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The Battle of Tremseh ( ar, معركة التريمسة) was a military confrontation between the
Syrian Army and the
Free Syrian Army in
Tremseh
Tremseh ( ar, التريمسة, ''al-Turaymisah''), or in various dialects ''Tremseh'', ''Treimsa'', ''Taramsah'', ''Taramseh'' in the Hama Governorate in northern Syria. It is roughly 22 miles northwest of the central city of Hama. Nearby localiti ...
,
Syria, in the late hours of 12 July 2012 during the
Syrian Civil War leading to the reported death of dozens of rebels, and an unknown number of civilians.
On 14 July 2012, the
UN observer mission issued a statement, based on the investigation by its team that went to the town, that the Syrian military mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, in what the
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said was a contradiction of the initial opposition claims of a civilian massacre. They said that the number of casualties was unclear and added that they intend to return to the town to continue their investigation.
On 16 July 2012, the Free Syrian Army backtracked on their initial death toll of 200, saying it had been overblown because many of the wounded were counted as dead, and reduced the list of those confirmed killed to 68–103 names. But still, pro-rebel activist Abu Adnan continued to claim 150 died, with the rest of the bodies allegedly being unidentifiable or stolen by the military during their assault.
Events
A
Syrian Army convoy was ambushed by rebels near
Hama, which led to a counter-attack by the Syrian Army, and reports suggested government troops were trying to take back the town from rebel forces. According to opposition activists, Tremseh was surrounded by government tanks and artillery, after which the Syrian Army launched a full-scale attack against the opposition Free Syrian Army inside the town. Tanks entered Tremseh after government forces had shelled the town continuously from 5 a.m. until noon. Syrian Army forces, whose numbers were bolstered by the pro-government militias called "Shabeha", accompanied the tanks into Tremseh. The opposition claimed that, as the government forces rained artillery rounds into the town, a number of village residents fled their houses into the streets, where many of them were shot dead by the government militias. Major General Robert Mood, head of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, said in Damascus that a U.N. team had observed the fighting from three or four miles outside Tremseh, adding that it involved "mechanized units, indirect fire as well as helicopters."
According to sources close to the government, the attack on Tremseh was part of a larger offensive decided by the Syrian government, with the aim to crush all rebel resistance in the next two months. One police agent successfully infiltrated an Idlib armed group and was able to notify the military about the rebels who were gathering at Tremseh and preparing the convoy attack.
The Local Coordination Committees in Hama and the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Syrian Army and the
Shabiha
''Shabiha'' (Levantine Arabic: ', ; also romanized ''Shabeeha'' or ''Shabbiha''; ) is a term for state sponsored militias of the Syrian government. However, in the Aleppo Governorate the term Shabiha is used frequently to refer to pro-Assad Sunn ...
, backed by tanks and attack helicopters, entered the town of Tremseh after a rebel withdrawal, and summarily executed over a hundred people. Initial reports placed the death toll at more than 100. Later reports said the death toll of the massacre to be between 220 and 250,
when over 150 dead bodies were found in the local mosque after Syrian Army forces left. The people in the mosque, who tried to find shelter there, apparently died when the building was shelled and then collapsed on them. At one point, the LCC claimed a figure of 280 dead and 200 missing.
A number of the dead were reportedly rebels,
which was confirmed by the opposition group SOHR by stating that dozens of the dead were rebel fighters, including Lieutenant Ibrahim Zuait al-Tarkawai. Jaafar, a Sham News Network opposition activist, said that only seven civilians and 30 rebels were killed.
This was in line with the military's claim of killing a "big number of terrorists". SOHR put the overall death toll at 150, with only 40 confirmed dead by name thus far.
A villager who managed to escape the area said, on condition of anonymity, that Alawite militiamen entered after Syrian rebels retreated from the area and committed the massacre. The survivor said that houses and mosques were set ablaze by the government forces.
The Syrian government denied responsibility for killing civilians, instead claiming that the massacre was perpetrated by "armed gangs" and that three members of the security forces were killed fighting them. The government also gave a lower figure of 50 civilians being killed.
The Syrian government subsequently retracted the claim and denied that any civilians died at all, saying that they "had carried out a special operation against rebel forces killing many rebels and capturing dozens of others," adding that no civilians were killed. According to the Syrian government, residents called security forces for help after the "terrorist groups" raided the neighborhood. The security forces then arrested some of the members of the rebel groups and confiscated their weapons. A military source quoted by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said an operation by armed forces destroyed "terrorists' dens," killed many of the people they found there, and led to the arrests of scores more." The account added, "Armed forces successfully dealt with the terrorists without casualties taking place among the citizens. They searched into the terrorists' dens where they found the dead bodies of a number of citizens who had been abducted and killed by the terrorist groups."
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
, the UN special envoy, accused the Syrian government of using heavy weapons and helicopters in the village. Jihad Makdissi, spokesman for Syria's Foreign Ministry, denied that heavy weapons were used in the village and said the heaviest weapon used was an
RPG.
A local opposition member, Fadi Sameh, was quoted as saying, "It appears that Alawite militiamen (Shabiha) from surrounding villages descended on Turaymisah after its rebel defenders pulled out, and started killing the people. Whole houses have been destroyed and burned from the shelling."
