A/HRC/21/50 Tremseh (Hama), 12 July 2012 6. On 12 July 2012, in the early morning, FSA positions in Tremseh came under attack by Government forces using shelling, ground troops and helicopter gunships. Prior to the offensive, Government forces had cordoned the town with checkpoints. Reports from credible sources suggest that Shabbiha deployed together with the army. 7. The motive for the assault appears to have been a Government intervention to root out armed groups that had been involved in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings with Shabbiha, reportedly from the neighbouring Alawi town of Safsafiah. 8. Initial reports indicated that the attack began with cutting supplies of electricity, water and mobile-telephone services. Shelling began around 5:00 am. Helicopter gunships supported the Government ground forces, which entered the town at 8:00 am. Together they inflicted heavy losses on the anti-Government forces. 9. Individuals attempting to flee were shot in fields on the outskirts of the town, though the commission could not determine whether they were civilians or fighters. The assault continued throughout the day, ultimately ending with Government forces retaking control of Tremseh. They withdrew around 8:00 pm. 10. UNSMIS observers attempting to reach Tremseh on 12 July were stopped outside the town by Government forces. When UNSMIS reached the village on 13 July, they reported that civilian objects, including over 50 homes and a school, were affected. They also observed ―pools of blood and brain matter ... in a number of homes‖. UNSMIS interviewed 27 villagers who gave consistent accounts of extrajudicial executions of men arrested by Government forces. According to those interviewed, the army was conducting house to house searches asking for men and their ID cards. They alleged that after checking their identification, numerous were killed. 11. Other uncorroborated reports blamed rebels for the civilian deaths in this incident. The commission viewed video material purportedly from Tremseh, broadcast on Russian television, of two FSA members captured by the army confessing to having killed civilians in the town. The commission could not assess whether these confessions were obtained voluntarily. Al-Qubeir (Hama), 6 June 2012 12. Al-Qubeir is a predominantly Sunni village 20 km northwest of Hama. Although emptied as a result of fighting at the time of writing, it had consisted of approximately 25 houses with no more than 150 residents, most of them from the al-Yatim family. The commission examined a testimony from an eyewitness (defector), as well as reports from other credible sources with direct knowledge of the 6 June events. The Government provided the commission with a report of its findings in a Note Verbale, dated 19 June 2012.g 13. The Al-Qubeir area had reportedly been experiencing ethnic tensions since the beginning of the conflict.h In the days leading up to the incident a resident of Al-Qubeir had g h 70 Regarding the Government‘s report, the commission viewed video material wherein one member of the Government‘s commission who compiled the report on Al-Qubeir was announcing his defection. Therein he implied that the judiciary had been co-opted into covering up the misdeeds of Government forces and aligned forces. The video could not be authenticated. A journalist who visited Al-Qubeir shortly after the incident and who interviewed a person who had come back to retrieve some items, reported his interviewee as saying, ―Many young men from the