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Insurgents celebrate the capture of the major military base near Shiekh Suleiman, west of Aleppo
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2032 GMT: Another video reportedly shows an eyewitness account from Aqrab:
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Zilal translates the video into this basic narrative:
The man says that elements of regime forces did this. [The boy says "Jish," which means army, and the man clarifies that he means "Shabiha", which has become a catch-all term for pro-Assad armed forces]. Also the second injured boy is saying that "shabiha" were responsible. The man says that there are still 300 people in the hands of shabiha and that probably the shabiha will kill them to accuse the FSA of the crime.
And the child replies that these 300 people have already all been killed.
At the end of the video the man says that these two children, another little girl, and a woman are all under his protection and under the protection of FSA and he calls for the Red Cross to come in order to treat them and take their version of the events. Then he says the date and location (Houla, 11 December 2012).
Storyful's Felim McMahon sends me another eyewitness report, written in Arabic . Another source sends us this narrative , which we believe is just a translation:
The Free Syrian Army surrounding a building belonging to the shabiha in Aqrab village, in which the regime forces had taken women and children captive. They intended on using the civilians as human shields to protect themselves from an attack by the FSA. Afterwards, some of the leaders of the village, including Shaikh Ali al-Omar and Shaikh Saa'do Hamash and the retired Colonel Shaker Akkash, [were in] a group of eight people who went to negotiate the release of the women and children, and to ask the regime forces to turn themselves in, promising their safety. The leaders were kidnapped in an attempt to pressure the FSA, and thus the FSA retreated. Afterwards, the shabiha killed the leaders and threw hand grenades at the women and children who were trying to escape. They took advantage of the FSA's retreat by leaving the building and blowing it up, attempting to frame the FSA for this operation. They also fired missiles at the building, and an air raid on the area left it completely destroyed, killing the 200-250 civilians (including women and children) inside. Some of the wounded Alawites, women and children, were evacuated, and verified this report.
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