Reports flood in of premeditated mass murder by forces loyal to the Bashar Al-Assad regime in restive areas across Syria Syrian military and security forces have escalated their crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in an attempt to take control of areas where unrest and clashes continue between citizens and the forces of the Damascus regime, Bassel Oudat reports. Meanwhile, revolutionary forces accuse the state's security agencies of committing massacres in several areas in Syria, saying that entire families were wiped out, including children and women, and that dozens of unidentified corpses were found in areas under the control of security forces and militias loyal to the regime. The first massacre was reported this week by the Local Coordination Committees where armed militias loyal to the regime raided Karm Al-Zaytoun district in Homs (central Syria) and randomly opened fire. They then reportedly entered one home and killed 14 people in one family (the Bahader family), including eight children between the ages of eight months and five years old. Activists uploaded gruesome video footage of five corpses of children with wounds to the head and neck, as well as three corpses of three women and one man. Residents said that armed men raided the district after military forces fired heavy mortar shells at the area and killed 16 other people. One local doctor reported there were 70 wounded at a field hospital in the district and that the field hospital itself was the target of mortar attacks. Karm Al-Zaytoun is one of the centres of protest and has the largest number of prisoners in the city; it neighbours districts that are loyal to the regime. It is also surrounded by a large number of security barricades enforced with tanks, armoured vehicles and heavy artillery. At another location, the Union of Syrian Revolution Coordinators reported that the area of Duhur Al-Maabur near Rankus in rural Damascus was also the site of a massacre. Local residents were surrounded by the army, security forces and militias and 33 people were killed, mostly army defectors. The full names of most of the victims were documented and some of their bodies were covered with snow. In southern Syria, in the town of Nawa in rural Deraa, military and security forces carried out premeditated mass executions on Friday and opened fire at the local cemetery during the funeral of a victim. Some 14 locals were killed, including the grandmother of the deceased, his aunt and a number of his relatives and neighbours. No one knows why military and security forces opened fire. Last week, residents of the town of Edleb (north Syria) raided the government hospital that was controlled by security forces and were able to chase them out as they searched for their relatives. They found more than 30 unidentified corpses in the hospital morgue, some of who had died a month earlier. During the raid, more locals were killed and later the identities of some of those killed were revealed to be detainees from neighbouring villages who were killed after their arrest by security forces. In a similar incident, the residents of Hama (central Syria) found 23 unidentified bodies at the end of last week with their hands bound, a shot to the head, and torture marks on their bodies. There have been daily anti-regime protests at the coastal city of Latakia, and on Saturday another bloodbath took place. According to local residents and human rights monitors, civilian militias loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad raided the home of Dr Moed Tayei who was arrested in September for treating victims, and burned the house down with people still inside. The attack killed his four children between the ages of eight months and 10 years old, and tens of thousands of people took part in the funeral procession of the children while their father was absent. Activists created a page on social networks called "Birds of Heaven, the children of Dr Tayei" in an expression of solidarity with the victims and their father. The death of the children brings to 475 the number of children killed by Syrian forces since the start of the nascent revolution in mid-March 2011. They include 32 children who were killed last week alone after an escalation of military operations that left hundreds of victims. UNICEF reported that a similar number of children have been arrested, some of whom are younger than 14 years old, while the UN said it can no longer report exact figures because of the perpetual rise in the number of victims. Last week's massacres are not the first of their kind. In the past, the residents of Deraa discovered mass graves for entire families, and residents in Homs also found mass graves of civilians and members of the military. While the Syrian opposition blames security forces and militias loyal to the regime for the massacres, Syrian authorities blame "armed terrorist groups" for the killings. According to the Syrian Association for Human Rights, the number of protesters killed in Syria until 23 January 2012 has risen to 6,729, including 456 children and 316 women, as well as 742 among military ranks who refused to kill civilians. Reports indicate that 4,553 were killed with bullets; 817 with shrapnel; 715 for refusing to open fire; 414 from torture; 95 by artillery attacks; 66 of injuries; 11 because of lack of medical supplies; 11 from burns; nine were ran over by tanks; seven after inhaling tear gas; six by power outages at neo-natal units; five were ran over by cars; four by knife stabbings; three by nail bombs; two from bomb shrapnel; and two had their throats slit. Syrian and international human rights organisations accuse the Syrian regime of committing crimes against humanity and demand that the leaders of the Syrian regime and senior security officials stand trial at the International Criminal Court. Activists and opposition figures assert that security and military forces are using light and heavy artillery in their attempt to crack down on protests and muzzle the opposition. Also, that they open fire at random in most incidents, prevent medical attention to the injured, and kill prisoners. They back these accusations with video footage documenting random shootings. The rate of mass executions and deaths has increased the likelihood that the anti-regime protest movement demanding democracy will escalate into civil war. Observers believe that the day is near when civilian anti-regime protesters and families of victims take up arms to confront security forces, urging the world community to shoulder the political, legal and moral responsibility of taking a firm action to deter the Syrian regime. Many also demand that regime crimes be referred to international courts capable of uncovering the truth and punishing the perpetrators.
