentioned.

 

VDC's records specify 14 martyrs of the Ghouta massacres were from "Hazza." all civilian - 6 men, 3 women, 4 girls, 1 boy. Clear names of interest: Laham, Tayer, Arhim. None of those are specified as dying there. 5 entries - most of the Arhims and Lahams - say (suggest) they were over in Zamalka for some reason when they died. The rest say "Damascus Suburbs: East Ghota" or have the space left blank.

 

Laham = 56 killed in the whole war, 15 in this incident: 8 men, 4 boys, 2 women (one an adult daughter) and one young girl. 13 are listed as from Zamalka:

 

* Family of Issam al-Laham = 6 (all from Zamalka): Amera (wife of Issam Al-Laham) AF "Wife of Issam Al-Laham Hwe full name couldn't be identified Martyred with her family" - Son of Amera (wife of Issam Al-Laham) 1 - Son... 2 - son ... 3 - son ... 4 (all Child - Male) - Masarra Issam Laham AF (adult daughter of Issam)

* other Zamalka = 7: Muhammad Hasan Al-Laham "al-Akhras" AM(Hasan placement suggests he's a son of Hasan Al-Laham) (photos, alive: serious, clean-shaven, militant?) - Son of Hassan al-Laham AM Zamalka (suggested: brother of Muhammad) - Salah al-Laham AM - Abo Salah Laham (Salah's father?) - Ibrahim Moafak al-Laham AM - Kasem al-Laham AM - Ahmad Al-laham AM Z

We've established that Zamalka can just mean "you know, the accepted place where rockets actually landed," when previously they might've said another area, and even that mightn't've been true. So the Hazzah link with the final two is worth noting, as well as the fact that these families were likely targeted in multiple areas.

 

• Fahed al-Laham 93234 Civilian Adult - Male Damascus Suburbs Hazza. "Married with a Child" and maybe two: "known as Abu Ahmad" (father of Ahmad) and died with Maria. Died in Zamalka. 3 photos - 2 alive, one with new beard - one dead with beard, mucous.
• Maria Fahed al-Laham 92057 Child - Female Damascus Suburbs Hazza (name says her father is named Fahed). Died in Zamalka, it says. Photo, alive, distorted (stretched back out at right)

Note: Dad Fahed Laham was previously "Unidentified" from Douma - by looks, a likely rebel fighter. That makes no-ID entry 92239 a double-listing.

Name implications for Laham: not totally clear, but interesting. There's Gregory III (Laham) Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and Alexandria and Jerusalem, spiritual leader of the Melkite church - born in Syria, 1933 as Lufti Laham. I've seen around that the nun Mother Agnes of the mixed reliability is named (Fadia?) al-Laham, born in Lebanon. Maybe most famous for us is Mimi Al-Laham, pseudonym for Maram Susli, "Syrian Girl." Adopted from where and why unknown. There's famed Syrian comedian Duraid Laham, who's Ismaeli. And there's the speaker of the People’s Assembly, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, elected 2012, Baath party, sect unclear. The presence of a Maria suggests these might be of the Christian type? (name commnality: 9 Marias recorded killed in the whole war )

Arhim = 4 killed in the whole war, all in this incident. These are Amira Arhim and her son Mohammed and daughters Massarah and Sondous, all listed as children. This almost has to be the same family already listed as one of the Arhims (but from Hazza, not Zamalka), Issam al-Laham must be the husband of Amira Arhim, and his wife was given as "Amera (wife of Issam Al-Laham). Mohammed should be one of the 4 unnamed sons, Massarah must be Masarra Issam Laham (adult) and Sondous just not mentioned. So total between Arhim and Issam Laham = 7, from Hazza.

Tayer = 5 in this attack, one a month before, none before or since. Those killed 2013-08-21 by Chemical and toxic gases. By name these should all be adult siblings, but maybe one is a wife:
* Shadi Ibrahim al-Tayer  Civilian  Child - Female  Hazza 
* GHayeth Ibrahim al-Tayer  Civilian  Adult - Male  Hazza   
* Serag Ibrahim al-Tayer  Civilian  Adult - Male  Hazza
* Malak Ibrahim al-Tayer  Civilian  Adult - Female  Hazza 

The other one: Ahmad Omar al-Tayer  Civilian  Adult - Male  Damascus Suburbs  Erbeen  2013-07-23  Shelling. Notes say "Martyred due to shelling on his car" and it happened in Douma.  

Clinical Signs

92355 Monira Ahmad Badran, photo, no signs

 

Fahed Laham: rather white and foamy mucous

Ghouta Massacres by District, Part 3: Irbeen

Ghouta Massacres (plural) by District
Part 3: Irbeen
May 6, 2015
(incomplete)
last edits November 13, 2015 (strangulation signs)

Background:

Attack Claimed, But Unlikely

Like Jobar (see part 2) Irbeen can have no rocket impacts, but wind directions varying, it's not impossible some would drift over it southern edge. Most likely there would be no Sarin in its streets or homes, by the accepted story.

