Massacres – Syrian Network for Human Rights https://snhr.org (No Justice without Accountability) Tue, 01 Mar 2022 15:13:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://snhr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/favicon-32x32.png Massacres – Syrian Network for Human Rights https://snhr.org 32 32 The 40th Anniversary of the 1982 Hama Massacre Coincides with Rifaat al Assad’s Return to Bashar al Assad https://snhr.org/blog/2022/02/28/57397/ Mon, 28 Feb 2022 11:24:07 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=57397

UN Bodies Have Never Made Any Reference to the 1982 Hama Massacre, Although Killings and Enforced Disappearances Constitute Crimes against Humanity

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Press release (Link below to download full report):

Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) notes in its report released today that the 40th anniversary of the 1982 Hama massacre coincides with Rifaat al Assad’s return to Bashar al Assad in Syria, adding that no UN bodies have ever made any reference to the massacre, although killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated constitute crimes against humanity.

The 30-page report notes that February carries painful memories for the Syrian people, with February 2022 marking the forty-year anniversary of another horrific massacre by the Syrian regime, then led by Hafez al Assad, in Hama city in 1982, with that massacre continuing throughout the month. Syria is still ruled by the same family that committed that unspeakably horrific massacre. Moreover, forty years of impunity have culminated in the return to Syria of Rifaat al Assad, the most prominent of the surviving regime officials involved in leading and committing crimes against humanity in Hama city in 1982. The report stresses that commemorating the massive atrocities and massacres that preceded the outbreak of the popular uprising in March 2011, whose impact continues to resonate to the current date, is a vital aspect of uncovering the truth, defending victims’ rights, and exposing the perpetrators of violations. The report adds that all the statistics contained in this report are, out of necessity, informed estimates rather than concrete data on all the victims, although these are based to a great degree on the available data. The report further notes that SNHR has collected data confirming that at least 3,762 persons from Hama city were forcibly disappeared during the massacre, as well as data on the nearly 7,984 civilians confirmed killed. Meanwhile, informed estimates indicate that, in reality, between 30,000 and 40,000 civilians were killed in this massacre, in addition to some 17,000 others being classified as missing persons. The report adds that factors such as the length of time that’s passed since the massacre, the shameful lack of regional and global media coverage of it, the lack of any independent local media to cover the events, let alone any independent national judiciary, due to the Syrian regime’s dominance over the state’s three powers, have all made documentation of this massacre a complex process.

Fadel Abdul Ghany, Director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, says:
“The anniversary of the February 1982 Hama massacre, in which the Syrian regime killed tens of thousands of the city’s people and disappeared tens of thousands more, coincides with the return of Rifaat al Assad to Bashar al Assad in Syria; Rifaat al Assad is now the main suspect in the massacre following the death of Hafez al Assad, who headed the army and armed forces at the time. This is a genuine and damning embodiment of the culture of total impunity, and it is shameful that there is not even one UN document documenting the massacre and demanding that the fate of tens of thousands of victims be revealed and the perpetrators held accountable. The United Nations has a duty to correct its historical mistake.”

The report discusses Hafez al Assad’s absolute power over the constitution, the media, parties, and political life which paved the way for the Hama massacre and for the lack of any public reaction from Syrian society or the opposition. The report summarizes the details since al Ba’ath Party seized power in Syria in a bloody military coup in March 1963, overthrowing the former President Nazim al Qudsi and his democratically elected government, and the subsequent events including declaring a state of emergency, leading to Hafez al Assad’s seizure of power in 1970, and then promulgating the 1973 constitution, which the report described as opposing the most basic principles of human rights. As the report further explains, Hafez al Assad’s absolute domination over the Syrian state was based on the state of emergency, a network of irregular courts, and the regime’s total control over the three powers, as well as over the security forces, the army, and trade unions, and the outlawing of free media, all of which paved the way for the Tadmur prison massacre in 1980, and then the Hama in 1982. The regime’s repression meant there were barely any domestic condemnations or repercussions. Less understandably, there was virtually no international reaction, with this lack of any reaction more especially noteworthy and shameful given the vast size of the disaster that occurred.

The report provides details of the most notable violations committed by Syrian regime forces in Hama city in February 1982, some of which constitute crimes against humanity, and lists the most prominent forces accused of carrying out the massacre. The report notes that the Syrian regime mobilized forces from the army and security services and imposed a form of a siege on Hama city at the end of January 1982. The report outlines the details of the attack, which lasted about a month, and reveals in some detail the most prominent and bloody days which the massacre witnessed, which were mark points. As the report reveals, Syrian regime forces, led by Rifaat al Assad, numbering nearly 20,000 military personnel, began bombing Hama city at around 20:15 on the evening of Tuesday, February 2, 1982. The authorities’ pretext for this massive mobilization and the vast numbers of troops deployed was the claim that they were there to eliminate a few hundred gunmen affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, some of whom had entered into an armed conflict with the authorities, with a few dozen of them hiding among civilians from Hama city. Using this as an excuse, Syrian regime forces began with massive and indiscriminate preliminary bombardment of many neighborhoods using cannons and machine guns; after this, large numbers of troops stormed the city from several axes, and carried out field executions and random killings, as well as dozens of other violations involving looting and sexual violence. Armed clashes took place between Syrian regime forces and members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the city. The report reveals that the Syrian regime’s Air Force and tanks participated in the bombing of houses without distinguishing between civilians and combatants. The report confirms that regime forces arrested hundreds of residents of the city, without presenting any charges, against them, summarily executing some of them by firing squad in the streets.

The shelling and clashes continued non-stop until Friday, February 5, when Syrian regime forces began their incursions into the neighborhoods, with regime tanks completing the destruction begun by the shelling over the previous days, killing dozens of civilians inside their homes. The regime forces carried out deliberate killings of wounded people, targeting entire families, including women, children, and young people, simply because some of their other family members belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood, in addition to looting the contents of houses, then burning them, as well as scrawling hateful graffiti slogans with strong undertones of sectarian cleansing repeatedly on the walls of buildings in the city. As the report adds, this brutal violence by the authorities, and the introduction of this sectarian dimension, prompted the Muslim Brotherhood to appeal to residents through loudspeakers to join in the fight against the Syrian regime in a religious context, with some of the young people of the city who had not been members of the Muslim Brotherhood joining the gunmen to defend their homes and families.
The report further reveals that on February 6, more Syrian regime forces were flown into the city by helicopters, with these new arrivals accompanied by vile, sadistic acts. For the next two days, shelling, incursions, and clashes continued in various neighborhoods of the city until Monday, February 8, the day when Syrian regime forces took control of the market area south of al Assi River. The next day, regime forces began storming neighborhoods, detaining entire families, then shooting them dead. Clashes continued in a number of neighborhoods until February 23, with Syrian regime forces pursuing a scorched earth policy of mass destruction, which almost none of the residents of those neighborhoods survived. Regime forces continued with their persecution and identity-based killings until Sunday, February 28, when some forces around the city began to return to their military barracks; many military checkpoints remained inside the city, however, with individual killings and liquidations continuing until mid-March 1982.

As the report reveals, this military campaign against Hama city resulted in the deaths of 40,000 civilians, with nearly 17,000 people remaining missing up to the current day. SNHR does not know the number of deaths among the gunmen of the Muslim Brotherhood and Syrian regime forces. In addition, nearly 79 mosques, three churches, and many of the city’s neighborhoods including archaeological and historical areas were destroyed. The report provides a map showing the location of the most notable neighborhoods that were completely or partially destroyed. The report adds that Hama city remained under siege throughout February, with a widespread curfew imposed on its residents.

The report notes that under international law, states are responsible for violations committed by members of their armed forces, or by persons or entities authorized by the states, and must open investigations and commit to paying full compensation to survivors and victims’ families for harm and loss. The report holds the Syrian regime responsible for this attack, noting that the regime‘s very centralized nature means that undertakings involving huge military operations could not and cannot be carried out without the knowledge and approval of the regime’s head, at that time Hafez al Assad, who was also the Commander-in-Chief of Syria’s Army and the Armed Forces. In addition, the Hama massacre spanned nearly a whole month, meaning that it is impossible for the leaders of the army and security services not to have heard of it. Not only did the Syrian regime fail to prevent violations or punish those commissioning them, but all the evidence and testimonies clearly show that the regime was wholly responsible for them and for issuing the orders to commit killings, liquidations, arrests, enforced disappearances, and torture. In this context, the report provides a list of the most notable regime figures involved in killings, enforced disappearances, looting, and destruction in February and March of 1982 in Hama city.

Finally, the report emphasizes that the United Nations’ shameful indifference to the massacre is an insult to the victims, helping to extend its traumatic impact. The report calls on the UN Secretary-General to issue a statement on the Hama massacre and apologize to its victims, adding that it is unacceptable and incomprehensible to find that a humanitarian disaster on the staggering scale of the 1982 Hama massacre is not even documented in the United Nations’ records. The report sheds light on the failures of the UN Economic and Social Council and the Human Rights Commission at that time towards the victims of this catastrophe, stressing that what they failed to do at that time has still not been remedied, despite the founding of the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to this day. The report clarifies that the people of Hama city have suffered doubly, as well as being betrayed thrice over, firstly through the unspeakable atrocities committed by the Syrian regime led by Hafez al Assad; secondly by the failure of the international community and the Security Council to condemn this heinous massacre, an omission echoed by the near-total lack of any political reaction by the first world’s democratic states; and thirdly by the absence of any reaction from the UN, human rights bodies or regional and global media, at the time or since. Moreover, the report adds that most of what has been written or broadcast about this terrible massacre has once again betrayed the victims and ignored their suffering in favor of repeating the Syrian regime’s false narrative of the event and its blatant self-justifying lies while disregarding the regime’s victims and turning a deaf ear to the accounts of hundreds of survivors and victims’ relatives.

The SNHR believes that the violations committed by the Syrian regime in Hama city over a full month were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population, and therefore constitute crimes against humanity under customary international law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Syrian regime forces violated many provisions and principles of international human rights law, including extrajudicial killing, by directing orders to the security services to kill and injure as many residents of Hama city as possible. The report also stresses that Syrian authorities have not conducted any serious investigations into these attacks.
As the report further notes, the Muslim Brotherhood gunmen in Hama also bear responsibility for the violations they committed, in particular taking shelter in civilian neighborhoods, which posed a danger to these neighborhoods and their residents. This culpability, however, in no way absolves the attacking party, the Syrian regime, of its responsibility to distinguish between civilians and combatants and to use force in a proportional manner, rather than in the manner that occurred.

