Syria Feature: Questions About the "Boy Beheads Two Regime Officers" Video

Yesterday we noted a claimed video of a group of men and a young boy beheading two men who were reportedly "Alawite officers" involved in the Houla massacre.

The video was reportedly taken on Sunday, provided to a journalist by a "commander in Homs".

By the end of the day, however, activists were claiming the discovery of footage, posted on a pro-regime YouTube channel months ago, that apparently had some of the images in the beheading video which emerged yesterday:

@brown_moses Old video. Appeared for the first time on pro regime channel youtube.com/watch?v=rWBpG5…

— الجندي الحر (@FreeSySoldier) December 10, 2012

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Syria Video Feature: Re-Visiting the Mass Killing in Houla (Al-Ken)

Mahmoud Al-Ken of Al Jazeera English adds another investigative account --- see, for example, "Searching for the Truth of the Mass Killing in Houla" --- of May's attack on civilians in Houla in Homs Province by regime supporters. More than 100 people, many of them children, perished.

Syria Feature: Searching for the Truth of the Mass Killing in Houla (Reuter/Adhun)

Al Jazeera English's account of 27 May of the mass killings in Houla

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Nothing is going to happen, Muawiya Sayyid, a retired police officer, reassured his family on the afternoon of May 25. They were afraid to leave the house, but Sayyid reminded his family that he had been a colonel and troops with regime connections had remained unharmed in previous raids. 

It was a fatal miscalculation, as Colonel Sayyid was forced to realize during the last few minutes of his life. According to statements by his surviving wife and daughter, he was in his room on the second floor when he overheard the murderers in front of the house as they agreed bring out the women first and then kill everyone. He told his wife and children to run. "I'll try to stall them," he said. He succeeded, but paid for it with his life.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: From Houla to Douma

2039 GMT: Syria. In Damascus, there are protests reported in multiple areas, but heavy gunfire reported in far more areas. The reports, from so many sources, are pouring in at this late hour - it will be a long night for Syria's capital.

2032 GMT: Syria. Meanwhile, protests continue, in the heart of Aleppo, and the heart of Damascus:

#Aleppo: protesters in #Khaldiyeh district chanting in solidarity with the suburbs of Aleppo tonight 5-6-2012youtube.com/watch?v=RHTDS8…#Syria

— Zilal (@zilal1) June 5, 2012

Protest in Kafarsouseh neighborhood of #Damascus tonight. Vid: youtube.com/watch?v=sQA8-o… #Syria twitpic.com/9t6acn

— Free Syrian (Sami) (@HamaEcho) June 5, 2012

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Syria 1st-Hand: The Stories from Houla --- Playing Dead While Your Family is Killed

11-year-old Ali Adil al-Sayyid explains how he survived as his family were killed by regime supporters in Houla

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"My mum yelled at them. She asked: 'What do you want from my husband and son?' A bald man with a beard shot her with a machine gun from the neck down. Then they killed my sister, Rasha, with the same gun. She was five years old. Then they shot my brother Nader in the head and in the back. I saw his soul leave his body in front of me.

"They shot at me, but the bullet passed me and I wasn't hit. I was shaking so much I thought they would notice me. I put blood on my face to make them think I'm dead."

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Syria Opinion: If the Houla Massacre Isn't a Turning Point...

Before the Killings: The Children of Houla

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p>That sacredness we bestow upon our young makes the murder of these children an even more grotesque act. It makes us rhetorical questions. How can a man, in this case President Bashar al-Assad, and his cronies act so mercilessly, without a shred of humanity kill children like this? How can they subject the parents of these children to such torture? How can these political and military commanders sleep at night? 

The answer has been in front of us for more than a year. They can because they want to.

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