But Reuters reporter Khaled Oweis reported August 21 the attack was on "Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar" and later adjusted it to "Irbin, Ain Tarma and Jobar" (Aug. 26 report). NBC News made a video from there a week later described Irbeen as a district "where the people will tell you poison gas seeped through the streets one week ago."

Early tallies of bodies counted there, and generally listed as locals, ranged from 51 to 63, with an unusual breakdown into men, women, children. (23-30 children, 16-17 women, 11-17 men). It's said early reports of an attack in Irbin were confused references to victims brought and counted there. This might be so, or maybe people were poisoned there anyway because the rockets had nothing to do with it.

Either way, Irbeen's rebel facilities turned over a good number of victims and seems to have the biggest hand in media management of the massacre, via its Local Coordinating Committee and the rebel "Legal office of the city of Irbeen." The logo for that is at right, being the same or similar to the stamp generally seen on videos produced there. 

Below, the main Irbeen victim spread, one row of children has at least 12 of them, maybe 13, the other about the same, for 24-27 or so. The green gas tank (app. warning label plus color and size says 44 liter type) must be oxygen someone tried but failed to save all these people with? Why do rebel doctors always fail so badly, no matter how well their sponsors equip them?

Expanding on that: there's a brown tank, I think, and two large blue barrels (see views at right).

A week later NBC News filmed here and it's said to be the basement of the clinic where they tried to save people upstairs. At that time, there's two green tanks and maybe one or both barrels, but pushed back, almost out of view. Note also the piled luggage on the left, as seen on the 21st at right, slowly being moved a week later (below), and see also here.


Notes on gas tanks or cylinders: a Bing image search suggests oxygen ones tend to be blue, specifically sky blue, as seems natural.

This picture suggests someone thinks light blue = O2 and green means either helium (no medical use likely to be relevant here) or hydrogen (H2 - no medical use, just industrial,) But they can be re-filled with other things anyway, depending on the technical details - even if that color-coding info is correct) Not sure what a brown cylinder is supposed to hold.

Victims Records

Table, Early total: 51 Final total: 63 (apparently meaning people who died here, not necessarily people from, though this is not totally clear) Breakdown: 17 women, 23 children, 11 men at first. Later 16 women, 30 children, 17 men.

VDC:
- from Irbeen = 13 (all civilan, 8 women, 2 men, 2 unidentified girls and a boy)
 - died in = 0 (specified/reported/admitted)
- Irbeen in notes = 3 from elsewhere, "rescued to" or "buried in"
= 16 total? Others like the Gheras not noted.

All Children Unidentified?

The UK Daily Mail ran a horrible story from a medic, apparently in Irbeen, with 20 unidentified children, "because their entire families were wiped out by poison gas," and then someone who had no idea who they were brought all of them to this place. That sounds a little strange. They use scenes from an ITV video where unidentified infant girl, #14, is held up for dramatic effect (VDC record victim 94048, unidentified, different photo but seems to be the same baby, jaundiced). But the Mail article also include a table of photos of 15 children were recorded dead there an unidentified, by which the infant is actually #11.  Top row, reading right to left, we have Eastern Arabic numbers for 1-5. Next row, from the right is 6, then 8 (7 is skipped here) then 9, 10 (that's baby Mohammad Fayad Abdul Ghafar from Erbeen, #94004 per VDC) then 14 (one of only two Irbeen kids they list as still unidentified - the other is 94548, added exactly 500 entries later) Bottom row, maybe 16 then 17, next is clearly 18 and 20, then unreadable, but higher than 20, presumably. Suggested: more than 20 unidentified children at the Irbin collection center (94548's VDC photo does not appear here, but she could be the one in the bottom middle photo)

(note: a better view in the NBC News video shows that's 1 and 4, I just couldn't tell )

The initial reports for Irbeen gave a breakdown including 23 children, or 30 by later reports. Were just 21 of these 23-30 once unknown, or was it a total problem there? Did they come in with their dead unidentified families? Why were there so few survivors to explain who the rest were? Why did no extended family or neighbors who knew them bring in anyone? All just strangers finding strangers? Or just mostly that?

Or was "unidentified" just a crap story for drama? Or a crap story with another purpose as well, regarding the true identities they didn't want to publish?

Note: VDC lists only two unidentified Irbeen children, both girls - but it only lists 3 Irbeen children total.

Note: a larger image spread, with the 15-children table in the middle and adults shown above and below, was seen on video less clearly - see still here - with adults included, I found VDC record matches all in the #94000-94004 range, and 94048 for the infant girl, so far. All but the last that I've matched so far have names just fine, per VDC, and are listed as from Irbeen, but with no additional details past the photo that matches. By inclusion with the unidentified babies, put around on fliers as if seeking identification, we can say some of these if not all were handled in Irbeen. So did these locals just go somewhere else to die, and then get sent back, where they were identified but also with a show of not being able to identify them? This all makes fairly little sense, doesn't it?

Ghera/Ghorra Family:
To counter the issues raised above, there is exactly one family unit with identified children, survivors, etc, and a clear story of death elsewhere, that tries to rescue this whole sorry mess. Let's give this Ghorra/Ghera family some consideration.