The report recommends that the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the High Commissioner for Human Rights should remember and commemorate the 1982 Hama massacre, as a bloody event that constituted a milestone in impunity, especially after the return of the main perpetrator, Rifaat al Assad to Bashar al Assad in Syria. The report calls on the United Nations to apologize to the victims and their families for its abject failure in not documenting the massacre or condemning its perpetrators and to correct this shameful omission by calling on the Syrian authorities to work to reveal the fate of nearly 17,000 Syrian citizens from Hama city who have been forcibly disappeared since 1982.

The report also calls on the international community and the UN Security Council to acknowledge their abject failure to protect civilians in Hama, to try to correct this historical mistake by working to hold the Syrian regime accountable, and to seek to reveal the fate of the missing.
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The Syrian Regime Committed a Massacre in Ariha, Killing 11 Syrian Citizens, Including Four Children, during the Constitutional Committee Meetings, to Shameful Silence from the United Nations https://snhr.org/blog/2021/10/28/56982/ Thu, 28 Oct 2021 18:38:20 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=56982 The Ariha Massacre, the Largest Since March 2020, Embodies the Policy of the Syrian Regime, ‘Negotiating’ by Terror, Killing and Enforced Disappearance

SNHR

Press release (Link below to download full report):
 
Paris – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states in its report released today that the Syrian regime committed a massacre in Ariha city, the largest since March 2020, killing 11 Syrian citizens, including four children, even as regime representatives were participating in the latest round of Constitutional Committee meetings, to shameful silence from the United Nations, adding that this massacre embodies the policy of the Syrian regime, ‘negotiating’ by terror, killing and enforced disappearance.
 
The 34-report page notes that the Syrian regime has used violence, threats and terror as a basic tool in all the rounds of negotiation it has participated in; over the past years, the regime has consistently followed the same policy of launching attacks on civilians and murdering political detainees during the negotiation rounds in Geneva, or during the rounds of talks on the Constitutional Committee. This shows the extent of the Syrian regime’s disregard for the negotiation process, and its belief that it is merely passing time before once again taking its place in the international arena.
As the report further reveals, only two days after the sixth round of the Constitutional Committee meetings were held, Syrian regime forces launched the largest military attack on northwest region of Syria since March 6, 2020, in terms of civilian casualties. The attack took place in the densely populated Ariha city, another clear indication of the Syrian regime’s indifference to the agreements that could result from these meetings.
 
The report documents the responsibility of the Syrian regime, with Russian support, for the attack on Ariha city in the southern suburbs of Idlib, highlighting the details of the ground attack. The report also refers to the statements of condemnation issued by international organizations and human rights bodies concerning this attack, as well as providing the record of the most notable violations committed by the Syrian-Russian alliance forces since March 6, 2020, (the date of entry into force of the Turkish-Russian ceasefire agreement) until October 28, 2021.
 
As the report reveals, on the morning of Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at around 08:01, Syrian regime artillery forces began bombarding the city, coinciding with a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying over the area, and in conjunction with the students heading to their schools. The shelling lasted for about ten minutes, during which ten shells fell on separate areas in the city center, resulting in the deaths of 11 civilians, including four children and one woman (a teacher), and injured about 30 others, in addition to causing damage to four vital civilian facilities.
The report provides exclusive video footage from surveillance cameras that were close to the sites of the attacks, analyzes this footage and identifies the impact sites of most of the shells and the resulting casualties.
The report notes that the timing and intensity of the bombardment on an area of no more than 500 meters in diameter in the center of the city, which is devoid of any military features, is a deliberate act by the Syrian regime, with its aim being to cause the greatest number of civilian casualties, with the support of the Russian forces.
 
The report adds that the Ariha massacre is just one in a long series of violations committed by Syrian regime forces and regime’s allies in the Idlib region, one of the four de-escalation zones, which is also subject to the Russian-Turkish agreement – since March 2020. In this context, the report reveals that the attacks by Syrian-Russian alliance forces between March 6, 2020, and October 28, 2021, in northwest Syria have resulted in the deaths of 259 civilians, including 88 children and 41 women (adult female); 185 of the victims, including 60 children and 28 women, were killed at the hands of Syrian regime forces, while Russian forces killed 74 civilians, including 28 children and 13 women. The report also documents at least nine massacres during the same period, six of which were at the hands of Syrian regime forces and three at the hands of Russian forces, in addition to at least 60 attacks on vital civilian facilities, 51 of which were at the hands of Syrian regime forces, and nine at the hands of Russian forces
 
The report stresses that the attacks by the Russian/ Syrian military alliance included in this report have resulted in deaths of Syrian citizens, and in the injury and disability of many other people, as well as exacerbating the already extreme food and health-related suffering of the population, all of which add to the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in northwest Syria at various levels.
The report adds that the Syrian-Iranian-Russian alliance forces have unquestionably violated UN Security Council Resolutions No. 2139 and 2254 which ordered an end to indiscriminate attacks, and also violated international humanitarian law rules of distinction between civilians and combatants.
 
The report notes that neither the Russian or Syrian authorities have conducted any serious investigations into these attacks, or even into any other previous ones, with the Russian and Syrian leaderships, both military and political, bearing responsibility for these attacks based on the principle of command responsibility under international humanitarian law.
The report stresses that the Syrian regime does not care about the political transition process because this would lead to a transition from dictatorship to democracy.
 
The report calls on the UN Security Council to refer the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court and hold all those responsible accountable, while UNSC states’ veto power should be withheld when crimes against humanity and war crimes are committed. The report also calls on the UN Security Council to impose UN military and economic sanctions on the Syrian regime, especially the leaders involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes.
 
The report recommends that the international community should support the political transition process and put pressure on the parties to compel them to implement the political transition within a time period of no more than six months, and to renew pressure on the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
The report adds that the Russian and Iranian regimes should face heavy fines and financial penalties for the destruction of vital buildings and facilities in Syria. These sums should be reflected in the reparations for the victims and the restoration of the facilities and buildings whose destruction the two regimes contributed to.
 
The report further recommends that the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) should work on identifying the responsibility of individuals within the Syrian regime who are involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes, publish their names to expose them to international public opinion and end all dealings with them at every political and economic level.
The report also calls on the UN Envoy to Syria to clearly assign responsibility to the party responsible for the death of the political process, and to disclose to the Syrian people the timing of the end of the political transition process, in addition to making several more recommendations.
 

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Russian Forces Commits a Massacre of IDPs in Ma’aret Misreen in Idlib Region Prior to Announcing a Ceasefire Agreement https://snhr.org/blog/2020/03/27/54818/ Fri, 27 Mar 2020 11:50:26 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=54818 Double-Tap Airstrike Policy Used to Kill Paramedics and Civilians Indicates Savagery and Barbarism

SNHR

Press release:
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in its report released today that Russian forces committed a massacre of IDPs in Ma’aret Misreen town in Idlib region prior to announcing a ceasefire agreement, noting that the double-tap airstrike policy used to kill paramedics and civilians indicates savagery and barbarism.
 
The 14-page report notes that the strategy of the Syrian regime and its Russian ally in Syria is based on concluding agreements to establish the borders of the areas which they have already taken control of in order to prepare for attacks on new areas, noting that it is delusionary to trust that Russia and the Syrian regime will sincerely commit to respecting any local, regional, or international agreement after the constant stream of violations they have committed, some of which amount to crimes against humanity. The report adds that since April 26, 2019, the Idlib region in northwest Syria has seen a military escalation by Syrian-Russian alliance forces with five cease-fire agreements. The report also notes that the area of land that the Syrian regime seized control of between the first agreement and the last agreement expanded, with hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, and their contents largely looted by Syrian Regime forces and Iranian militias after taking control of them.
 
This report includes a documentary record of the double-tap airstrike launched by fixed-wing warplanes which are believed to be Russian on a poultry farm sheltering IDPs in Ma’aret Misreen town in the northern suburbs of Idlib, and outlines the record of massacres committed by Syrian-Russian alliance forces since April 26, 2019, until March 27, 2020.
 
The report reveals that 387 civilians, including 104 children and 62 women (adult female), were killed, and 15 massacres committed, all at the hands of Syrian-Russian alliance forces in Idlib region in northwest Syria between January 12, 2020, and March 27, 2020. Syrian Regime forces killed 174 civilians, including 40 children, 18 women, and committed four massacres, while Russian forces killed 213 civilians, including 64 children, 44 women, and committed 11 massacres.
 
The report documents a double-tap airstrike by fixed-wing Russian warplanes on Thursday, March 5, 2020, targeting a poultry farm where IDPs from Idlib and Aleppo suburbs were living. The poultry farm is located on the western outskirts of Ma’aret Misreen town. As the report states, the attack resulted in the deaths of 15 civilians, including two children and seven women, and injured around 19 others. The report notes that this massacre was committed in conjunction with consultations between the Turkish and Russian Presidents, which concluded to a ceasefire agreement, in reference to a desire to kill as many people as possible before the beginning of the ceasefire.
 
The report notes that the Ma’aret Misreen massacre is simply one in a long and violent series of massacres committed by Syrian-Russian alliance forces, with this massacre added to an extensive archive of massacres in which Russian-Syrian alliance forces practiced a double-tap airstrike policy with the aim of killing paramedics and Civil Defense personnel and inflicting the largest possible number of civilian victims, a tactic that once again indicates the Syrian regime’s and its allies’ brutal mindset and underlines the fact that there has been no end to its criminality and Mafiosi behavior.
 
The report documents that Syrian-Russian alliance forces committed 77 massacres in Idlib region in northwest Syria between April 26, 2019, and March 27, 2020. Syrian Regime forces committed 48 massacres, while Russian forces committed 29 massacres, noting that 15 of which occurred since the ceasefire agreement entered into force at 00:00 of January 12, 2020, until March 27, 2020.
The report further reveals that the 77 massacres resulted in the deaths of 647 civilians, including 224 children and 134 women (adult female). This means that 56 percent of all the victims were women and children, which is a very high proportion of the casualties, and a clear indication that civilian residents were specifically targeted in most of these massacres.
 
