Aleppo's Sons
"These are my sons.
"They thought they had nothing to fear from the government, so they went to renew their identity cards. But they didn't come back."
Abu Mohammed, Bustan al-Qasr, Aleppo
| This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows dead bodies on a street in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Syrian activists say at least 65 bodies, some of them with their hands tied behind their back, found on a river bank in the northern city of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC) |
Mr. Mohammed moved among the rows of corpses in a schoolyard. The victims' faces were all uncovered for relative identification. Most of the 79 murdered were young men in their 20s to 30s. There were also teen-age boys among the dead. Two, judged to be 11 and 15 years of age were among those discovered dead, each with a single bullet to the head in a filthy Aleppo river.
Not all died at the same time. Some of the corpses had lain there, bloated and decomposing, in the stagnant water for some time. Others were so recently murdered that their blood still ran from their wounds. Each of the slain had had their hands secured with string or wire. Each had been shot at close range as testified by the large exit wounds at the back of their heads.
People arrived in large numbers to search for their sons. Young men whom they said had disappeared once they crossed from the rebel territory within Aleppo toward the areas held by the regime, across the river. Yet no one can be certain that it was the regime responsible for the slaughter, for it might as readily be the rebels. There seems no love lost between the residents and either the rebels or the regime.
It was twenty days ago that Mr. Mohammed's 30-year-old sons departed their home to travel to central Aleppo, in the hands of the Alawite government. They were among those pulled from the Oweq River. Between the district of Bustan al-Qasr and the regime-held territory of the ancient city. "We saw the first bodies at 8 a.m. in the morning, and we started to take them away", explained one resident.
Last week two bodies were taken out of the narrow river. There were no identity cards. The corpses were left in front of one of the rebel hospitals on the chance a passerby might identify them. According to residents the river has become a body dumping ground.
And while the rebels claim the regime is responsible, the regime say the corpses had been those "abducted by terrorists".
Labels: Atrocities, Conflict, Societal Failures, Syria
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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