Why did the bodies of 110 men
suddenly wash up in the river running through Aleppo city six weeks ago? A
Guardian investigation found out
Discovery
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 raises so many questions: who were
these men? How did they die? Why? What does their story tell us about the
wretched disintegration of Syria? A Guardian investigation has established a
grisly narrative behind the worst - and most visible - massacre to have taken
place here. All the men were from neighbourhoods in the eastern rebel-held part
of Aleppo. Most were men of working age. Many disappeared at regime checkpoints.
They may not be the last to be found......."
.jpg)