As the report notes, the Syrian regime has committed heinous crimes and violations against Syrian civilians for over nine years to date. It has also consistently failed to respond to any of the demands of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, or to those of the High Commission for Human Rights, or even to Security Council resolutions. The Security Council, which was supposed to take collective measures and action under Article 41 and 42 of the Charter of the United Nations, also failed because of the immunity granted to the Syrian regime by Russia, which has routinely used its veto in the case of the Syrian regime, despite the Syrian regime’s failure to abide by its responsibility for the protection of civilians and committing the most egregious violations against them, reaching the level of crimes against humanity, and extermination within detention centers through torture.
Furthermore, the report states, the type of “conscience-shocking situations” which the UN is required to take action to prevent are exactly what have continued to happen in Syria on a staggering scale, not only in the form of one massacre or one violation but in industrial-scale, continuous killings and torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, the use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs, and besieging civilians. In this context, the report cites a report issued in December 2001 by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which stressed that: “The Security Council should take into account in all its deliberations that, if it fails to discharge its responsibility to protect in conscience-shocking situations crying out for action, concerned states may not rule out other means to meet the gravity and urgency of that situation. ”
 
The report stresses that Syrian and Russian forces have violated several rules of International Humanitarian Law, primarily through their failure to discriminate between civilians and combatants, and between civilian and military targets, bombing hospitals, schools, centers and civilian neighborhoods, with these violations amounting to war crimes.
The report further notes that displacement or forced displacement is a war crime in non-international armed conflicts when committed as part of a deliberate or widespread attack against the civilian population, and may also be considered crimes against humanity.
 
The report further calls on the UN Security Council to pass a resolution to stabilize the ceasefire in Idlib and to include punitive measures for all violators of the cease-fire, to refer the Syrian issue to the International Criminal Court and to ensure that all those involved, including the Russian regime, are held accountable, having been implicated in committing war crimes.
 
The report also presents a set of recommendations to the international community, the UN General Assembly, the OHCHR, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI), as well as calling on the donor countries and the OCHA to ensure basic living conditions and to pay attention to the needs of and help provide care for thousands of displaced Syrians who are displaced in the north-western Idlib suburbs, with the most pressing basic needs, primarily water, food, housing, clothing and medical care.
 

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The Deaths of 87 Civilians Have Been Documented Since the Start of the Russian-Turkish Ceasefire, Including the Largest Massacre by the Syrian Regime in Idlib Since April 26, 2019 https://snhr.org/blog/2020/01/27/54649/ Mon, 27 Jan 2020 13:21:12 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=54649 The Constitutional Committee’s Progress Makes No Sense in Light of the Syrian Regime’s Continuous Crimes against Humanity

SNHR

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in its report released today that at least 87 civilians have been killed since the start of the Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreement on January 12, 2020, noting that the continuation of the Constitutional Committee’s work makes no sense in light of the Syrian regime’s continuous crimes against humanity.
 
The 15-page report notes that since April 26, 2019, northwest Syria has seen a military escalation by Syrian-Russian alliance forces, which is the most violent to date compared to previous military campaigns seen in the region. In this time, the report notes, the region witnessed the declaration of four ceasefire agreements, stressing their failure in stopping military attacks and indiscriminate shelling.
 
This report includes a documentary record of the air attack launched by the Syrian regime’s fixed-wing warplanes on the east of Idlib city on January 15, 2020, and outlines the record of massacres committed by Syrian-Russian alliance forces since April 26, 2019, until January 27, 2020.
 
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Chairman of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, says:
“Syrian Regime forces committing a massacre of this magnitude in Idlib three days after the alleged ceasefire agreement starkly affirms the impossibility of controlling the brutal Syrian regime with any kind of agreements including those in which its Russian ally is a direct party, and provides additional evidence that the Constitutional Committee can never succeed in its objectives or make Syrian society believe in or care about it, regardless of the efforts of the UN envoy and his team, as long as there is a continuity in committing crimes against humanity by the Syrian regime, the direct party in discussing the constitution!”
 
The report reveals that at least 87 civilians, including 33 children and 11 women (adult female), were killed, and four massacres committed, all at the hands of Syrian-Russian alliance forces in northwest Syria between January 12, 2020, and January 27, 2020. Syrian Regime forces killed 37 civilians, including eight children, three women, and committed one massacre, while Russian forces killed 50 civilians, including 25 children, eight women, and committed three massacres.
The report documents an air attack by fixed-wing Syrian regime (MiG-23) warplanes on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. As the report states, the attack resulted in the deaths of 22 civilians, including two children, and injured around 68 others; among the fatalities was a member of the Syrian Civil Defense. The report notes that this massacre, which is considered the largest in terms of the death toll for a single incident, came just three days after the supposed declaration of a ceasefire.
 
The report notes that the Idlib massacre is simply one in a long series of massacres committed by Syrian-Russian alliance forces, which are encouraged by the failure of the Security Council to protect civilians, and the international community’s failure to form a civilizational alliance to take over the task of protecting civilians in light of the Security Council’s failure. Given this apparent impunity for every type of violation, Syrian-Russian alliance forces have committed almost limitless violations of every variety. Meanwhile, the report emphasizes that Russia is the sponsor of the ceasefire agreements, despite Russia and its ally, the Syrian regime, being by far the most prolific violators of those agreements.
 
The report records that Syrian-Russian alliance forces committed 66 massacres in northwest Syria between April 26, 2019, and January 27, 2020. Syrian Regime forces committed 45 massacres, while Russian forces committed 21 massacres, noting that four of which occurred after the last ceasefire agreement entered into force on January 12 until January 27, 2020.
The report further reveals that these massacres resulted in the deaths of 542 civilians, including 187 children and 107 women (adult female). This means that 55 percent of all the victims were women and children, which is a very high proportion of the casualties, and a clear indication that civilian residents were specifically targeted in most of these massacres.
 
As the report notes, the Syrian regime has committed heinous crimes and violations against Syrian civilians for over eight years to date. It has also consistently failed to respond to any of the demands of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, or to those of the High Commission for Human Rights, or even to Security Council resolutions. The Security Council, which was supposed to take collective measures and action under Article 41 and 42 of the Charter of the United Nations, also failed because of the immunity granted to the Syrian regime by Russia, which has routinely used its veto in the case of the Syrian regime, despite the Syrian regime’s failure to abide by its responsibility for the protection of civilians and committing the most egregious violations against them, reaching the level of crimes against humanity, and extermination within detention centers through torture.
Furthermore, the report states, the type of “conscience-shocking situations” which the UN is required to take action to prevent are exactly what have continued to happen in Syria on a staggering scale, not only in the form of one massacre or one violation but in industrial-scale, continuous killings and torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, the use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs, and besieging civilians. In this context, the report cites a report issued in December 2001 by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which stressed that: “The Security Council should take into account in all its deliberations that, if it fails to discharge its responsibility to protect in conscience-shocking situations crying out for action, concerned states may not rule out other means to meet the gravity and urgency of that situation. ”
 
The report stresses that Syrian and Russian forces have violated several rules of international humanitarian law, primarily through their failure to discriminate between civilians and combatants, and between civilian and military targets, bombing hospitals, schools, centers and civilian neighborhoods, with these violations amounting to war crimes.
The report further notes that displacement or forced displacement is another war crime in non-international armed conflicts when committed as part of a deliberate or widespread attack against the civilian population, and may also be considered crimes against humanity.
 
The report further calls on the UN Security Council to pass a resolution to stabilize the ceasefire in Idlib and to include punitive measures for all violators of the cease-fire, to refer the Syrian issue to the International Criminal Court and to ensure that all those involved, including the Russian regime, are held accountable, having been implicated in committing war crimes.
 
The report also presents a set of recommendations to the international community, the UN General Assembly, the OHCHR, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI), as well as calling on the donor countries and the OCHA to ensure basic living conditions and to pay attention to the needs of and help provide care for thousands of displaced Syrians who are displaced in the north-western Idlib suburbs, with the most pressing basic needs, primarily water, food, housing, clothing and medical care.
 

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The Syrian Regime Is Most Likely Responsible for the Bombing of an IDP Camp in Idlib and the Killing of 11 Syrian Children https://snhr.org/blog/2019/12/13/54551/ Fri, 13 Dec 2019 13:08:51 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=54551 At Least 79 Targeted Attacks on IDP Camps by the Syrian Regime and Its Russian Ally Within Eight Years

SNHR

Press release:
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states in its report released today, which addressed the attack of the Qahh Camp in north of Idlib, that the Syrian regime is the party most likely to have been responsible for the bombing of an IDP camp and the killing of 11 Syrian children.
The 16-page report explains that the de-escalation agreement of May 2017 and the Sochi Agreement of September 2018, both concerning the Idlib region, and the subsequent agreements, all lack any real implementation mechanisms that might deter the Syrian regime and its allies from continuing to commit violations against civilians and had no effect in stopping the daily killing machine that has claimed the lives of Syrians, with Russian and Syrian warplanes continuing to fly and bomb with impunity whenever and wherever they want.
 
The report notes that thousands of the internally displaced people forced to flee by the recent military operation launched by the Syria-Russian alliance forces since April 26, 2019, have been forced to seek refuge in the Atma camps area located in the northern suburbs of Idlib; this is a grouping of large camps first established at the end of 2012 which has gradually expanded since then. As the report reveals, there are now nearly half a million people living in these camps, half of whom are children and women, who live in the most abject living conditions and are deprived of the bare minimum of basic services such as water, bathing facilities, and medical care services; their suffering is exacerbated by a scarcity of humanitarian aid and irregular access of aid providers to the camps. In parallel with this catastrophic humanitarian situation, civilians in these camps live under the continuous threat of death due to the Syrian-Russian attacks that followed them to the place of their displacement.
 
The report describes the situation in which the Syrian regime has pursued the Syrians whose displacement it caused, along with its allies, through the violations they have committed, meaning that, as the report notes, the regime hasn’t only bombed and destroyed its victims’ homes and enacted legislation legalizing the theft of their remaining property and lands, but is pursuing, terrorizing and killing these traumatized civilians even in the camps where they are living in conditions of wretched deprivation.
 
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Chairman of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, says:
“This incident proves once again to all the countries of the world that the Syrian regime constitutes a flagrant threat to the IDPs, and is the main reason behind the continued flow of refugees and their fear of return and settlement even in the areas it does not control, through continuous bombardment that hasn’t spared even children in the camps. Despite all this savagery and barbarism, we hear calls from institutions and research centers that justify resuming normal relations with the Syrian regime, rather than demanding its accountability to prepare for the political transition and voluntary and sustainable return.”
 