Hisham Ashkar passed on this activist-provided ID via the alleged grandfather, seen in photos like the one at right, in his article "the distance between the images and the victims" (translation to English April 22, 2014 from an Arabic original done last fall) Showing the photo at right, Ashkar explained the girl was named "Fatima Ghorra, three years old," and the girl in yellow next to her is sister Hiba, age 4. That might not be correct, but... The man holding Fatima is "their maternal grandfather, Abu Hamza al-Sheikh," he heard. "Their father is Nabil Ghorra, a medical doctor," of course married to a woman "from al-Sheikh family." They had six kids: these two, brother Mohammed, age 12, and 3 older sisters Danya, age 9, Rama, 15, and  Battoul, 16. According to Ashkar, they lived in Zamalka, and were home-schooled after regime teachers started threatening the kids at school with guns. Fatima reportedly told her grandfather, as he says on video and passed on here:

"This girl. she said, “Dad,” before … she put the food for her. This girl. She told me before: “Dad,” today is not my turn to eat its the turn of my siblings. From the siege, from the bread, and the food, and the hunger..."

...which causes Mr. Sheikh to forget if he's supposed to be their father or grandfather?  There was really no lack of food that acute - the story is patent propaganda, even if the word for "dad" might translate "grandpa" as well. Ater the attack, Ashkar writes, "the ghorra family was dispersed. Abu Hamza al-Sheikh arrived with Fatima and Hiba to the field hospital in Erbine. Fatima and Hiba died, as well as their sisters Rama and Dania. Their father, Nabil, was at first listed among the victims, but was later found in another field hospital, receiving medical treatment. Their brother, Muhammad, was still missing at the time of the interview." Battoul isn't mentioned. But dad was alive, he heard, and Mohammed just unclear, "still missing at the time of the interview" - maybe still alive out there. It's a story packed with drama.

The VDC's records partly bear this out, but also challenge it. 8 victim entries, all but the father specified as from Zamalka:

* 93038 Nabel Ghera Adult Male, Married and has children. No other notes.

* 94005 Salima Mohammad Salim al-Sheikh AF, Zamalka. Notes: Buried in Erbeen

* 93014 Mohammad Nabel Gharra Child-male age 12

* 93041 Betoul Nabel Gera girl, 16

* 93040 Rama Nabel Ghera girl, 15

* 93044 Danya Nabil Ghera girl, age 9
* 93049 Heba Nabel Ghera girl, 4
* 93042 Fatema Nabel Ghera girl age 2

The father is listed as dead, not revised. Mohammed is listed as dead, not missing. The story of scattered members getting tallied in different areas is contradicted by the entry numbers here: the mother was added much later, for whatever reason. And Mohammed was the first confirmed dead, 93014. The other seven all come within 11 entry numbers of each other, 93038 to 93049.

Mohammed is one of the better guesses as to the boy of about 13/13 with a horrible nosebleed, but seen in better shape before that next to Fatima (girl in purple, would be his sister) - see below under "Signs that Get Worse with Treatment?"

Ashkar heard "The Ghorra girls were buried in a mass grave in the town of Saqba." The VDC reports their mother was buried in Irbeen. No one says where the older girls were buried. Saudi Arabia, some time later, seems possible.

Irbeen Links to Other Groupings:

* There's a Mazen Sheikh from Zamalka who died, photo, looks tough if not militant, in his 30s, could be a brother of Salima Sheihk of the Ghera family, but it's a common name. entry #92003, he was one of the very first victims tallied anywhere, by the Douma-based VDC (91977 is the first one, in Moadamiyeh. Mazen is the 4th from Zamalka - after 2 rebel fighters, he's the second civilian listed - see full database list, he's about 30 names down on page ).
* 92151 Fawzeh al-Boush Adult Female age 65, from Erbeen, died in Zamalka (another Boush woman was married into the Ghazi family covered in part 7, Kaf Batna) 

* Nour Atiq links to Ahmad-Atiq and other Ahmad-related names, who wound up all over but since that includes Moadamiyeh, see part 1. 

* Baraa Hazroumah, girl, from Jobar, died in Ein Tarma, "rescued to Erbeen" (see Jobar for the rest of her realtives who died wherever)
* Unidentified woman from Jobar seen there? VDC martyr #94546 comes with the photo below. She's listed beside an older woman and a teenage boy all unidentified but from Jobar, processing area not clear. But a roughly woman-sized body is laid alongside the smaller children here, wrapped in a Spider Man blanket. Consider: She's dressed properly for a grown woman in a "liberated" area, but looks possibly teen-aged. Irbeen's total for women changed from 17 to 16 at some point. That may be the judgment call there.

Clinical Signs

Signs that Get Worse with Treatment?

See photo comparison here at ACLOS. A boy seen alive but in bad shape in the hospital in an Irbeen video, compared to one seen dead with blood pouring out his nose, unlike before. I noted the facial similarity, but then had doubts, and considered the victim pool far too big to make such a match.