Another was quoted as saying, "Around 6:00 am of Thursday morning, Assad forces surrounded the village with heavy weaponry and tanks, more than 800 soldiers of Assad forces were in the mission, after couple of hours, they started arbitrary artillery shelling on the village. People fled their home to seek shelters in school and the mosque. Assad forces shelled the school and the mosque causing collapses in the buildings which resulted in tens of deaths. Shabiha from the surrounding villages came to support Assad forces and to kill more of the village people, which escalate the number of victims in this massacre."
The UN observer mission head, Robert Mood, said that the Syrian Army was still conducting assaults with heavy weapons around the town the following day.
By the evening of 13 July 2012, the opposition
Syrian National Council claimed a new total figure of 305 killed.
However, at the same time, other opposition activists backed away from their earlier estimates of over 200 dead. One local activist stated that he had confirmed 74 deaths, but had only 20 names. Another provided a list of 103 names.
Others also said the death toll may have been less but was certainly over 100.
A group of UN-observers had entered Tremseh on 14 July 2012 with a convoy of around 11 vehicles on reconnaissance mission. According to a local activist in Hama province they inspected bombed places and where there were traces of blood.
The UN observers found evidence of an attack, including a burned school, damaged houses, and proof that artillery, mortars and small arms were used according spokeswoman for the head of the U.N. Supervising Mission in Syria, Sausan Ghosheh.
"The attack ... appeared targeted at specific groups and houses, mainly of army defectors and activists. There were pools of blood and blood spatters in rooms of several homes together with bullet cases," Ghosheh said in a statement.
On the same day the head of the UN monitoring mission, Major General Robert Mood, told reporters in Damascus that a group of observers, deployed few kilometres from Tremseh, confirmed the use of heavy weaponry and attack helicopters in Tremseh and thereby implicated the Syrian government according to Al Jazeera.
On 14 July 2012, the facts over the event remained unclear with new details emerging that would indicate that what was called a massacre was more of a battle between the military and opposition fighters that ended in a defeat for the rebels.
Videos, televised confessions of captured fighters and reports from non-local activists backed up this version. The videos of the victims that have emerged showed mostly young men of fighting age. Another video was said to show a group of rebel reinforcements heading to Tremseh, all of them armed young men in civilian clothes. A team of UN observers was sent to the town to investigate. It was pointed out that while previous massacres were usually followed by long lists of names and videos of killed civilians emerging at the same time, as well as corroboration by UN observers who would fault the Syrian Army, this was not so in this case. Some opposition groups still claimed a large number of civilian deaths happened while others put the death toll at far less and stated most were rebels. The opposition activist group SOHR stated that it had been able to confirm only 103 deaths, 90 percent of them young men, and the group's director, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said that the majority of people killed in Tremseh were either rebel fighters from the town or from surrounding towns.
Later, he was more precise, stating that at least 50 rebels were killed.
[ The opposition activist group VDC confirmed, by this point, the names of only 63 people to have been killed.]International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
declared it sees the fighting in Syria as a "non-international armed conflict", which is the technical term for civil war. This would have the effect that, from that point on, all those fighting in Syria are officially subject to the Geneva Conventions and could end up at a war crimes tribunal if they disobeyed them.
International reactions
Before the UN observer mission's investigation contradicted the opposition claims of a civilian massacre, a number of countries condemned the alleged killings.
* – U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the Syrian Army attack, stating that he is "outraged" by reports of horrific mass killings.Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
also condemned the attack and stated that Syrian forces had used heavy weaponry.Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...
John Baird noted Canada was appalled by the killings, and encouraged further action from the international community. "Canada urges all members of the UN Security Council to come to agreement on a resolution that will impose tough, binding economic sanctions against the regime."
* – The French Foreign Ministry
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the Ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to th ...
spokesman Bernard Valero argued that the Syrian government must take the "first step towards a cessation of violence" as evidenced by the tragedy.Nouri al-Maliki
Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president ...
condemned the killings and described the deaths as an "ugly massacre". In a statement on his official website he said "The ugly massacre that took place in Tremseh town, in Hama province, provokes feelings of concern and condemnation. This reprehensible crime, which we condemn strongly ... should be an additional incentive for everyone to abandon the methods of violence, murder, revenge and terrorism in solving problems."Tonio Borg
Tonio Borg (born 12 May 1957) is a conservative Maltese politician who served as the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy replacing John Dalli as member of the College of the European Commission in the second Barroso Commission.
...
strongly condemned the reported massacre in Tremseh.Chinese Foreign Ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...
said "China has always strongly denounced actions that harm innocent civilians. We hope the concerned Syrian parties should take concrete measures and fulfill their commitment to cease violence as soon as possible".
* – Russian Foreign Ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; russian: Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации, МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with lea ...
said the massacre served the interests of those who supported a sectarian conflict in Syria, but did not directly apportion blame.Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
"to take necessary steps immediately".William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
condemned the alleged massacre in Tremseh as "shocking and appalling".Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
issued a press release
A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...
and stated that she was deeply saddened and outraged to learn of reports of yet another massacre committed by the Syrian government in Turaymisah.
References
External links
Timeline: Syria's massacres
as provided by BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, 13 July 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tremseh, Battle of
Military operations of the Syrian civil war in 2012
Hama Governorate in the Syrian civil war
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the Syrian government
Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the Free Syrian Army
Battles of the Syrian civil war