The report sheds light on the cluster munitions attack launched by Syrian regime and Iranian militias on the Qahh IDP Camp in northern suburbs of Idlib, relies on first-hand accounts that SNHR has collected through speaking directly with witnesses or survivors, none of which are cited from any open sources, and outlines seven accounts, in addition to analyzing a large number of videos and photographs.
 
As the report reveals, the attack took place on the evening of Wednesday, November 20, 2019, between 19:45 and 20:20, when Syrian Regime forces and pro-Syrian regime Iranian militias, which SNHR believes were stationed in Jabal Azan area in the southern suburbs of Aleppo, used a missile platform to fire a Tochka 9M79 missile loaded with 9n24 cluster submunitions that fell on Qahh IDP Camp, resulting in the deaths of 16 civilians, including 11 children and three women (adult female), and injured at least 50 others, as well as inflicting damage on the Maternity Hospital, and damaging at least 10 of the tents.
 
The report further reveals that the attack caused the displacement of approximately 80 percent of the already displaced camp residents, who fled due to their fear of the camp being subjected to further attacks. As of the date of publication of this report, SNHR has recorded only a small percentage of these people returning to the camp.
 
The report outlines the type of ammunitions used in this attack based on a review and analysis of photos of the weapons remnants found at the site, information from witnesses, and the impact of the destruction caused by the attack, noting that Tochka-9M79 tactical ballistic Russian manufactured missiles were used, launched by a 9P129 vehicle. The report identifies four possible locations which are most likely to have been the location of the missile launcher that launched the missiles, noting that the most likely source for launching these missiles was launcher platforms located in the Jabal Azan area in the southern suburbs of Aleppo according to accounts and witnesses.
 
As the report explains, these missiles can be equipped with different warheads, including cluster, chemical or nuclear warheads. In the Qahh Camp attack, SNHR was able to verify through witness accounts and the analysis of photos and videos that the missile was equipped with a 9N123K warhead loaded with a total of around fifty 9N24 cluster submunitions.
 
The report reveals that there have been at least 12 attacks carried out by Syrian Regime forces, in which Tochka-series missiles were used, with the missiles being loaded with cluster submunitions in at least three of these cases.
 
The report notes that the Syrian regime’s reconnaissance aircrafts had been flying over the camp for several days prior to the attack, which indicates that the Syrian regime is fully aware of the civilian nature of its target and the camps’ occupants; in addition to this, regime forces chose to use cluster munitions to carry out this bombing, meaning that the attack constitutes a compound crime.
 
The report documents at least 79 attacks on IDP camps carried out by Syrian-Russian alliance forces since March 2011 up until this latest attack on Qahh Camp. Sixty-one of these attacks were carried out by the Syrian regime, while Russian forces carried out the other 18. Among these attacks, the report documents 11 on IDP camps during the recent military campaign launched by the Syrian-Russian alliance forces since April 26, 2019.
 
The report further reveals that at least 487 cluster munitions attacks took place since the first documented use of these munitions in July 2012 up to November 20, 2019, with 243 of these attacks carried out at the hands of Syrian Regime forces, and another 236 being by Russian forces, with an additional eight attacks being Syrian-Russian operations.
 
The report stresses that Syrian-Iranian-Russian alliance forces have undoubtedly violated UN Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254 which demanded the cessation of indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating a wide range of customary international humanitarian law rules, and also violating articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute by committing intentional homicide, all of which crimes constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
 
The report also notes that the incidents of bombardment have incidentally caused civilian casualties, including injuries, as well as causing significant damage to civilian objects. There are very strong indications suggesting that the damage was extremely excessive in comparison to the intended military benefit, with the attacks failing to discriminate between civilians and combatants in most cases. Also, it seems that some of the attacks appear to have deliberately targeted vital facilities and civilian areas.
 
The report further notes that the report issued by the delegates to the 2005 Summit states unanimously that each country had a responsibility to protect its population from crimes against humanity and war crimes. This responsibility entails the prevention of such crimes, the prevention of incitement to commit them by all possible means, and, when the state clearly fails to protect its population from egregious crimes, or itself is committing such crimes as in the case of the Syrian regime, means that it is the responsibility of the international community to intervene to take protective measures in a collective, decisive and timely manner.
 
The report stresses that the bombardment of the IDP camps and civilian gatherings has spread further terror and fear among already traumatized displaced persons and has grossly exacerbated their disastrous humanitarian situation, which is already suffering from a deterioration in terms of the initial humanitarian response.
 
The report calls on the UN special envoy to Syria to condemn the perpetrators of crimes and massacres, to hold those who are primarily responsible for obstructing the political process to account, and to re-sequence the peace process so that it can resume its natural course after Russia’s attempts to divert and distort it, through empowering the Constitutional Committee prior to the establishment of a transitional governing body. The report also stresses the importance of demanding that the Syrian regime, its Russian ally, and opposition factions end all violations and secure good faith measures by stopping the bombing and at the very least disclosing the fate of the forcibly disappeared persons.
 
The report additionally calls on the Security Council to take additional steps following its adoption of Resolution 2254, which clearly insists that “all parties immediately cease any attacks against civilians and civilian objects as such,” and stresses the importance of referring the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court, adding that all those who are responsible should be held accountable including the Russian regime whose involvement in war crimes has been repeatedly proven.
 
The report stresses the need to ensure peace and security and to implement the principle of Responsibility to Protect civilians’ lives and to save the Syrian people’s heritage and historical artefacts from destruction, looting and vandalism, calling on all relevant United Nations agencies to make greater efforts to provide food, medical and humanitarian assistance in areas where fighting has ceased, and in internally displaced persons camps, and to follow up with those States that have pledged voluntary contributions.
 
The report calls on the UN Security Council to adopt a special resolution banning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, similar to its prohibition on the use of chemical weapons, and to provide advice on how to remove the unexploded ordnance of such dangerous weapons.
 
The report asserts that Russia’s permanent membership in the Security Council must not prevent the Council’s efforts to hold Russia accountable, warning that if it does so, the body will lose its remaining credibility.
The report further states that the use of cluster munitions by the Syrian regime threatens the security and safety of tens of thousands of members of Syrian society, adding that the Security Council must immediately and urgently intervene to protect the Syrian people from the attacks by the ruling authority, which constitute war crimes, and must send peace-keeping forces to protect the IDPs and their camps from attacks by Syrian Regime forces.
 
In light of the split within the Security Council and its utter inability to take any effective action, the report stresses the need to take action at the national and regional levels to form alliances to support the Syrian people by protecting them from daily killing and by lifting sieges, as well as by increasing support for relief efforts. Additionally, it states, the principle of universal jurisdiction should be enacted in local courts regarding these crimes in order to conduct fair trials for all those who were involved.
 
The report calls for the resort to Chapter VII and urges the implementation of the norm of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly. The report also calls for renewed pressure on the Security Council to refer the case in Syria to the International Criminal Court, to work on fulfilling justice and achieving accountability in Syria through the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, and to activate the principle of universal jurisdiction.
 
The report calls on the OHCHR to submit a report to the Human Rights Council and other organs of the United Nations on the violations mentioned in this report and in previous reports since these violations were perpetrated by the parties to the conflict, to train Syrian organizations to undertake clearance of mines and other unexploded ordnance, to raise local awareness of the dangers of such ordnance, and to establish a platform that brings together a number of Syrian organizations active in documenting violations and humanitarian assistance, in order to facilitate an exchange of skills and experiences within Syrian society.
 
The report recommends that the State friends of the Syrian people should refuse to consider the Russian government as a party to the dialogue and political transition in Syria if it continues to insist on committing widespread and systematic violations against the Syrian people; such violations could not be any more flagrant than the repeated use of cluster munitions which provides blatant evidence of its violations.
 
The report stresses the urgent need for the Russian government to immediately end the production of cluster munitions and to stop using them in Syria, adding that it should start destroying its stockpiles of these weapons, and should accede to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Cluster Munitions. The report also calls on the Russian government to investigate all violations listed in the report, to publish detailed maps of locations where cluster munition attacks have been launched, to provide these to the United Nations, and to inform the Syrian community about them, thus facilitating the disposal of unexploded ordnance.
 
The report also stresses that the Syrian regime must stop violating the Syrian constitution by killing Syrian citizens, destroying their homes and disappearing and torturing tens of thousands of them, and end its indiscriminate shelling and targeting of residential areas, hospitals, schools and markets, as well as ending the use of outlawed weapons and barrel bombs, ending the acts of torture that have caused the deaths of thousands of Syrian citizens in detention centers, and complying with UN Security Council resolutions and customary humanitarian law and the Syrian constitution and law.
 

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The Syrian-Russian Alliance Forces Commit 33 Massacres in the Fourth De-Escalation Zone Within Three Months https://snhr.org/blog/2019/07/31/54091/ Wed, 31 Jul 2019 15:00:59 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=54091 Russia Denies Committing the Massacre of Ma’aret al Numan City in Idlib and Will Continue to Do So as Long as the International Community Is Silent

SNHR

In its latest report, released today, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states that Syrian-Russian alliance forces have committed 33 massacres in the fourth de-escalation zone within three months, noting the responsibility of Russian forces for the recent massacre in Ma’aret al Numan, the largest massacre since the start of the recent military escalation on the region.
 
The 25-page report reveals that the Syrian-Russian alliance forces has committed the most egregious violations in the fourth de-escalation zone since April 26, 2019, including extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate and deliberate bombardment, enforced displacement, and bombing of residential buildings and vital facilities, including hospitals and schools, up to the use of chemical weapons. These atrocities continue to take place
 
The report documents at least 781 civilians, including 208 children, and 140 women (adult females) were killed in the fourth de-escalation zone between April 26, and July 27, 2019, at the hands of Syrian-Russian Alliance forces, with Syrian Regime forces killing 625 civilians, including 170 children and 115 women, and Russian forces killing 156 civilians, including 38 children and 25 women.
 
The report also documents 33 massacres that took place in the fourth de-escalation zone in the same period, 26 of which at the hands of Syrian Regime forces and seven at the hands of Russian forces, adding that these massacres killed 271 civilians, including 85 children and 58 women (adult female), and further noting that Syrian Regime forces killed 188 of these civilians, including 63 children and 44 women, while Russian forces killed the other 83 civilians, including 22 children and 14 women.
 
