Date of incident: 26-1-2013
Documented by the Syrian Network for Human Rights
The location of Menbaj city on the map:
http://www.worldmapfinder.com/GoogleMaps/Ar_Asia_Syria_Manbij.html
The following is an eyewitness account of a media activist known as Abu Riyad , who was present during the shelling and is still alive.
“At approx 4pm, we were distributing aid to displaced civilians, when we heard the sound of a rocket and an explosion. Following this, people started to shout and run in the streets and we saw the airplane which launched the rocket. It was very far and too high to be caught by camera. We ran to the location of the shelling, which was the street of a public park and the shelling was close to the fence of the park, therefore, the open area lessened the extent of destruction. The rocket was dropped on an Arabic home which was completely destroyed, in addition to five other homes surrounding it, and it was clear that the shelling was done by an interstitial missile, not an explosive barrel due to the extent of destruction. This missile caused severe destruction over 100m in diameter and minor destruction over 200 diameters. Glass, doors and windows of shops were severely damaged, and the high pressure caused a truck on the side road to topple over, additionally, the cars were also destroyed and approx 10 shops were completely demolished.
18 people were killed, including a whole family ( Taha, Mohammad, Reem, Israa, Raghad and their mother Nozha) in addition to this, approx 16 people were injured and were taken to hospital.”
The eyewitness can be contacted by voice and video on the following Skype account: msyria89
We were able to document the deaths of 19 civilians, including one family made up of a mother and 4 children. We also documented approx 50 injured people including 10 children who were less than 4 years old.
Names of the victims of the massacre:
1. Rami Babensi – 22 years
2. Mohammad Sabahi – 12 years
3. Mohammad Makhlouf – 20 years
4. Basam AlHamam – 20 years
5. Ahmad AlShaher – 40 years
6. Ayman Darwish – 13 years
7. Siham Al Khalaf – 45 years
8. Fiddah AlShalash – 50 years
9. Zakaria Hunaifi – 25 years
10. Mohammad Qurrah Muhammad – 12 years
11. Bassam Hammam – a second year student in the college of chemistry
12. Nuzha AlHammam – 31 years – married to Khaled AlHamdouni
13. Taha Khaled AlHamdouni
14. Reem Khaled AlHamdouni
15. Raghad Khaled AlHamdouni
16. Israa Khaled AlHamdouni
17. Huda Qurrah Mohammad – 4 years
18. A 3 year old child whose name was not identified
19. An unidentified martyr
Attachments:
When the civilians heard the sound of the airplane, a few activists used their cameras to film the airplane which enabled them to document the shelling.
The airplane which shelled the city:
The moment during which the missile was dropped
The martyrdom of a whole family
Children martyrs who died due to the shelling
Footage of the incident and victims
An injured child who is now in turkey, he has not be identified yet:
A few images of the missile shelling on the city
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=321980471254248
Please note that there were no clashes prior to the shelling, the free Syrian army was not present in the area and the airplane only targeted civilians.
The paramedics or civil defence teams which belong to the Syrian government did not come to the scene of shelling to aid the Syrians or save the wounded or injured.
Additionally, the Syrian government or the Syrian parliament did not open an investigation or any sort of questioning as if nothing had happened.
According to the seventh session/ paragraph 100 in the Rome statute, murder is a crime against humanity. Also, according to the eighth session, murder is a war crime.
All paragraphs in the seventh and eighth sessions are present in this massacre.
Based on this information, the Syrian government is considered responsible for the systematic killing and torture of Syrian citizens. No government in the world has the right to kill civilians.
—
الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان
Syrian Network for Human Rights
https://www.facebook.com/syrianhr
