Horrifying Massacre in Qatna

Local sources in Qatna, Rural Damascus, have confirmed that on Thursday, a helicopter dropped approximately 65 civillian bodies, whose hands were bound from behind. The bodies were discovered by cleaning labourers; however the security and intelligence forces immediately arrived at the scene to prevent the local people from entering the area.

Some local people managed to capture some of the horrific images prior to the arrival of the security. They confirmed that the corpses did not belong to the people of Qatna: they all wore civilian clothes, and their hands were bound from behind with plastic cords. They also confirmed that it was clear that they had been summarily executed and their bodies burnt, possibly so that they could not be identified.

The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) condemns these barbaric crimes, counted among the many repeated and continuous war crimes being committed by the Syrian regime. SHRC calls upon the international community to play its role in protecting civilians and to stop these massacres which are being committed against the Syrian people, as well as  putting an end to the arbitrary shelling which is killing the souls of civilians, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Syrian Human Rights Committee
17/8/2012