The UN video footage, once they were able to enter the village of Al-Qubeir and document the incident.

Location: Al-Qubeir Farm is located 20 KM west of Hama city and 2 KM south of Marzaf Village.
Description: Al-Qubeir Farm is a small community consisting of 25 houses, and its population is approximately 150 people
Date of incident : 06/06/2012
The witnesses:
1.    Ahmad X (survivor) | age:45
2.    X (survivor) | age: in her forties
3.    witness code #12001 | Marzaf villager
4.    witness code #12002 |  Marzaf villager

Reporting of the Incident, Based on Interviews With the Witnesses:

On Wednesday June 6th 2012 at about 12:30 pm an armed group, consisting of 6 personnels who were wearing plainclothes and who carried Kalashnikovs weapons, attacked a checkpoint that belonged to the Syrian army.  This was done to save a person arrested earlier the same day and detained, at the previously mentioned checkpoint.  During the combat, a reinforcement from the Syrian army was sent, it was composed of 3 tanks, T72 type, some military armoured vehicles, and some military trucks, Zell type (Russian made).  These full- armed reinforcement besieged the attacking group and clashed with them; leading to the deaths of all 6 men: (1)Mohammad Hassan Elwan, Hama- Greggis village; (2)Mahdi Ahmad Elwan, Hama-Greggis village; (3)Sari Ali Al-Hamdou, Hama-Greggis village; (4)Emad Ismail Elwan, Hama-Greggis village; (5)Mohammad Saleh Elwan, Hama-Greggis village; (6)Salah Jameel Elwan.

Afterwards, the tanks headed towards Al-Qubeir village along with the Zell trucks, six white buses, oil-colored armoured vehicles with the words “Riot Control” on the side of one, and other  pick-up trucks carrying forces outfitted in the Syrian Armed Forces uniform.  These troops all had personal weapons,most of the weapons displayed were Kalashnikovs  and BKC machine guns.

The witnesses said that there were other civilian vehicles –2 pick-up Hyundai white tucks, other pick-up trucks, and small trucks (the natives call them Torteera or Torzena), these vehicles had civilians who accompanied the military forces.  The people in them wore plainclothes and carried small weapons such as: sticks, knives, and daggers.  Some of them carried pistols and Kalashnikovs

Between 1:40 and 1:50 pm, the previously mentioned armed forces besieged the village from three axis (The Northern Axis: Mezrav village direction; the Eastern axis: Al-Majdal direction; and the western axis: Al-Taweem village direction).

Once all of the forces took up positions, 4 shells were launched directly on the houses, without any earlier warning.  Next, the heavy and medium guns were used to fire at random on the houses.  After roughly 10 minutes, the tanks stormed into the village along with the security forces, wearing the alternative uniform that belongs to the Syrian Armed Forces, and the civilians, who wore plainclothes.  They began shooting heavily.  The sound of gun fire lasted intermittently inside the village for about an hour and a half, however the forces remained in the village until 7:30 PM.

According to one female survivor’s  report, Feda Al-Yateam, the forces would get the people out of their houses and would shoot them directly.  She added that the forces, wearing the plainclothes and carrying sticks, took her husband along with other civilians from the village.  The villagers take were made to lay down on the ground  and then were beaten on their heads with sticks, until those administering the beating knew the villagers were dead.  After that the attackers burned the bodies, another witness, with the code #12001, said that  he saw the army retreat from the village.  Witness #12001 then dared to enter the village, so that he could administer aid to any survivors.  Upon entering the village, he reported seeing a woman who had been shot in the chest with her right hand cut off at the wrist.  Next to her there was a baby’s body, he had been stabbed in his chest with a sharp tool and enough force that his internal viscera had fallen out onto the ground.

Witness #12001 also added that he saw in front of another house three children’s bodies.  All of them were behind a woman’s body.  The four bodies were in sitting positions, and the scene displayed implied that the woman was trying to protect the children when they were all shot at point blank range.

Another survivor, a male, Ahmad Al-Yateam, said that he was hit repeatedly with sticks and shotguns on his head and his body.  Some of his attackers wore the Syrian military uniform, and others wore plainclothes.  Al-Yateam said that he was brutally beaten until he became unconscious.

Another witness, code #12002, said that before the military forces withdrew from the village, there were 6 ambulances that arrived and took some of the bodies.  The witness said that the number of bodies taken was between 25-30, then the ambulances also withdrew from the village, accompanied by the forces.

Witness #12001 recalled that a bold green armoured vehicle, belonging to the Syrian Armed Forces, attached two bodies with a rope to the truck and dragged them on the ground while heading west to a place known locally as Aseela Road.

While the survivors and the locals claimed that there were over 100 people killed in this massacre, we managed to document 54 victim’s names.  In addition to the 6 individuals killed in the clash at the checkpoint.  The reason only 54 victims were documented is due to a variety of reasons.   First, the bodies of some of the victims were completely disfigured or deformed, to the point that the locals couldn’t recognize it to identify.  Second, there exists an incapacity to find some of the victims as their bodies are missing, or taken by the attacking force.  Additionally, the Syrian government and military refused to make a comment on the Al-Qubeir incident, after failing to conduct a real and honest investigation.

Furthermore; the government and the security forces refused to let the international observers, who were stationed in Hama city, enter the area and document the incident.  Those who attempted to enter the next morning, on June 7th, were stopped, and told to return to Hama city, at one of the many checkpoints surrounding the area where the massacre took place.  The observers were thus prevented from heading into the village to gather accurate information.

 

The information contained in this report was provided by:

Syrian Network for Human Rights and Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies