Thanks Morgana. Topic is from May.
Syrian activists document al-Bayda and Baniyas 'massacre' — 28 May 2013 — Ian Pannell — BBC News — On 2 May, government troops and militias marched into al-Bayda, in Tartous province on Syria's Mediterranean coast. The following day they attacked neighbouring Baniyas... Syrian human rights activists and eyewitnesses claim that more than 200 civilians died and hundreds are missing in what they allege was a brutal sectarian attack against innocent civilians... both sides seem to agree that government troops had been ambushed by rebel fighters earlier that day, although tensions in the area had been simmering since the uprising began... "They started insulting us, uttering dirty words," says Om Abed. "They told us to send the men out of the house, or we would all be shot." What appears to be a leaked video taken by a government soldier gives a sense of what happened next. Troops can be seen in al-Bayda square; houses and cars are on fire, puddles of blood are visible on the road. Then the camera moves along a path past a man prostrate on his back, dead. There is a large red smear under the back of his head marking where he had been dragged. The film ends in what appears to be a shop. The floor is full of bodies, arranged in neat rows... It was not until six that night that the women left their homes... "I ran down the road and saw 20 to 30 men, lying on the ground, all shot up. Then I saw my husband and my father-in-law. They were shot in the head. There was nothing left of my husband's face apart from his mouth and nose." Activists and residents say the troops then moved on to two Sunni districts in neighbouring Baniyas... eyewitnesses talk of a frenzied sectarian assault by Alawite militias against the local Sunni population.
[Unverified footage, apparently filmed by pro-government fighters, shows houses and cars on fire]
