Massacre of Daraying — Wikipedia

The Massacre to add to takes place during the Syrian civil war, several hundred inhabitants (around 700) are massacred by regime forces in the city of Daraya, in the suburbs of Damascus, in Syria, between the 20 and the August 26, 2012 .

This massacre occurs as part of the Syrian civil war. From the start of the uprising, in spring 2011, the city of Daraya was a place of demonstrations against the regime, known to be a high place in pacifism ^{[ 4 ] , [ 5 ] , [ 6 ] , [ 7 ]} .

After the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators, victims of disappearance or killed under torture, deserters and residents take up arms. Two months before the massacre, police and state intelligence services had to withdraw from the city ^{[ 8 ] , [ 7 ] , [ 9 ] , [ ten ]} .

The week before the Daraya massacre, two army raids followed by massacres take place in 2 rebel areas near Daraya. According to opposition activists, at least 40 people are killed in cold blood in Mouadamiya, in the suburbs of Damascus, and at least 46 people in the Qaboun district ^{[ 11 ]} .

While the Syrian regular army is trying to regain areas taken by the insurgents, and to bend any insurrection around the capital, Damascus, a loyalist offensive which begins on August 20, 2012 with 5 days of bombing before entering in the city.

The 25 and August 26, 2012 , the army and the Chabihas enter the city and perpetuate hundreds of assassinations there ^{[ twelfth ] , [ 13 ]} .

The August 27, 2012 , the free Syrian army claims to have shot down a military helicopter of the Syrian army over Damascus. It indicates that the helicopter, which was shooting civilians, was targeted by people on the ground, northeast of the Jobar district (in) , and that he crashed in the vicinity of Qaboun (in) . State television confirms that a helicopter crashed in the city, but evokes technical reasons ^{[ 14 ]} .

Of 20 At August 25, 2012 , in Daraya, air bombings take place. At least 70 people are killed, including 21 on Friday August 24 ^{[ 11 ]} . From 25 to 26, the regime’s army managed to enter the city and executes hundreds of survivors. More than 330 corps of civilians, including those of women and children, are found only in the basements which served as shelters during the air attacks. Part of the victims would have been killed at close range ^{[ twelfth ] , [ 4 ]} .

On Sunday August 26, 2012 , opposition activists claim that 300 people were massacred by government forces during their assault on the southwest suburbs of Daraya ^{[ 14 ]} . Videos and photographs are published, they show the bodies of victims, including those of women and children, found in the basements and then gathered in the Abu Souleimane mosque ^{[ twelfth ] , [ 14 ] , [ 15 ]} .

For its part, official television says on the contrary that this massacre is the fact of “terrorist groups” fought and then dislodged by the Syrian army. The Syrian regime will also claim that it was an anti-terrorist operation of the Syrian army. An investigator from Daraya describes the communication of the effort regime to “blur the facts having taken place” ^{[ 16 ]} .

Human losses [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 440 people were massacred on Saturday August 25 , and 149 the next day ^{[ first ]} .

According The world , more than 512 bodies were finally identified and 200 others remained anonymous, more than 500 were buried in the week of the week August 25 ^{[ twelfth ] , [ 17 ]} .

The Documentation Center for violations in Syria manages to identify 537 victims ^{[ 18 ]} .

The massacre causes the exodus of most of the civilian population ^{[ 3 ]} . Thousands of refugees then take the road and pile up along the border between Syria and Turkey ^{[ first ]} .

The Syrian investigation report says that more than 700 people died, 514 of whom were identified (including at least 36 women and 63 children) ^{[ 19 ]} .

The report also indicates that 153 residents were recorded by activists as prisoners (including at least 3 boys) and 86 as missing worn (including at least 5 children), and estimates that these figures are much higher ^{[ 19 ]} .

In August 2022 , 10 years after the massacre, a team of Syrian investigators, supported by the Syrian British Consortium, published the result of a complete survey on the massacre, made up of testimonies overlapped with survivors and residents who witnessed abuses, as well as documentation images ^{[ 16 ] , [ 20 ] , [ 21 ] , [ 22 ]} .

Syrian investigators claim to have developed this report because the Daraya massacre – then the deadliest of the conflict – has only been the subject of a few lines in a more general UN report claiming that the Syrian army had committed war crimes and claimed that more in -depth investigation was necessary, in order to allow international justice to work, but this report remained without follow -up ^{[ 16 ]} .

The report identifies “the government forces and the Iranian militias and the Hezbollah involved in the attacks thanks to their uniforms, their insignia and their weapons”, as well as some officials in person ^{[ 16 ]} .

Related articles [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

external links [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• (With) Arabia Souri, ‘ Report showing the Darayya massacre » , on https://www.youtube.com/ , YouTube, August 26, 2012
• (in) Abeer, ‘ 440 Martyrs 25-8-2012 » , on http://www.lccsyria.org/10008 , August 26, 2012
• ‘ Daraya testimony: “The soldiers let the” Chabiha “massacre civilians” » , Observers France 24 , August 28, 2012 .
• (in) ‘ A Decade after Daraya:Documenting a Massacre » , January 18, 2023