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Chairman of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, adds:
” The massacres reflect incidents in which large numbers of civilians are killed at one time, five or more civilians. This usually indicates the extent of disregard to civilian lives by the attacking party, or indicates a strong desire to kill them and get rid of as many of them as possible. It seems to us through our work of monitoring the daily incidents and the pattern of brutal attacks carried out by these barbaric forces that this is precisely what the political leadership of the Russian and Syrian forces want. ”
 
This report catalogues the record of the most notable massacres committed by the Syrian-Russian alliance forces in the fourth and final de-escalation zone (consisting of Idlib governorate and parts of the governorates of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia) from April 26, 2019, to July 27, 2019, and outlines the details of the largest of these massacres, highlighting in particular the massacre committed by the Russian forces in Ma’aret al Numan city in the southern suburbs of Idlib on July 22.
 
As the report states, for eight years, the Syrian regime has committed grave crimes and violations against Syrian civilians. It has also consistently failed to respond to any of the demands of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, or to those of the High Commission for Human Rights, or even to Security Council resolutions. The Security Council, which was supposed to take collective measures and action under Article 41 and 42 of the Charter of the United Nations, also failed because of the immunity granted by Russia to the Syrian regime, with Russia routinely using its veto in the case of the Syrian regime, which not only failed to abide by the responsibility for the protection of civilians, but committed the most egregious violations against them, reaching the level of crimes against humanity, and extermination within detention centers through torture.
 
Furthermore, according to the report, the conscience-shocking situations which the UN is required to take action to prevent are exactly what have continued to happen in Syria, not only in the form of one massacre or one violation but in industrial-scale, continuous killings and torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, the use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs, and besieging civilians. In this context, the report cites a report issued in December 2001 by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, which stressed that: “The Security Council should take into account in all its deliberations that, if it fails to discharge its responsibility to protect in conscience-shocking situations crying out for action, concerned states may not rule out other means to meet the gravity and urgency of that situation. ”
 
The report includes the details of the massacre of Ma’aret al Numan city, which was committed by Russian forces on July 22, 2019, in which, as the report reveals, 39 civilians were killed, including four children, seven women, and one Civil Defense personnel member. The report notes that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation issued a statement denying that its warplanes had carried out any military operation in that area, accusing the Civil Defense of making false statements. In this regard, the report notes that this was not the first time that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation had denied carrying out certain attacks for which its responsibility has been confirmed, with the SNHR able to definitively prove the involvement of the Russian forces in seven of the eight large massacres for which Russia had denied responsibility since the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Syria.
The report adds that the sites shown in the videos published by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on July 26 and 27 claiming to prove that the market that had been attacked had not been hit by any attacks, actually showed the city’s al Hal market rather than the popular market where the massacre took place.
 
The report stresses that Syrian and Russian forces have violated several rules of international humanitarian law, primarily through their failure to discriminate between civilians and combatants, between civilian and military targets, bombing hospitals, schools, centers and civilian neighborhoods, with these violations amount to war crimes.
The report also emphasizes that launching a deliberate attack on medical personnel in the context of a non-international armed conflict is a war crime punishable by international humanitarian law and international criminal law (Articles 8 (2) (b), 24, 8 (2) (e) (2) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court).
 
The report further notes that displacement or forced displacement is another war crime in non-international armed conflicts when committed as part of a deliberate or widespread attack against the civilian population (Articles 8 (2) (b) (7) and 8 (2) (e) (8) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court) and may also be considered crimes against humanity (Articles 7 (1) (d) of the Statute of the International Criminal Court).
 
The report also notes that Syrian-Russian alliance forces have violated the de-escalation zone agreement in all regions, including the Idlib region, and violated the Sochi Agreement that came into force in September 2018.
 
The report calls on the UN Security Council to pass a resolution to stabilize the ceasefire in Idlib and to include punitive measures for all violators of the cease-fire, to genuinely support the serious implementation of the peace process in Syria and to assist in achieving a just political transition that guarantees security and stability, to refer the Syrian issue to the International Criminal Court, to ensure that all those involved in these crimes are held accountable, to pass a resolution concerning enforced displacement, to ensure that this does not become a long-term crisis, to put pressure on the Syrian regime to end displacements, and to enact laws aimed at preventing the plunder of displaced persons’ properties and possessions.
 
The report urges the International Community to take action at both national and regional levels to form alliances to support the Syrian people in a way that can protect them from the daily killings, to lift the sieges and to increase support for relief efforts. Additionally, it urges that the principle of universal jurisdiction should be applied in local courts regarding these crimes.
 
The report calls for the implementation of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly, and to fulfil justice and achieve accountability in Syria through the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.
The report recommends that the OHCHR should submit a report to the Human Rights Council and other organs of the United Nations concerning the violations committed by the Syrian-Russian alliance forces.
 
The report calls on the UN Secretary General to clearly identify the perpetrators of violations, explaining that doing so will contribute to condemning their actions, exposing their practices and sending a message of solidarity to the affected community, while failing to clearly identify the perpetrators of these apparent violations encourages these and other perpetrators to commit more violations and to repeat them.
The report further calls on the countries that support the parties to the conflict in Syria, especially Russia, to put pressure on their allies on the ground to ensure the neutrality of the Idlib area of combat operations, and to protect the lives of at least three million people living there.
 
The report recommends that UN General Assembly should hold the ruling Syrian regime responsible for the displacement of one-third of the Syrian people, including legal and material responsibility, and must ensure that victims receive full compensation for the heavy losses they have suffered, including the return of looted properties to their owners.
 
The report stresses that the UN Envoy to Syria must condemn the perpetrators of the crimes and massacres and the main culprits in the collapse of agreements on de-escalation zones, and thus declare the collapse and the end of the political process in full, as well as holding the Syrian-Russian alliance to account for its actions, and to disclose to the Syrian people Russia’s pursuit of full control of Syrian territory by force, and its public desire to rehabilitate the current regime, which means the creation of a political solution which satisfies only its own interests.
 
The report calls on the donor countries and the UNOCHR to ensure basic living conditions, to pay attention to the needs of and help provide care for thousands of displaced Syrians who are displaced in the north-western Idlib suburbs.
 
Finally, the report calls on the Russian forces to stop committing all types of war crimes in Syria, to commit to the outcome of the Sochi Summit and not repeat the scenario of violations we have seen in the agreements of de-escalation zone, to stop supporting the war crimes and crimes against humanity which the Syrian regime has been committing, with the current support being considered as direct involvement in these crimes, to contribute to the assistance of displaced persons who were displaced by the Russian war machine from the Eastern Ghouta in the Damascus Suburbs governorate and the governorates of Homs and Daraa, and to protect the residents of those areas who remained from the arrests, persecution, kidnappings and enforced disappearances being perpetrated by the Syrian Regime and Iranian militias.
 

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The Brutal Attacks on Suwayda governorate between the Terrorism of the Syrian Regime and ISIS https://snhr.org/blog/2018/10/16/52773/ Tue, 16 Oct 2018 16:03:06 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=52773 154 Civilians Killed, including 15 children

The Brutal Attacks on Suwayda governorate between the Terrorism of the Syrian Regime and ISIS

SNHR has released a report entitled, “The Brutal Attacks on Suwayda governorate between the Terrorism of the Syrian Regime and ISIS” which documented the killing of no less than 154 civilians, including 15 children and 19 women (adult female) in the attacks on Suwayda governorate on Wednesday, July 25, 2018.
The 10-page report draws upon a number of accounts from eyewitnesses and victims’ families, in addition to analyzing videos and photos posted online. The report notes that the investigations into the Suwayda attacks took more time in light of the fact that SNHR doesn’t have an extensive communication base in Suwayda governorate, as the governorate hasn’t seen many violations compared to other governorates. The report notes that this is the bare minimum, which the report documents, in light of extraordinary difficulties and many residents’ hesitation to cooperate in fear of retaliatory acts by ISIS or the Syrian regime against them if they do so.
The report sheds light on some indications of coordination and harmony between the Syrian regime and ISIS prior to the Suwayda attacks, including transporting ISIS fighters who were in al Yarmouk Camp to al Badiya al Sharqiya, Suwayda governorate, which was followed by Syrian regime forces evacuating their bases in eastern suburbs of Suwayda, and then retreating from the most integral observation point in al Badiya – the Dayyatha point and disarming the popular committees, while some villages refused to surrender their weapons. According to the report, the attacks only targeted the villages that surrendered their weapons.
 
The report contains two accounts that talked about power and land communication being cut off in parallel with the raids, which made the task of sneaking into the villages easier for the attacking forces, while it made for a more difficult situation for the residents who couldn’t call for help or instantly recognize the criminals.
 
The report stresses that these attacks, which give away a scenario in which the Syrian regime used ISIS to attack the residents in Suwayda governorate, aim primarily to ask for the Syrian regime’s protection, and therefore it gradually taking back control of the area, and apply pressure on the Druze sectarian group to give up tens of thousands of youths to fight with Syrian regime forces, as they are suffering from a shortage of manpower to secure the stable area in Daraa governorates after Russian, Syrian, and Iranian forces managed to seize control back in late-July 2018.
 
According to the report, Suwayda city saw a series of attacks on Wednesday, July 25, 2018, between 05:00 and 07:00, where a number of gunmen wearing explosive belts carried out suicidal bombings in a number of neighborhoods in Suwayda city – at the vegetable market, by al Mashnaqa Circle, by al Najma Cricle, and in al Maslakh neighborhood. These attacks resulted in the killing of 24 civilians, including two women, while no less than 50 others were wounded.
 
The report adds that gunmen raided eight villages in the eastern and northeastern suburbs of the governorate – al Shbeki, al Mtouna, al Swaimra, al Shreihi, Gheidat Hamayel, Douma, Tarba, and Rami, in parallel of those attacks where they raided houses and executed people by shooting or slaughtering them using knives.
The report records the killing of 130 civilians, including 15 children and 17 women (adult female). In addition, the report records that around 29 civilians, including 18 children and 10 women, were abducted from al Shbeki village.
ISIS hasn’t claimed responsibility for the raids of the villages and the subsequent executions and abductions of residents who were taken as hostages as they have done with the bombings in the city. However, the investigations and the accounts included in the report suggest that ISIS fighters were indeed involved in perpetrating those crimes in coordination with some Bedu of Suwayda. In addition, the abductors’ requests are in line of releasing ISIS affiliates who are detained by the Syrian regime which raises the possibility of ISIS being responsible for the abductions.
 
