The Assad regime's brutality in Syria has been amply documented. Ironically, lucky are the Syrian people because these days Assad's executioners film themselves.
For us, the Lebanese who lived 30 years under Syrian occupation (ca. 1973 - 2005), though this occupation continues today via the Syrian-Iranian proxy terror group Hezbollah, there were no cell phone cameras, no CNN, no live coverage of events such as we experience today. Yet, the brutality you will see in this video has been visited upon tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens who disappeared in Lebanon only to be found in Assad's abject prisons.
To date, there are 17,000 Lebanese citizens who are believed to have ended up in Syria's dungeons, never to be heard from again. Dead? Still alive? No one knows. And the Lebanese government of Michel Aoun, a puppet of Syria, does not dare ask the Syrian regime about them. In fact, Syrian jailers have a practice of changing the names and identities of those they hold, so that visitors or Red Cross officials can't track them. Not even the prisoners themselves remember who they really are after decades of torture and incarceration.
Audio transcription of the video.
All victims are middle aged (30 - 60 years old) men. They all wear civilian clothes that appear relatively clean, as if these men were captured recently and did not spend time in prison or appear to have been tortured. They are all blindfolded with tape and have their hands tied behind their backs. It is clear they have no idea what is going on. They show no panic, they don’t talk or complain or beg for mercy. They obey and do as told. Their only indication of what awaits them is perhaps the gunshots they hear before their turn comes.
0:00:04 [Soldier]: Come, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid
0:00:06 [Soldier]: Stay there …. Stay there [inaudible]
0:00:13 [Blindfolded man in civilian clothes is pushed into a pit with dead bodies and tires]
0:00:17 [Soldier]: Hey, hey …. [Two gunshots]
[Victim still moving]
0:00:22 [Soldier]: …Son of a bitch didn’t die
[Another gunshot]
[Victim is now motionless]
0:00:30 [Soldier walking 2nd blindfolded man in civilian clothes]: Careful, careful
0:00:33 [The man is pushed into the pit]
[Gunshot]
0:00:41 [Inaudible]
0:01:02 [Footage of soldier walking a 3d civilian victim to the pit]
0:01:03 [Soldier]: This way, this way…
0:01:05 [Soldier]: A salute to the Master [Al-mouallem = المعلم = Master is possibly the nickname of the immediate officer ordering the murders]
0:01:07 [Soldier facing the camera]: Most pleasant salute to the Master
0:01:09 [Same soldier]: This is for his beautiful eyes and the olive-colored suit that he wears
0:01:15 [Soldier walking a 4th man to the edge of the pit]
Right here… don’t move… don’t move
0:01:21 [Soldier kicks the man in the back pushing him into the pit]
0:01:25 [Gunshot. Man appears dead]
0:01:30 [Inaudible]
0:01:35 [Voice]: You confuse me, swear to God, you’re here and he’s there [inaudible]
0:01:40 [Sound of footsteps on rubble]
0:01:51 [5th man is pushed in the pit… followed by a gunshot]
0:02:00 [Camera scanning dead bodies in the pit]
0:02:06 [Gunshot into one of the bodies]
0:02:12 [voice]: Come up, come up, come up, come up….
0:02:15 [Soldier dragging a blindfolded 6th man in white shirt]
0:02:25 [One soldier lifts his gun, while another pushes the 6th man in the pit. Inaudible]
0:02:27 [Gunshot hits victim before he lands in the pit]
0:02:40 [6th victim still moving. Another gunshot]
0:02:50 [Inaudible voices, followed by gunshot]
0:02:53 [Voice]: you wanna die? [Inaudible]
0:03:04 Come on, come on, come on…
0:03:06 [Footage of soldier marching a 7th blindfolded man in civilian clothes]
Come on, quickly, quickly, come on, run, [louder]: I SAID RUN
0:03:10 [Man is pushed into the pit]
0:03:11 [Man utters a groan of pain]
0:03:14 [Gunshot into the 7th victim]
0:03:19 [Footage of soldier aiming his machine gun into the bodies in the pit]
0:03:21 [Gunshot]
0:03:29 [Soldiers yelling…]: When I say run, you run, come on
[Inaudible]: Let this one go by the wall … Let him run
0:03:35 [Soldier]: Come up, come up, come up … come up, come up
0:03:44 [Soldier to another soldier]: Ok, let’s get it done, we can’t stay any longer
0:03:46 [Soldier]: Get up, get up, get up… get him up
0:03:48 [Footage shows soldier marching an 8th man, holding him by the back of his shirt]
0:03:56 [Soldier is seen letting the 8th man bump into a wall at the edge of the pit,
then letting him tumble down into the pit]
0:03:59 [8th victim is heard groaning and is moving]
0:04:04 [Gunshot]
0:04:11 [Voice]: Come on, climb, up, up
0:04:14 [Footage of one soldier handing a 9th blindfolded man to another soldier]
0:04:20 [Soldier positions the 9th man facing the pit]
0:04:28 [Soldier directs the 9th man to walk; he falls in the pit and is shot while falling]
0:04:34 [9th man is still moving. Second gunshot]
0:04:40 [Another gunshot]
0:04:42 [Voice yelling]: Get up, climb, come up here, up here, up here
0:04:55 [Footage shows soldier with a 10th blindfolded man]
0:04:57 [Footage shows soldier directing the 10th man to walk]
[10th man appears to acquiesce and walks into the pit]
[The 10th victim is shot during his fall and is heard screaming]
0:05:07 [Gunshot]
0:05:14 [Inaudible voices]
0:05:17 [Voice]: no, leave him
0:05:20 [Voice]: … with me, with me, come on, with me, with me
0:05:28 [Voice]: … Come on, up, up, come up, come up
0:05:35 [Inaudible voices, while an 11th man is led to the pit]
[Voice]: Come on, quick, quick
0:05:42 [Footage shows soldier walking the 11th victim to the edge of the pit]
0:05:45 [Soldier makes the man face the pit and instructs him to walk]
0:05:52 [Soldier]: Ok, one, two, three [11th victim starts walking and is shot while falling]
0:06:00 [Two successive gunshots]
0:06:08 [Gunshot]
0:06:12 [Gunshot]
0:06:22 Go ahead, climb, come up, up, up … [inaudible]
0:06:29 [Voice]: Ok, come on you jerk [inaudible]
0:06:32 [Gunshot]
0:06:35 [Voice]: Any others? Huh?
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