 But coming back to it now, I think it's either a match, or good enough reason to risk calling it. The horrible right (after?) photo was published, I notice now, by Irbin News. They used  a few Zamalka general shots to show the rockets, dead animals, and a truly massive victim display from there. Otherwise it seems they use their own local images. So these two boys should be in the same pool of 23-30 children, and being so similar in that context, are most likely the same. They appear the same age (13-ish?), same basic face shape, seemingly different skin tone but that's never clear. Nose shape looks bigger on the right, but may be an angle thing. My prior doubts: the line over his nose: from the oxygen mask, would fade or wash off later, no problem. "eye shadows might have a different shape" (not much different if so), "lip proportions top vs. bottom may not match" (but may - the different photo angles could explain that). But that's not clear enough to say no, and hair type (actually looks a bit different, but simple ruffling can do that), basic face shape, long lashes, prominent front tooth (left of center), puffed lips, shaded eyes, and especially those eyebrows, all are really similar." And both are among the very few showing this kid of redness of / bleeding from the nostrils.

If these photos show the same kid, the problem should be clear. After he was getting medical care from rebels, something marked up his face with little wounds as if from flying micro-debris, caused splotchy burns, and aggravated that nose irritation into totally failed tissue releasing a torrent of blood, or maybe the flying particles helped cause that too. Flying particles marking up victim's faces, lower half. What the hell in the rebel story could cause this? There are other cases - one below, others seen in Kafr Batna's morgue, at least.

Later, I found another picture of what may be the same boy, maybe earlier than the other pictures, and with a tube up his right nostril. The orange circles indicate a mole or freckle in the same spot in all 3 images.

Boy ID: none yet, but from laying next to Fatema Ghera and appearing about 12, the best guess is Mohammed Nabil Ghera, by some sources listed as missing and not confirmed dead. But there's another boy of about 12 and if he looks more like the girls, then we can guess this kid is not Mohammed. Sources otherwise give almost no ages with victims to get a next guess. This boy does not clearly appear to be in the clinic basement morgue scene with the Ghera girls, nor in the courtyard or on unidentified posters. As noted above, rebels claim Mohammed Ghera is missing and not even confirmed dead - this might be consistent with nosebleed boy.

Note, Nov. 13: A while back, ACLOS member Pmr9 brought up an interesting point about the aditional little marks on this boy's face. Those seemed mysterious to me. He speculated these could be "petechial hemorrhages," caused by, for one thing, strangulation. Nosebeleeds are also a consistent signs, especially with prior nose irritation I suppose. So it seems likely it wasn't any chemical that killed this kid in the end, but some Islamist's bare hands, squeezing tight. Note in the death view his neck can't be seen, or else maybe it would have already been obvious that he was strangled.  (see here)

Morgue Photos

Photo published by Legal Office of Irbeen, provided with no victim ID (can't say "unidentified" for sure, maybe they just didn't share it there) Note burns in certain spots, likely prior injuries. Mucous like tree sap. This is similar treatment to the Ain Tarma cemetery set of clinical signs (see part 5) But here we see little wounds, as if from flying debris, like we see with the boy above. And that may have happened after he was brought to the rebel clinic here.

Mohammad Fayad Abdul Ghafar (center) has a mark on his nose, and an older boy to the right has marks across the bridge of his nose.(these do not look as much like strangulation hemmorages as with the boy discussed above)


VDC entry 94002 girl Yaman al-Basal, from Erbeen. Similar: fully plugged nostrils, reddened skin The right-half effect is likely from livor mortis, natural to death in general, but the lips at least also seem injured - chemically, not that we can see with little nicks like the above.

morgue close-up -  child on left, no clear signs - on right, cyanotic (blue)

Ghera girls (reportedly Fatema, l Heba, r)

sunken/shadowed eyes, otherwise not much I notice. The dark spot on the left-hand girl is most likely a birthmark, not a wound like we briefly thought from less-clear views.

not sure ... mucous bubble, supposed to prove Sarin

94003 Basima Othman, burns or abrasions, mucous

94048, unidentified infant #11/14 (see above), often held-up. She's evidently yellow, probably jaundiced, but probably not fatally.

94548 the VDC's second and last unidentified girl "from" Irbeen, 500 entries after the above. Dark rings around eyes, slight cyanosis in lips?  

 

Ghouta Massacres By District, Part 2: Jobar

Ghouta Massacres (plural) By District
Part 2: Jobar
May 4, 2015
(incomplete)

Background:

Jobar is large, relatively populous and central, and primarily opposition-controlled at the time of the attack. It cannot have suffered a direct attack of the accepted kind, but apparently hosted the launching of the rockets that fell elsewhere, and one of the district that clearly deserved its own ACLOS page aside from the general locations page. It's the focus of a few fascinating relations and detailed study, some of which I didn't fully follow the first time around. A couple, in summary:

Attack on Jobar Alleged?  One important piece of evidence is a video statement from Jobar's "medical point" (rebel-managed) about what sounds like a strange version of the attack that never happened. (Video, with English subtitles) He specifies that it's about sunrise as he speaks, and gives much dubious detail about the preceding hours, but still with some details worth considering. His details about the East Ghouta rebel medical point system is covered at ACLOS here.