The report records that three hostages and one fetus died. Of those, two hostages were executed (Mohannad Abu Ammar and Tharwat Abu Ammar), in addition to one woman who died due to poor health care, while the fetus died as a result of a premature birth.
 
The report stresses that the use of explosive arms to target populated residential areas reflect a criminal mentality and a deliberate intention to kill as many victims as possible. This explicitly violates the international human rights law, and constitutes a blatant violation of Articles 27, 31, and 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The report adds that the international humanitarian law prohibits taking hostages (Article 34 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, Article 75-2-c of Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, and Article 4-2-c of Additional Protocol (II) to the Geneva Conventions). Taking hostages constitutes a war crime. In addition, the report notes that the Syrian regime’s practices have paved the way for ISIS to carry out their attacks. As such, the Syrian regime bears a significant responsibility in those incidents.
 
The report calls on the international community to work on establishing a path of political transition founded on removing and holding the criminals accountable, as, the report stresses, there is no putting an end to extremist groups as long as there are regimes who are manipulating, harnessing, and using these groups to terrorize the Syrian people.
The report also calls for aiding the victims of the terrorist attacks that were carried out by ISIS and provide educational and material support for the local communities to shield them from the risk of being intellectually conditioned and then actually recruited.
 
The report calls on the Security Council to take all possible measures to uphold the Resolutions adopted by the Security Council – most notably Resolution 2139, and find a way to stop the huge violations that are being perpetrated by the Syrian authorities and their militias who have been coordinating with ISIS in many areas. The report calls for referring the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court and all those who were involved should be held accountable. In addition, the report emphasizes that the militias that are fighting with the Syrian government and have perpetrated wide massacres, such as Iranian militias, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, other Shiite factions, National Defense Army, and Shabihas, should be added to the list of terrorist groups, and target and fight these groups same as extremist Islamic groups.
 
Moreover, the report calls on the OHCHR to submit a report to the Human Rights Council and other UN organs about this massacre and the massacres that preceded seeing that it is a glaring point in a string of daily massacres of lesser scope. Also, the OHCHR should work on upholding the recommendations of this report.
 
Lastly, the report calls on the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to launch investigations into the killing incidents that occurred in Suwayda governorate and other areas, stressing that SNHR is willing to cooperate.
 

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Urm al Kubra Village Massacre by Russian Forces is a Clear Message of Blood and Terrorization https://snhr.org/blog/2018/09/11/52662/ Tue, 11 Sep 2018 12:59:17 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=52662 Russian Forces Kill 36 Civilians, including 20 Children, in Urm al Kubra village, Western Suburbs of Aleppo

Urm al Kubra Village Massacre by Russian Forces is a Clear Message of Blood and Terrorization

Idlib governorate and its vicinity have been the target of an alarming military escalation which started on August 10, 2018, as Syrian regime forces started mobilizing in the villages of northern Hama suburbs and launching air and land attacks that targeted villages and towns in southern suburbs of Idlib and eastern suburbs of Hama, most of which targeted civilian residents. Those attacks aimed to terrorize and send the residents into a state of panic to drive them to flee north or submit.
 
A report released today by SNHR notes that the offensive on Idlib governorate and its vicinity sends a message of terrorization and blood to north Syria and constitutes a different case given its nature and implication, as Idlib governorate and its vicinities houses approximately 3.8 million people who settled there after they were displaced from their hometowns in Eastern Ghouta, Daraa, northern suburbs of Homs governorate, and other areas. The majority of those refuses going back to Syrian regime-held areas fearing a fate of death, arrest, enforced-disappearance and looting.
https://goo.gl/du7EHY
 
The report also outlines the details of a massacre perpetrated by Russian forces in Urm al Kubra village, western suburbs of Aleppo governorate, noting that this massacre and the military operations by the Syrian regime on the suburbs of Aleppo and Hama governorates, as well as Idlib governorate, have resulted in the killing of 106 civilians, including 29 children, 13 women (adult female), and one unborn fetus since August 10, 2018 as of this writing. According to the report, no less than 48,000 civilians have fled the villages al Tah, Tahtaya, and al Khwein villages in southern suburbs of Idlib. Most of the IDPs live in camps and shelters that alarmingly lack the most basic services.
On a related note, the report talks about the Syrian regime’s criminal record who repeatedly targeted IDPs camps and even displacement routes and conveys. The report stresses that there are no equipped camps to protect those IDPs in case they were deliberately targeted by the Syrian regime, demanding that UN peace-keeping forces enter the area to protect them.
 
The report draws upon accounts from victims’ families, survivors, paramedics, and central signal operators, as the report contains five accounts, in addition to analyzing videos and pictures posted online, or sent by local activists via e-mail, Skype, or social media. These pictures show the attack site, the huge destruction in the aftermath of the bombing, victims’ dead bodies, and people who were injured in the attack.
According to the report, the targeted areas were civilian areas where no military bases or armories for armed opposition factions or extremist Islamic groups were found during or even before the attacks. Also, Russian forces have failed to alert the civilians prior to the attack as required by the international humanitarian law.
 
The report says that two fixed-wing warplanes we believe were Russian carried out three attacks in which no less than eight highly-explosive missiles were used on Friday, August 10, 2018, between 18:31 and 18:52. The airstrikes targeted a residential area in western Urm al Kubra vullage. The bombing resulted in the killing of 36 civilians, including 20 children and seven women (adult female). Additionally, no less than 45 others were wounded, while 25 residential buildings at least were completely destroyed.
 
The report stresses that the Russian regime has, beyond any doubt, violated Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254 which both state that indiscriminate attacks must be ceased. Also, the Russian regime has violated, through the crime of willful killing, Articles 7 and 8 of Rome Statue, which constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity as the bombardment, the report notes, targeted defenseless civilians. Therefore, Russian forces have violated the rules of the international human rights law which protect the right to life.
 
The report says that the bombardments, which were carried out by the Russian air force, constitute a violation to the customary international humanitarian law and have resulted in collateral damages that involved casualties, injuries, or significant damages to civilian objects. There are strong indicators that compel to believe that the damage was too excessive compared to the anticipated military advantage.
According to the report, the attacks carried out by Russian forces constitute a violation to the de-escalation agreement through bombing areas held by factions from the armed opposition. This strips the path and agreements of Geneva of any meaning and strengthens al Nussra Front at the expense of those factions.
 
The report calls on the Security Council to take additional steps after Resolution 2139 was adopted, and no pledges to cease the indiscriminate bombardments have been made. The report also stresses that the Syrian case should be referred to the International Criminal Court and all those who were implicated should be held accountable, and sanctions should be expanded to include the pillars of the Syrian and Iranian regimes who have been directly involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people.
The report also calls for supporting the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) that was established in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 71/248, adopted on December 21, 2016. And establish local tribunals that enjoy a universal jurisdiction, and address the war crimes that were perpetrated in Syria.
 
In addition, the report calls on the OHCHR to submit a report to the Human Rights Council and other UN Organs on this massacre in particular and the ones preceding it seeing that they are glaring marks in a string of daily, sporadic massacres of smaller scale.
The report calls for implementing the ‘Responsibility to Protect (R2P)’ norm especially after all political initiatives, through the Arab League agreement and then Mr. Kofi Annan’s plan and the Cessation of Hostilities and Astana agreements that followed, have been to no avail. Therefore, after all of this, action should be taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations and the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ norm, which was established by the UN General Assembly, should be implemented. The Security Council is still hindering the protection of civilians in Syria.
The report stresses that the UN special envoy to Syria should condemn the perpetrators of crimes and massacres who were primarily responsible for dooming de-escalation agreements, effectively shattering and ending the entire political process and hold the Syrian-Russian alliance fully responsible for this. And disclose to the Syrian people Russia’s intentions to completely take control of the Syrian lands by force and its explicit desire to rehabilitate the present Syrian regime, which means formulating a political solution that suits its interests.
 
Lastly, the report calls on the Russian regime to cease all patterns of war crimes in Syria, reconstruct what has been destroyed by Russia’s machine of war, and compensate the victims materially and morally, and issue a public apology. The report adds that the Russian regime should cease supporting war crimes and crimes against humanity which the Syrian regime has been perpetrating for eight years, deeming the Russian regime directly implicated in those crimes.
 

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Russian Forces Continue Their Streak of Atrocious Massacres, 6,187 Civilians, including 1,771 Children, Killed by Russia since the Intervention Started in Syria https://snhr.org/blog/2018/07/18/52470/ Wed, 18 Jul 2018 12:08:49 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=52470 Russian Forces Kill 52 Civilians, including 10 Children, in a Horrifying Massacre in Zardana village, Northeastern Suburbs of Idlib

Russian Forces Continue Their Streak of Atrocious Massacres, 6,187 Civilians, including 1,771 Children, Killed by Russia since the Intervention Started in Syria

BY: KEYSTONE / AP Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets

Since the de-escalation agreement came into effect, SNHR has ensured to closely monitor the human rights aspect, as well as rates of violations by the signing parties as nine reports have been released so far by SNHR in this regard. The reality on the ground, as well as the monitoring, have demonstrated that the Syrian-Russian alliance forces have been the main and primary perpetrator of violations. An alarming escalation of hostilities kicked off in Idlib governorate in September 2017, as the report monitors, and expanded to other areas that were included in the agreement until it came to completely fall apart in Eastern Ghouta, northern suburbs of Homs, and, since mid-June, this was also the case in south Syria.
The report, which was released by SNHR, notes that Russian forces have incorporated the double-strike tactic, which has been used previously by the Syrian regime, where the same site is targeted a few minutes after the initial attack in order to kill as many casualties as possible among civil defense members, medical teams, and doctors.
 
Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNRH, says:
“The pattern of bombing civilians for a second time in the same area where they were targeted in the first bombing demonstrates a flagrant disregard for any form of potential accountability or prosecution as a criminal would try to conceal their crime by escaping after bombing. However, the Syrian catastrophe has seen a deterioration with regard to legal and humanitarian ideals that is still yet to be seen in the modern age. Condemning and exposing this barbarian pattern of offensives is a joint responsibly that all nations and human right defenders around the world should uphold.”
 
The report sheds light on a massacre perpetrated by Russian forces in Zardana village, northeastern suburbs of governorate, as the report stresses that 6,187 civilians, including 1,771 children, have been killed at the hands of Russian forces since their intervention started in Syria.
 
The report draws upon accounts from injured and survivors, as well as paramedics and central signal operators, as the report contains four accounts, in addition to analyzing the videos and pictures that were posted online or sent by local activists via e-mail, Skype, or social media. These pictures show the sites of the attacks, as well as the wide destruction in the aftermath of the attack and a number of individuals who were injured as a result of the attack.
 
According to the report, the targeted area was a civilian area that is devoid of any military bases or armories for factions from the armed opposition or extremist Islamic groups during or even before the attack. Also, Russian forces never alerted civilians prior to the attack as required by the international humanitarian law.
 
The report notes that two fixed-wing believed to be part of the Russian air force carried out two airstrikes within 45 minutes on southwestern Zardana village on Thursday, June 7, 2018. The two attacks, the first of which took place on 21:00, resulted in the killing of 52 civilians, including 10 children and 10 women (adult female) while no less than 80 civilians were injured including paramedics and civil defense member. Additionally, the attacks resulted in wide destruction that involved about seven residential buildings.
The report stresses that the Russian regime has, beyond any doubt, violated Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254 which both state that indiscriminate attacks must be ceased. Also, the Russian regime has violated, through the crime of willful killing, Articles 7 and 8 of Rome Statue, which constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity as the bombardment, the report notes, targeted defenseless civilians. Therefore, Russian forces have violated the rules of the international human rights law which guarantee the right to life.
 
The report says that the bombardments, which were carried out by the Russian air force, constitute a violation to the customary international humanitarian law and have resulted in collateral damages that involved casualties, injuries, or significant damages to civilian objects. There are strong indicators that compel to believe that the damage was too excessive compared to the anticipated military advantage.
According to the report, the attacks carried out by Russian forces constitute a violation to the de-escalation agreement through bombing areas held by factions from the armed opposition. This strips the path and agreements of Geneva of any meaning and strengthens al Nussra Front at the expense of those factions.
 
The report calls on the Security Council to take additional steps after Resolution 2139 was adopted, and no pledges to cease the indiscriminate bombardments have been made. The report also stresses that the Syrian case should be referred to the International Criminal Court and all those who were implicated should be held accountable, and sanctions should be expanded nclude the pillars of the Syrian and Iranian regimes who have been directly involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people.
The report also calls for supporting the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) that was established in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 71/248, adopted on December 21, 2016. And establish local tribunals that enjoy a universal jurisdiction, and address the war crimes that were perpetrated in Syria.
 
In addition, the report calls on the OHCHR to submit a report to the Human Rights Council and other UN Organs on this massacre in particular and the ones preceding it seeing that they are glaring marks in a string of daily, sporadic massacres of less scale.
The report calls for implementing the ‘Responsibility to Protect (R2P)’ norm especially after all political initiatives, through the Arab League agreement and then Mr. Kofi Annan’s plan and the Cessation of Hostilities and Astana agreements that followed, have been to no avail. Therefore, after all of this, action should be taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations and the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ norm, which was established by the UN General Assembly, should be implemented. The Security Council is still hindering the protection of civilians in Syria.
 
The report stresses that the UN special envoy to Syria should condemn the perpetrators of crimes and massacres who were primarily responsible for dooming de-escalation agreements, effectively shattering and ending the entire political process and hold the Syrian-Russian alliance fully responsible for this. And disclose to the Syrian people Russia’s intentions to completely take control of the Syrian lands by force and its explicit desire to rehabilitate the present Syrian regime, which means formulating a political solution that suits its interests.
 
Lastly, the report calls on the Russian regime to immediately compensate the families of the victims who were killed by Russian forces, and pledge to reconstruct all of the facilities and buildings that were destroyed by its instruments of war, and shoulder the complete economic and moral expenses instead of asking some European states to do so. The report also calls on the Russian regime to respect the rules of the international humanitarian law and launch wide, impartial investigations into the gross violations Russian forces perpetrated in Syria.
 

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Idlib Governorate One Year after the De-Escalation Agreement Commenced https://snhr.org/blog/2018/06/13/52303/ Wed, 13 Jun 2018 08:10:33 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=52303 Syrian-Russian Alliance Forces Have Killed 1,109 Civilians, including 255 Children, and Endless Violations

Idlib Governorate One Year after the De-Escalation Agreement Commenced

SNHR has released a report titled, “Idlib Governorate One Year after the De-Escalation Agreement Commenced” in which it documented the killing of 1,109 civilians, including 255 children, at the hands of Syrian-Russian alliance forces in a year since the de-escalation agreement came into force.
 
The report outlines the historical context in Idlib governorate since it broke away from the control of Syrian regime forces, which saw a number of agreements and truces, as well as Cessation of Hostilities statements and a de-escalation agreement.
 
After wide areas in Idlib governorate had broken away from the Syrian regime’s control, the report, the governorate has become a haven for tens of thousands of families who were displaced from their areas after they forced to submit and flee in fear of being arresting or tortured by the Syrian regime forces and their allies, or to escape the Syrian regime forcing their young men to join their force and, consequently, involve them in war crimes and crime against humanity. According to the report, Idlib governorate’s population jumped to roughly 2.5 million people, thereby increasing 1.5 times as it was before. This was, the report says, in light of tens of thousands of IDPs flowing into the governorate, on one hand, whereas the Turkish borders have been shut down, which meant that seeking asylum in European countries is no longer an option.
 
The report adds that IDPs in Idlib governorate, specifically those living in tents, are suffering from dire humanitarian conditions as the fear of death by Syrian-Russian attacks continues to loom across Idlib governorate, including IDPs camps.
 
The report notes that the de-escalation agreement hasn’t made any tangible difference in terms of putting an end to the various violations that included bombardment, massacres, and indiscriminate or deliberate attacks by Syrian-Russian alliance forces. The report adds that killing rates resumed sparking roughly four months after the agreement came into force.
 
The report details six massacres that were perpetrated by Syrian and Russian forces in the year that followed the commencement of the de-escalation agreement in a number of areas in Idlib governorate. The report draws upon the ongoing monitoring for incidents and developments by SNHR, as well as a network of relations including tens of various sources which have been built over the course of our work, in addition to verifying the information provided by survivors, eyewitnesses, and central signal operators against each other.
 
The report records the toll of the most notable violations perpetrated by Syrian-Russian alliance forces in Idlib governorate in the year following the commencement of the de-escalation agreement, namely from May 2017 to May 2018.
 
The report says that 1,109 civilians, including 255 children and 209 women (adult female), were killed by Syrian-Russian alliance forces, in addition to committing no less than 32 massacres. According to the report, 233 attacks on vital civilian facilities were documented in the same period of time, including 34 attacks on vital medical facilities, 50 attacks on schools, and 16 attacks on markets.
 
Additionally, the report documents 19 attacks using cluster munitions and 16 attacks using incendiary ammunitions at the hands of Syrian-Russian alliance forces, as well as one attack using chemical attacks which was carried out by Syrian regime forces with the explicit backing of Russian forces. The report also record that the Syrian regime dropped 752 barrel bombs on Idlib governorate in the period of time covered by the report.
 
The report stresses that Russian-Syrian alliance forces have, beyond any doubt, violated Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254 which both state that indiscriminate attacks must be ceased. Also, they violated Article 7 and Article 8 of Rome Statue through the act of unlawful killing, which constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity
 
According to the report, Russian-Syrian alliance forces have violated the rules of the customary international humanitarian law and the international human rights law which guarantee the right to life. In addition, these attacks were perpetrated during a non-international armed conflict which constitutes a war crime all elements have been fulfilled.
 
Moreover, the report notes that Syrian-Russian alliance forces have violated Security Council Resolution 2401, adopted on February 24, 2018, which provided for a 30-day cessation of hostilities.
 
The report calls on the Security Council to refer the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court and hold all those who were implicated accountable, including the Russian regime whose involvement in war crimes have been proven. Also, the report calls on the Security Council to instill peace and security in Syria and implement the ‘Responsibility to Protect (R2P)’ norm to save the Syrians’ lives, heritage, and arts from being destroyed, looted, and ruined. Sanctions, the report stresses, should also be expanded to include the Russian, Syrian, and Iranian regimes who have been directly involved in perpetrating crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people.
 
The report calls for the implementation of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ norm after all political initiatives have been to no avail. Therefore, action should be taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations and the norm of ‘Responsibility to Protect’, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly, should be implemented. The Security Council is still hindering the protection of civilians in Syria.
 
The report calls on the Russian regime to immediately compensate the families of the victims killed at the hands of Russian forces and all those whose houses, shops, and possessions were destroyed, and pledge to reconstruct the buildings and facilities that has been destroyed by the Russian machine of war, and shoulder the full economic and moral cost instead of asking European countries to do so.
 
The report also stresses that the rules of the international humanitarian law should be respected, and wide, impartial investigations should be launched into the atrocious violations perpetrated by Russian forces in Syria.
 
Further, the report calls for stopping using veto in order to shield the Syrian regime who is involved in perpetrating crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as using chemical weapons.
 
In addition, the report stresses that investigations should be launched into the support provided by the Russian forces in Syria for the Syrian regime in its chemical attacks, and that humanitarian aids for tens of thousands of IDPs should be raised, seeing that Russia’s forces, along with Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias, contributed to displacing and degrading them.
 
Finally, the report calls on international relief organizations to find the necessary means to deliver water, food, and shelter to thousands of displaced in the areas of northern and western suburbs of Idlib.
 

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3,098 Individuals Killed, including 531 Children, at the hands of the Syrian Regime in Massacres of a Sectarian Nature https://snhr.org/blog/2018/05/16/52204/ Wed, 16 May 2018 11:41:08 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=52204 Approximately a Year and a Half of Continued Investigations to Prove the Occurrence of the Sectarian Massacre of al Haswiya

Haswiya-massacre

SNHR said in a report released today that the Syrian regime has killed no less than 3,098 individuals, including 531 children, in massacre of a sectarian nature.
 
