A/HRC/18/53 board buses. Most were reportedly transferred to a detention facility in Kafr Sousseh, a south-western suburb of Damascus.31 3. Homs Governorate 43. On 18 March, demonstrations began in Homs, the country’s third largest city with a population of 1,500,000, the majority of which are Sunni Muslims, with a Christian minority. Multiple witnesses claimed that security forces identified as the “Anti-Terrorism Unit” of Air Force Intelligence sought to disperse the crowds by shooting in the air and using tear gas. According to one eyewitness, more than 40 protestors were arrested during the demonstration. The ensuing days witnessed several smaller demonstrations in various parts of the city, together with an increased use of live ammunition by security forces and mass arrests to quell protests. On 25 March, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, some of them heading towards the Officers’ Club, where security forces were stationed. Eyewitnesses reported that security forces and the Shabbiha fired live ammunition at protestors, while snipers targeted other civilians from rooftops.32 44. On 17 April, 17 demonstrators were reportedly killed after thousands gathered in the city centre, partly in response to the death in custody of a tribal leader a few days earlier. One eyewitness stated that the security forces gave no warning before targeting the protestors, and that he saw a teenager next to him get shot. Several thousand protestors participated in demonstrations the following day to mourn those deaths. The Syrian authorities stated that three army officers, including a brigadier general, together with his two sons and a nephew, were killed by Salafist groups (see annex IV). 45. On 5 May, the Syrian army was deployed to Bab Amr in Homs Governorate, to quell what was described as an insurrection by Salafist armed groups.33 According to a witness, the whole area was surrounded and orders were given to break into all houses and kill all members of armed gangs.34 Dozens of people were reportedly killed in the operation, during which soldiers also received orders to plant weapons at a local mosque.35 The following day, the division was ordered to besiege the town of Talbisa in preparation for a similar security operation to “cleanse” the area of armed gangs using tanks, armoured vehicles and troops. During the operation, three officers and 20 civilians were reportedly killed. 46. A large-scale military operation was launched on 25 May in the town of Ar Rastan, where “armed gangs” were still allegedly operating, and demonstrators had reportedly 31 32 33 34 35 12 Some of those detained were later released after being brought before an investigative judge, who ordered their release. Some of the accusations levelled against them included “demeaning the dignity of the country”, “disrupting the peace of the nation” and “weakening the spirit of the nation”. One eyewitness claimed that the Shabbiha had been brought in to support security forces in larger demonstrations. They reportedly targeted demonstrators, directly causing a significant number of casualties. The same account details how the Shabbiha prevented the transport of those killed by ambulances, but instead removed them to an unknown location. Fire-fighter trucks then cleaned the bloodstains using water cannon. According to the witness statements, the orders received referred to a Salafist insurrection. In order to cover the whole area, the division broke into groups, each composed of roughly 100 soldiers. Each group was accompanied by six to eight members of the Shabbiha, to undertake what was described as the “dirty work”. The witness claimed that the soldiers were given no information on how members of the armed gangs could be identified. Witnesses claimed that, as the troops were pulling back from Bab Amr, they broke into the mosque in the area, reportedly killing the imam and then planting arms there. They added that the security forces then arranged for the arms cache to be filmed by Syrian television and for it to be reported that armed gangs had hidden weapons in the mosque.