 

The unnamed Jobar site director explains "The front of Ain Tarma and Jobar in Eastern Ghouta was bombarded with chemical weapons. We noted the incident early, thankfully. We put ourselves on the highest alert." He seems to treat Jobar and "Ain Tarma" medical points as almost one unit, with him taking over management in Ain Tarma at some point. (see part 5) But looking at the map, there should be no shared Jobar-Ain Tarma front - they don't touch. He might be using different definitions, including Zamalka and Ain Tarma under the one name, but he also mentions other medical points he didn't run, one in Zamalka. But he only mentions sharing drugs and supplies with Ain Tarma, going through an astounding 25,000 ampules of Atropine, which was all they had. He says an unspecified number of medics also died.

 

The guy mentions no other attacked areas, but goes on to say the casualties in this one "front" were "massive." He gives no total numbers but says he alone handled 50 dead children between the two medical points. The VDC lists 117 children dead in the whole attack, so he claims he oversaw about half of them, If this is true, it's an important clue.

It doesn't come through clearly, like that medic made it sound, that Jobar itself was hit with rockets, but the claim was explicitly lodged tosome degree anyway. There was a video at this EA Worldview article (since pulled, probably the same video) called "Statement Of Medical Committee After Attack On Jobar, Damascus." Initial opposition reports sounded like many died in an attack there - Jobar was one of those districts mentioned with 50+ victims minimum. And Reuters' reliable rebel repeater Khaled Oweis at least reported here "To the West, in Mouadamiya, activists said at least 80 people were killed when the district was hit with nerve gas an hour after the attack on Irbin, Ain Tarma and Jobar." Oweis, with Dominic Evans, also wrote here that "Activists said rockets with chemical agents hit the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar during fierce pre-dawn bombardment by government forces."

Jobar was not hit:

Within a day or so sources agreed Jobar had no attack or direct ceaths or "massive" illness. People may have been taken there, but that's a different story. I'm a little hazy on the different sources, but it seems some would again claim a Jobar attack. However, by the more credible sources (like the UN's investigators) Jobar is another area not directly hit, and with wind blowing away from it. Any locals would have to go elsewhere to die from "Assad's" Sarin rockets.

To die in a rebel-held basement, however, might well be do-able in Jobar. And this may have happened, on a scale that was "massive," like nearly half the total, including around 50 children. The way they wound up spread so widely might suggest less centralization than that however, with people killed in smaller batches all over. And anything that seems like an extra-tempting lead could, of course, be a false one.

 

But the victims seem to get partly "corrected" to be from Zamalka, mainly. The VDC records reflect 4 victims who were wrongly listed as from Jobar, but still show 82 victims - nearly 10% of the total - were from Jobar. And unless the Sarin picked off their relatives in different areas, some of the family members of these should have been claimed as Jobar victims too. How many were so claimed, however briefly, and however many actually died in Jobar ... VDC lists two, both rebel fighters! ... it seems possible this remains unclear because the opposition had to work around this early script defect with some clever accounting.

 

East Ghouta Hit From Jobar?

The best reading of rocket impact angles combined with established range of 2-3 km, puts the launch of the 12 Zamalka rockets in or near the northern tip of Jobar (as shown on the map above - see Sasa Wawa/WhoGhouta analysis for details, and note the evident arc of impacts lining up with that reading). This was at the time something of a no-man's-land accessible to either side, for limited operations anyway - like firing 12 rockets that would be blamed for the chemical massacre (wrongly, in my opinion, but again that's very contested).
 

Jobar's Rebel CW Industry:

(See ACLOS section) In mid-July a rebel chemical factory was uncovered in Jobar, with corrosoves made in Saudi Arabia, and various tools for what the state media claimed was a plan to fire mortars and/or rockets with chemical warheads in the Damascus suburbs. That exact operation was shut down.

But the August 21 incident went ahead, and the army began a new offensive in response. On August 24, SAA soldiers uncovered another underground facility with material for improvised explosives, including propane tanks like the "hell cannon" can fire, protective gear, and boxes of Atropine ampules. State TV reported this, showed video, and said several soldiers suffered suffocation issues when they entered the place. Later, I think ... one of these tested positive for Sarin exposure when the UN's investigators tested him, with others testing negative but only weeks after the attack, and afer 4 tested positive in a Syrian hospital right after the incident - see Aug. 24 Jobar section by WhoGhouta here) 

Victims Records
Early total: 50-67 Final total: not mentioned (implied, zero)

VDC records:
82 from Jobar (4 FSA, 78 civilians, died in Ain Tarma, Zamalka, "East Ghota," unstated)
died in Jobar = 2 (both FSA, they shielded the civilians there?)
Jobar in notes = 4 (civilians, to say they were actually not from Jobar)

Died In Jobar
Again, VDC lists TWO people, both FSA fighters, dying in Jobar. Maybe they were affected elsewhere but made it back to base before croaking?
* Hasan Ali Hamza 92599 FSA from Hamouria Martyrdom location Damascus: Jobar. Morgue photo included.
* Abdul Rahman al-Modawer 92594 FSA Martyrdom location Damascus: Jobar "Known as (Abu Bashar), Operation leader." What kind of operations? 3 photos of him alive included. He has a red beard that seems to get longer over time.

