Syria Video Feature: Investigating the Bombing That Killed Pro-Regime Cleric al-Bouti

Video showing the bomb that killed prominent cleric Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti --- Viewer discretion advised

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On 21 March, just weeks after he called on Syrians to join the resistance against the "terrorists" threatening Bashar al-Assad's government, Sheikh Mohamed al-Bouti was killed in an explosion inside the Iman Mosque in central Damascus.

Syria state media, which broadcast graphic and gory footage of the carnage in the mosque --- piles of bodies, pools of blood, chunks of brain matter --- said the pro-regime Sunni scholar died alongside 48 other victims.

The question remains, however: was Bouti deliberately targeted in the bombing, or did he just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

The video above shows the moment of the explosion. The blast rocks the mosque during the sermon. After the blast, Bouti waivers, visibly injured. Several men run up to him as he slumps over.

This visual narrative, however, only opens up more questions.

What We Know

A longer video apparently showed al-Bouti preaching. This one shows him in the Iman mosque, just before the detonation. The footage cuts off with the explosion --- maybe the camera was damaged or knocked off-line in the blast. Despite this, the clip gives us some clues.

First and foremost, it confirms the time and the place of the bombing.

Below there is a snapshot of both videos, the longer video on the left and the video of the killing on the right. Below that, there is a composite video --- the end of the longer video, and the entire shorter video.

This brings us to our next clue.

Activists claimed that a woman filming at a TV in an adjacent room took the video posted at the top of this article.

The CCTV footage and the broadcast video were taken from almost the same angle --- reasonably high, from the rear of the room, to the left of its centre --- though the CCTV video appears to have been filmed closer to the middle of the area.

In this long room, al-Bouti is seated in a chair while the congregation is sitting on the ground.

From this evidence we can roughly piece together where the explosion happened.

Studying the video at the top of this entry, and comparing it to the longer video, we know that the explosion happened over 20 minutes into al-Bouti's sermon, as the room was quiet. There was no noticeable disturbance just before the explosion. Al-Bouti was not seated near a door, and the destruction and carnage visible in pictures taken afterward the blast suggests it did not originate from the side of the room, but likely somewhere near the centre.

Blood, bodies, and debris are spread throughout the front of the room. Windows appear to have blown outwards, and wall panels also seem to have been pushed in by the force of the blast. It is hard to make out, but the ceiling fan in this picture seems to be bent upwards.

All of this evidence reinforces that the blast came from inside and likely near the middle of the room.

Studying the CCTV footage, the flash and initial debris seems to come from the left of the frame, likely just off-camera, and from a low angle. The blast appears to have taken place somewhere between the camera, which was likely positioned on the back wall of the mosque, and al-Bouti.

In other words, it is possible that one of the people in the congregation was the bomber.

Al-Bouti, exposed to the blast, suffered severe head injuries. However, many in the crowd were hit even harder because a gap, created by a row of security guards, between the front row of worshipers and the cleric.

Mysteries Answered

Because the two videos were taken from the same angle, we can safely say that the footage was made by someone inside the crowd.

I did have concerns about a "hole" visible during the explosion. However, it is likely that the CCTV camera is in a box of some sort, perhaps a decorative wooden shellto render it unobtrusive. When the bomb goes off, we see that the camera is moved, and the edges of the box are lit up. The grayed-out corners visible show the "umbra" made by the box, the edge of the shadow that blocks most, but not all, light.

Had it not been for the explosion, the camera would not have moved and the light would not have illuminated this enclosure.

Some have suggested that the video may have been faked. The excellent journalist Hassan Hassan has spent a lot of time gathering information and assessing it, and he shares a piece of evidence:

I really hope so >> signs that the video of Al Bouti death is fake. Check this twitter.com/hhassan140/sta…

— Hassan Hassan حسن (@hhassan140) April 8, 2013

This is a keen observation. However, it appears that there is a wooden (or perhaps even plaster or porcelain) panel in front of the chair above al-Bouti's head. While it is hard to tell from the overexposed footage from State news agency SANA. remnants of the white cover may be visible on the ground near al-Bouti's chair and on and around the higher chair.

In the video at the top of the entry, the panel is visible right before the explosion and is missing just after it.

We cannot say conclusively that the reason the panel is not there after the explosion is because it was destroyed in the blast, but it is the only element about the video that does not add up --- there is no other clear evidence of faking.

The existence of two videos showing the same event is further argument against faked footage. The reason why we do not see any other bodies is clear when watching the two videos together --- any dead and wounded would be below the shot, because the congregation was seated when the bomb went off.

Mysteries Remaining

The key mystery, however, is the "Man in Black". After the explosion, al-Bouti is clearly injured. However, he is not visibly bleeding, and he's certainly alive. At this point we see a man, wearing black, running up and reaching out to Al-Bouti. Next, the cleric slumps over. Now blood is clearly visible.

Hassan Hassan has documented the incident in depth, posting several screen shots of the mysterious "Man in Black" who may or may not have attacked the Sunni cleric after the explosion. He has also posted a transcript of al-Bouti's sermon immediately before the explosion. Together with the videos, this establishes that the bomb went off after al-Bouti begins talking about hell and Allah's mercy.

Tentative Conclusions

Having read the transcript and watched all the footage, I believe that al-Bouti was the intended target of an assassination. The bomber, one of the crowd, waited 20 minutes before detonating the bomb so that it would have maximum symbolic and/or psychological impact.

I cannot be sure, however, that the "Man in Black" is an assassin.

Watch the video at full speed, and it does appear that way. However, frame by frame, al-Bouti's movements do not obviously line up with the actions of the "Man in Black". There is no specific moment when the "Man in Black" clearly pushes the cleric.

Interestingly, once al-Bouti slumps over to his right (the viewer's left) and the "Man in Black" moves off to the left, he is holding his own head --- perhaps the kind of physical expression of emotion when a bombing occurs and the scale of the impact becomes evident.

Beyond the "Man in Black", there are bigger questions:

How did a bomber manage to infiltrate a mosque in the center of Damascus amid heightened security?

Did someone on the inside allow the killer into the building?

If this was an assassination, why arrange it to kill so many others as well as al-Bouti?

Could that "collateral damage" have occurred because, far from being a precisely-planned operation, the bomber could not get close as he wanted to his target?