The report notes that talking about the existence of a coherent sectarian group with a hierarchy and allegiance is only possible to minimal extents, as the Syrian regime has been working on eroding all residential and tribal bases and communities in Syria for many years, where it has become significantly easier to recruit and employ the members of any sectarian group provided you have power and money. The report stresses that the Syrian regime has worked diligently on undermining any national vision that would serve as an umbrella for all sectarian groups under one unified state. Since the very first days of the popular uprising, the Syrian regime has worked on evoking and sustaining sectarian grudges in order to use them to further divide the Syrian people.
The report says that the first two years of the popular uprising saw the greatest portion of sectarian-cleansing massacres, which lasted until June 2013. The Syrian regime did not only recruit and compose Alawite-originated militias, but also recalled Iranian militias to fuel a Sunni-Alawite-Shiite conflict that takes the attention away from the primary conflict between a popular uprising and a family tyranny that established for years a rule of oppression and terrorism.
 
The report records that Syrian regime forces committed no less than 50 massacres of a sectarian nature from March 2011 to February 15, 2018. 3,098 individuals were killed in this report, divided into 3,028 civilians and 70 fighters from the armed opposition. Among the civilians were 531 children and 472 women (adult female).
According to the report, the most of these massacres took place in Homs governorate that saw 22 massacres, in which 1,040 individuals were killed, including 209 children and 200 women. Aleppo and Hama were second with eight massacres each, where 416 individuals, including 63 children and 34 women, were killed in Aleppo, while Hama’s massacres recorded the killing of 197 individuals, including 98 children and 75 women.
 
The report notes that investigations on al Haswiya massacre lasted for a year and a half, as accessing survivors or eyewitnesses proved to be an extraordinary challenge for SNHR team. The report draws upon ongoing monitoring for news and developments. The report contains six accounts from survivors and victims’ families.
 
The report says that Syrian regime forces, backed with local and foreign Shiite militias, raided al Haswiya village on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, between 07:00 and 07:30. These forces carried out wide search operations in conjunction with shooting indiscriminately and terrorizing and intimidating the residents. The attacking forces used live bullets, as well as cleavers and bayonets to kill residents, in addition to lootings properties, jewels, and cars. Additionally, they arrested most of the village’s males, where some of them were released later, while tens are still considered forcibly-disappeared.
 
The report has documented the killing of 108 civilians in al Haswiya village, including 25 children and 17 women (adult female). Among the victims were entire families from the houses of Ghaloul, al Sahou, and al Mahbani.
 
The report stresses that Syrian regime forces have violated many of the international humanitarian law rules, committing crimes that constitute war crimes – mainly through the crimes of extrajudicial killing, sexual violence, forced displacement, enforced-disappearance, collective punishment, and looting properties. All of these crimes were perpetrated in a systematic widespread manner. The crimes of extrajudicial killing, sexual violence, and torture are considered crimes against humanity according to Article 7 of Rome Statute.
 
The report notes that the customary international law states that that state is responsible for all the acts committed by the members of its security and military forces. Consequently, the state is responsible for the unlawful acts, including crimes against humanity, that have been perpetrated by the members of its military and security forces, adding that all Shiite militias are considered foreign parties that were actually involved in killings, and are responsible legally and judicially.
 
The report calls on the Security Council to take all possible steps in order to implement the resolution it adopted, most notably resolution 2139, and take action in order to put an end to the huge violations that are being practiced by the Syrian authorities and pro-regime Shiite militias.
The report also stresses that the Syrian case should be referred to the International Criminal Court and all those who were involved in crimes should be held accountable. Additionally, sanctions should be expanded to include the Syrian, Iranian, and Russian regimes who were directly involved in committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people.
Furthermore, the report calls on the Security Council to list the militias who are fighting on the side of the Syrian government and had perpetrated wide massacres, such as Iranian militias, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, other Shiite brigades, National Defense Army, and Shabiha on the list of terrorist groups.
 
Also, the report says that after committing crimes against humanity, the Syrian government shouldn’t be considered an “official party” anymore with respect to aid efforts. The Syrian government shouldn’t be the receiver of most of the financial and other forms of humanitarian aids, as those aids are being delivered to the supports of the Syrian government instead of those who are truly in-need.
 
Moreover, the report calls for action on the national and regional levels to form alliances in order to support the Syrian people. The report also calls for the implementation of the “Responsibility to Protect (R2P)” norm after all political channels through the Arab League agreement and then Mr. Kofi Annan’s plan have been consumed, as well as the Cessation of Hostilities and Astana agreements that followed. After all of this, action should be taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.
Lastly, the report calls on the Commission of Inquiry (COI), and the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to launch investigations into al Haswiya massacres and other massacres documented by SNHR.
 

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Additional Evidences and Investigations Prove that the Syrian Regime was Probably Implicated in Attacking Douma City Using Chemical Weapons https://snhr.org/blog/2018/05/11/52183/ Fri, 11 May 2018 11:56:52 +0000 https://snhr.org/?p=52183 Additional Evidences and Investigations Prove that the Syrian Regime

SNHR has released a report entitled: “Additional Evidences and Investigations Prove that the Syrian Regime was Probably Implicated in Attacking Douma City Using Chemical Weapons” which outlines the details of the two chemical attacks on Douma that took place on April 7, 2018.
 
The report notes that the Syrian regime has carried out no less than 216 chemical attacks in Syria. Only a few of those generated a major media fallout and international response. The report stresses that the Syrian regime has demonstrated its utter disregard for the international community and the Security Council repeatedly, as the Syrian regime carried out approximately 183 chemical attacks after Security Council Resolution 2118, 114 chemical attacks after Security Council Resolution 2209, and 58 attacks after Security Council Resolution 2235. According to the report, these attacks spanned the entirety of the Syrian lands, in both areas under the control of factions from the armed opposition as well as ISIS-held areas, and resulted in the killing of 1,461 individuals, divided into 1,397 civilians, including 185 children and 252 women (adult female), 57 armed opposition fighters, and seven captives from Syrian regime forces who were being held at an opposition prison. In addition, no less than 7,469 individuals were injured in these attacks.
 
The report notes that the two attacks on Douma city took place on April 7, 2018, merely 72 hours after a meeting was held by the Security Council to discuss the matter of the chemical stockpiles and assess the implementation of Resolution 2118. The attack also came on the first anniversary of the American military strike on al Shayrat Airbase, which was the military airbase from which the Syrian regime forces warplanes that carried out Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack of April 2017 took off. This was, the report says, a new statement of defiance by the Syrian regime to the international community and the Security Council.
 
Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, says:
“The American strike that followed Khan Sheikhoun attack last year hasn’t successfully deterred the Syrian regime from suffocating its people to death with poison gases, as we have documented 13 chemical attacks after Khan Sheikhoun attack. As we have seen another American-French-British strike that allegedly targeted Al Assad’s chemical resources, the question remains, how many attacks we are going to document after this strike?”
 
The report draws upon accounts from survivors, eyewitnesses, paramedics, and central signal operators, as the report contains six accounts that were collected by speaking directly to the eyewitnesses, and are not cited from open sources. According to the report, some pictures showed remnants of yellow cylinders believed to having been loaded with a poison gas, while other pictures and videos show tens of dead bodies of women and children piled on top of each other, as the color of their faces turned into blue, their mouths covered in foam, and their eyes startled.
 
The report provides a background for the two attacks on Douma, shining a light on the offensives, starvation, and siege that the city of Douma had to endure. The report also highlights what preceded the attack and the simultaneous Russian-Syrian attacks that deliberately targeted medical facilities and medical teams.
 
The report outlines two chemical attacks carried out by the Syrian regime in northern Douma city on Saturday, April 7, 2018. The report suspects that government helicopters were responsible for the attacks which were carried out using poison gases-loaded barrel bombs. The report estimates the distance between the sites of the two attacks to be 300 meters, as 15 individuals, who suffered from suffocation symptoms, were injured in the first attack, while the second attack resulted in the killing of 41 civilians, who suffocated to death, including 12 children and 15 women (adult female). In addition, about 550 individuals were injured.
 
The report also sheds light on the contradicting Russian statements which reflect the crisis Russia is having as it tries to justify why its ally the Syrian regime has carried out this catastrophic attack. According to the report, this manifested in the contradicting Russian statements between denying the attack and asserting that all the evidences collected, including pictures and videos, are mere fabrications, and acknowledging the attack but accusing factions from the armed opposition of being responsible for it on other occasions.
 
The report also highlights the Russian and Syrian forces’ attempts to hinder and distort the investigation process, as Russian forces entered the attack site and tampered with its contents, before using its veto powers to prevent the formulation of an UN investigative mechanism that was charged with identifying the perpetrator of the attack. Additionally, the report stresses that Russia was eager to undermine and complicate the OPCW’s mission before it had even entered Douma by insisting on its demands to immediately evacuate the residents, before entering the city and holding, blackmailing, and threatening the doctors and nurses who treated the injured or saw the chemical strike and stayed in Douma.
 
The report stresses that the Syrian regime has, through the use of chemical weapons in Douma, violated the customary international humanitarian law, the CWC, and all relevant Security Council Resolutions – particularly 2118, 2209, and 2235. Also, the use of chemical weapons constitutes a war crime according to the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute.
Moreover, the report calls on the four permanent members at the Security Council to apply pressure on the Russian government in order to cease its support for the Syrian regime, who is using chemical weapons, and expose its implications in this regard.
 
In addition, the report calls on the COI and the IIIM to start investigating the two chemical attacks on Douma city, as well as the bombing incidents that preceded and the ones that followed and identify their perpetrators.
Further, the report calls on the EU and the US to bar Syria from chairing the UN disarmament forum on chemical weapons which is slated for late-May 2018 in light of the Syrian regime’s repeated use of chemical weapons.
 
The report emphasizes that states of the world should demonstrate a better unity against the Syrian regime, the main and primary user of chemical weapons in this century, and take serious, joint action to impose deterring, strict, real sanctions immediately. Also, the report calls on the states of the world to establish a humanitarian alliance that aims to protect civilians in Syria from chemical weapons and barrel bombs since Russia will keep hindering the Security Council and using veto countless times.
 
The report calls on the Russian government to stop using its veto powers in order to shield the Syrian regime who is implicated in perpetrating crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as using chemical weapons. In addition, the report says that the Russian government should launch an investigation into the support provided by Russian forces in Syria for the Syrian regime in the two attacks on Douma and the attacks before that, and stop hindering the referral of the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court.
 

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