Compare the second to:
* Entry 194 on this Facebook list for Douma: (auto-translated) Abdul Rahman trochanter (Abu Bashar al-) / Damascus - (from?) Douma / Army free (FSA) / cited (died) in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus. A linked photo (gone now) looks like a CW victim, asphyxiation, roughed up eyes, mucous from the nose. Did he have a red beard? I don't remember. What may be the photo, from another page connected to Douma's local coordination committee, is shown below under clinical signs. It looks like a guy seen on a video searching the Arabic name here: عبد الرحمن المدور  - still at right.

* VDC Abdulrahman Qatma 92454 FSA Jobar, Martyrdom location Damascus Suburbs: East Ghota rescued to Hamouria and buried there. Again no image

* VDC Adnan Qatma, 92408 AM, civilian, from Jobar, rescued to Hamouria and buried there, called as Abo Rodwan (AbdulRahman? same guy? Or did the gas get his brother or something?)

Some of the Civilians, all of whom Died Somewhere Else

Baghdadi: 8-9 with this name: A very interesting family from a mix of Jobar, Jobar corrected to Zamalka, and/or corrected to Deir-Ezzor province (but were passed through and named by a "hospital"

* 92001 Osama al-Baghdadi, AM, non-civilian, FSA, from Zamalka (photo, in militant gear) unique notes say "His nickname is : Abo jaafar, the leader of Mojahidi Alsham batalion." That's interesting. Whether he's related to the rest of these Baghdadi victims or a coincidence is not totally clear.

* 92108 Abo Zaid al-Bagdadi AM Zamalka The name Came From al-Ihsan hospital in hmouria

* 92141 Ahmad Abd al-Qader Bagdadi AM Deir Ezzor Martyrdom location Damascus Suburbs: Ein Tarma. unique notes: "it came from another source that he is from Jobar"

* 92142 Doae Ahmad Abd al-Qader Bagdadi AF from Deir Ezzor Martyrdom location Damascus Suburbs: Ein Tarma (suggested: Ahmad's sister)

* 92144 Houda Ahmad Abd al-Qader Bagdadi Province Deir Ezzor Sex Adult - Female Martyrdom location Damascus Suburbs: Ein Tarma. notes: "it came from another source that she is from Jobar" (implied: another sister)

** dl? 93284 Houda Bagdadi Child - Female, from Jobar, died in Zamalka

* 92395 Khadija Baghdadi AF Jobar. Martyrdom location Damascus countryside: Zamalka. unique notes: She was buried in Hamouria

* 92928 Ahmad Bagdadi AM, Jobar, died in Zamalka

* 92945 Unidentified (Believed to be from Al-Bagdadi family) (includes morgue photo) Fom Zamalka. Martyrdom location Deir Al-Asaffir. unique notes: Believed to be from Al-Bagdadi family exposed to the chemical attack in Zamalka

Hazroumeh: 19 with this name listed for the whole massacre, minus 5 double-listings = 14. largely from Jobar but died in Ain Tarma, buried there or in Hamouriya.
* Inaam Hazroumah AF Zamalka no more info
* Baraa Hazroumah CF Jobar ML Ein Tarma rescued to Erbeen
* Hassan Hazroumeh AM Z no more
* Jana Ahmad Hazroumeh CF Jobar photo 93777 (cyanotic, Hello Kitty) age 4 died in Ein Tarma
* Nour Hazroumeh AF Jobar ML Ein Tarma Rank: Hamouria Notes: Buried in a Hamouria cemetery (no one shares that exact note - all Ham in notes = 15, mostly Jobar, 14 w/standard note "rescued to Hamouria and buried there")
** Nour Hazrumi AF Z no more ("correction" entry)
* Safa Hazroumeh 93789 AF Jobar ML AT rescued to Hamouria and buried there
** Safa Hazrumi AF Z no more ("correction" entry)
* Hala Hazroumeh 93790 AF ML AT Jobar rescued to Hamouria and buried there
** Hala Hazrumi AF Z no more ("correction" entry)
* Rawda Hazroumeh AF J ML AT rescued to Hamouria and buried there
** Rawda Hazrumi AF Z no more ("correction" entry)
Marwa Mohammad Hazrouma AF Ein Tarma age 18, no more info
Nouri Tawfeq Hazromeh AM Jobar The name Came From al-Ihsan hospital in hmouria
* Ayman Hazromeh 92612 AM J Married With Children martyred with his son
* Mohammad Ayman Hazroumeh 93788 CM Jobar photo (should be a son of Ayman)
** Mohammad Hazromeh 92611 CM Jobar, died in Ain Tarma, photo (same - double-listed) "Known as (Abo Ayman)," (father of Ayman? A bit young) "... Martyred With His Father"
* Husam Hazromeh AM Jobar no more
* Alaa Hazroumah CF Zamalka no more
5 double-listings = 14

Naqeshbandi = 8

Rafqa Naqeshbandi AF, Kafr Batna - Mohammad Waleed Naqeshbandi AM, Jobar - Yahia Naqeshbandi AM, Jobar -Ziad Naqeshbandi AM, Jobar - Amal al-Nakshbandi AF, Zamalka - Amirah al-Nakishbandi AF, Zamalka - Fawaz al-Naqishbandi AM Zamalka - Maha Naqshbandi AF, Zamalka

