The bodies in the Quweig River in late January (Photo: Thomas Rassloff/EPA)
Martin Chulov and Ben Solomon, working for The Guardian, investigate who is responsible for the killing of 110 men, whose bodies were found in the Quweig River near Aleppo in late January.
The article, with extensive support from videos and photographs, was posted hours after the latest discovery in "the river of martyrs" --- the bodies of more than 20 men, some gagged and with hands bound, most shot in the head or with serious neck wounds.
It is already one of the defining images of the Syrian civil war: a line of bodies at neatly spaced intervals lying on a river bed in the heart of Syria’s second city Aleppo. All 110 victims have been shot in the head, their hands bound with plastic ties behind their back. Their brutal execution only became apparent when the winter high waters of the Queiq river, which courses through the no man’s land between the opposition-held east of the city and the regime-held west, subsided in January.
It’s a picture that begs so many questions: who were these men? How did they die. Why? What does their story tell us about the wretched disintegration of Syria....
In the days following the massacre, Syrian officials blamed "terrorist groups" for the deaths. State television broadcast a ‘confession’ from an alleged member of Jabhat al-Nusra, the jihadist group....
The confession was derided by every one of the 11 people interviewed by the Guardian as well as dozens of others that came and went from the Revolutionary Security centre during the week we were there. Jabhat al-Nusra members are visible on the streets of eastern Aleppo and play prominent roles in distributing food and aid to some communities.
They are distrusted by some rebel groups who vie with them for fighting honours and subsequent spoils of war. But they are feared by few on the rebel side.
"They’re not good guys," said Ahmed al-Sobhi, a hospital worker. "They don’t think like me, but they behave respectably. They do not kill civilians. You would have to be willfully blind to not know who did this massacre."
"Jabhat al-Nusra won’t do such a horrible thing," said Amer al-Ali. "No muslim can do such a thing but this regime can do it. You call us terrorists. come and fight us face to face.
Sheikh Aurora was emphatic: "Jabhat Al-Nusra is more honest and noble than Bashar and his gang. They would not commit such a crime. It was Jabhat al-Nusra who provided people with food, shelter and clothes. Why would they give them with all of these things and then kill them?"