Other: Juha, Unidentified...forthcoming.

al-Ihsan hospital in Hamouria: "The name Came From al-Ihsan hospital in hmouria" for these 37 Ghouta victims from Jobar, Zamalka, Ain Tarma. Some include:
* 92122 Mohammad al-Qaq AM, Jobar. Qaq is a rare name shared by 7 previous civilian victims in all of Syria's conflict, per VDC records, mostly in Idlib. They tend to die close to each other in time, in small bursts of three. He was the 8th, or at least there were 9 total before #10 died on March 16, 2015 - Ayosh al-Qaaq (diff. spelling) of Sarmin, Idlib, the grandmother of the Taleb family allegedly killed by chlorine in March 2015, whose grandchildren's preventable death in a rebel "medical point" moved the UNSC to tears.... And 3 more Qaq relatives were killed by "regime missiles" in Sarmin a week later, so now it's 12 dead, 1/6 of those in dubious chemical attacks blamed on the government.
* The rest contain names seen elsewhere, like a random-seeming mix of the same several families, like the 17 listed from al-Sel hospital in Kafr Batna (see part 7). Several of the same names, in fact. Bagdadi, Srouji, Hazroumeh. Some one-name folks: Shima, Abdlerahman (a doctor), A'aqeb.

Clinical Signs
The number of victims with photos is fairly small, and only some of those seem worth much as clues.

Abdulrahman Trochanter/Qatma/Modawer

cyanosis? miosis?

 

92599 Hasan Ali Hamza

 

Unidentified woman 94546

 

unidentified boy 94547

 

more forthcoming?

o

Ghouta Massacres by District {Masterlist}

Ghouta Massacres (plural) by District {Masterlist}

(incomplete)

May 3, 2015
minor edits June 1

* The launch point for renewed investigation of the August, 2013 incident is

<< Another 60 Minutes for the Ghota Chemical Massacres (Plural). (forthcoming)
If it's important enough for them to revive in the background as the world ponders a no-fly zone over alleged chlorine attacks (see here for the truth on that) ... well, I have some things to add, and some other additions still to discover.

Previous findings: Various pages under Talk:Alleged Chemical Attack, August 21, 2013 at the open research wiki A Closer Look On Syria (ACLOS). Relating to this is Denis O'Brien's detailed study from April, 2014 Murder in the SunMorgue: A Critique of the Sarin Myth and a Cyber-Investigation of the Ghouta Massacre Mystery (hereafter MITSM) and its summary article (by me) The Ghouta Massacre's Sarin Myth, Brightly Lit: Exploring Kafr Batna's ... Rebel Gas Chambers? That work focuses on one collection of corpses (app. 85 minimum, to rebel reports of "100" or "150") at a morgue in the southern district of Kafr Batna. It suggested the victims here were killed with something other than the blamed Sarin - likely carbon monoxide gas. It almost requires rebels did it, and that the victims were controlled captives of theirs - an impression solidified by their obvious execution of one survivor - they cut his throat when "Assad's gas" didn't finish the job, and then made a lame effort at concealing the fact.

MITSM was a good start to unraveling the whole larger massacre it was just (a good-sized) part of. It was not expanded to other areas very much, so far... The Kafr Batna case illustrates that there was localization - the victims were gassed not because they were downwind from any rocket but due to being trapped beneath the rebel-held morgue, with poisoned air inside rooms - basically, in gas chambers. As I said in the summary, "it seems unlikely a mass killing in Kafr Batna would coincide with a government Sarin attack in other areas. More likely, it would be just one point in a massive rebel crime spree across the area, played out mainly on controlled captives."

I'm just starting this new round of work on my own here, with no promises. I or someone may shift to a spot at the ACLOS wiki, but for now... this will go by distict, expanding on the theme of plural massacres in different areas. It's a geographical organization, so the best start is with some map-based graphics. (See also: ACLOS Location talk page)

Above: Chemical Massacre Syria Infographic including Moadamiyeh al-Sham, southwest, and the various areas of East Ghouta they initially claimed were hit by Sarin rockets, altogether killing, they estimated, 1,300 people. In the center is where they thought all relevant artillery was fired from, but this has been thoroughly discredited. Moadamiyeh is not clear, but the East Ghouta rockets were fired from somewhere around the northern tip of Jobar district (see next map)

Below, a map of the Eastern Ghouta region with districts outlined and color-coded by reported numbers of dead (per table below). The light blue dots = app. rocket imapcts, with extended lines showing the approximate wind direction and expected drift (almost surely a bit different from this but probably close).

I seriously doubt these rockets had anything to do with the mass deaths, but many people on all sides of the debate disagree on that point, so ... considering that alleged fact of Sarin, spreading from these impacts, of rockets fired from there, by whoever... depending how deadly the dispersed drift was, we should expect some deaths in Zamalka, Ain Tarma, and Hazzeh. Places that should have zero Sarin vapor in any of their streets would be Jobar, Irbeen, Jisreen, Harasta, and Douma. Saqba and Hamouriya are in the middle of that continuum, depending on wind.

Below, a death toll table comparing four early reports with area break-down, placed by the numbers they offered:

* 280+: Reported by Jsreen Revolution very early on (removed before I could sort it out). This is useful for an early glimpse of the accounting of a small number, but the batches were never clear; 4 towns mentioned: Ain Tarma - Zamalka - Hazeh ( حزة ) - Jobar, with five areas listed. The 5th is likely Irbin, deduced from the breakdown (23 kids, 17 women, 11 men), partly matching the next entry. The others, unclear which, had early tolls of: 61, 67, 50+, 50+

* 646: Reported by sos.syr.un, Aug.22: Over 2/3 of their victims unidentified ("did not reach their names") 201 are named, cities mixed in, hard to tally. The anonymous arrivals at each area's "medical points" are listed below.

* 1,228: Reported by Douma Coordinating Committee, Aug. 21: "The number of martyrs by medical points in East Gouta - Census Bureau legal unified."

* 1,300 (clearly rounded, almost same as above) - Chemical Massacre Syria Infographic (shown above)

Victims by City
City	280+	646	1,228	1,300
M. al-Sham	n/m	36	n/m	70
Zamalka	?? 50-67	n/m	400	400
Ain Tarma	?? 50-67	n/m	75	75
Hazeh	?? 50-67	n/m	n/m	n/m
Kafr Batna	n/m	100	150	150
Jisreen	n/m	4	16(3 kids)	16(3)
Saqba	n/m	69	69	69
Hamouriya	n/m	150(50c-40w-50m)	312	300
Irbin	51? (23c-17w-11m	50? (23-17-??)	63 (30-16-17)	63 (30-16-17)
Douma	n/m	58	150	n/m
Harasta	n/m	n/m	5 (1 woman)	n/m
Jobar	?? (50-67)	n/m	n/m	n/m

Note: the final numbers here get us quite close to the dramatic claims of the Obama administration that 1.429 managed to perish in this attack. That, however, provides no area break-down, and so is less useful to note here. The 1,300 is probably an exaggeration, but maybe not or maybe not by much. Video-based assessments affirm a minimum of around 3-400 dead. Including photos and various records, I've suspected it's probably about twice this many, 700-900. But that's sort of a guess.  Note also how many of the supposed non-guesses rebels offered are still clearly rounded off, not exact. 300, 400, 150 are not likely to be exact tallies.

Another source - the VDC's August 23 report includes the final statistics of martyrs issued by the United Revolutionary Medical Office in Eastern Gota." (better view in jpeg form here. This early list gives several areas which I can mainly read - some don't line up clearly:

1.  ?? Douma - 20dead 630 affected
2. Saqba 105 dead, 1,460 affected
3. Kafr Batna 125 dead, 2,226 aff
4.  ?? (reads el-Hsan) 174 dead, 1,200 aff.
5.  ?? (reads al-shamiya - meaning M. al-Sham, or an area in east Ghouta I can't find?) 6 dead, 74 affected
6. Jisreen 16 dead, 17 aff (one survivor?)
7. Irbeen 110 dead, 600 aff
8. Jobar: 27 dead, 700 aff.
9.  ?? (reads al-mlyahiya - meaning Mleha?) 87 dead, 165 aff
10. Zamalka 500 dead, 1200 aff
11.  ?? (reads ankhad (?) Rouh (spirit) - a sad cat video title translated suggests "save the soul" or "save our souls" - is that a place? Does it mean unknown?) 1 dead, 182 aff
12.  ?? (reads el-salmiya meaning ???) 46 dead, 800 aff.
13. Hammouriya 27dead, 200 aff.
14. total = 1,302 dead, 9,838 affected

But as MITSM proves, it's the quality (nature) of death that matters far more than the quantity of it, when it comes to assessing the crime and the blame over it. And that's to be the main focus of this study. Here all 12 districts (or most?) gets its own post (eventually, as possible), and they each get filled in (as possible) with three sections:

Background: summary, partial - what was reported for that district, what we've found previously, highlights and oddities to consider - less focus here, may be slow to get filled-in.
More emphasis on the other two sections searching for new info between the lines (and expanding on the starts here at ACLOS):

Victim records: mostly perusing the database of the opposition Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria (see ACLOS page) for patterns among the victims - who was related to who, where from ,where died, who has a photo, who's listed twice, etc.

Clinical Signs or clinical features minus symptoms, which a patient complains of, and these people are past complaining - their bodies just display signs. Showing pictures with an eye to diagnosing what poison is most likely for each group, and how many different groups there might be (how many Ghouta Massacres - can't be known, but guesses can be narrowed)

Ghouta Massacres by District
Order of listing here will go west-to-east, with other considerations for logic flow, with info placed where it seems to fit, sometimes probably in a few places:

Part 1) Moadamiyeh al-Sham

2) Jobar

3) Irbeen
- Irbeen Gas Chamber Clues (added 2020)

4) Zamalka

5) Ain Tarma

6) Hazza

7) Kafr Batna

8) Saqba and Jisreen

9) Hamouriya

10) Harasta and Douma
- Douma WhiteMorgue (added 2020)

Findings, Summarized:
(forthcoming, as possible)