Islamic State Retreats from Manbij with Human Shields

by Zachary Lucas
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — After retaking the city of Manbij, rebel forces accused Islamic State (IS) forces of covering their retreat with a caravan of vehicles filled with civilians. Rebel forces stated they didn’t fire at IS due to the presence of civilians.

IS Caravan out of Manbij Reported to Contain Civilian Hostages (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a United States backed rebel group in Syria, reported that IS forces covered their retreat with approximately 2,000 civilians. SDF, which is an alliance of Kurdish and Arabic fighters, stated they had regained control of most of Manbij, a city in the Aleppo governorate. An SDF spokesperson said that after IS forces had been defeated they abducted approximately 2,000 civilians from the town and took them in vehicles out of the city to Jarabulus.

The SDF claims that the civilians were taken with IS to prevent the SDF from firing at IS vehicles as they retreated. The SDF stated they treated everyone in the vehicles as non-combatants and didn’t fire out of fear of hitting civilians. US led airstrikes also didn’t target the vehicles after receiving information that civilians were in them according to Baghdad-based US-led coalition spokesman Col Chris Garver. Following the incident, most of the hostages were freed and returned to the city.

The ouster of IS forces in Manbij comes after a ten-week offensive waged by the SDF with help from US led airstrikes against IS. Manbij had been in IS control since 2014. Following the liberation of Manbij, citizens celebrated in the streets. Citizens celebrated by doing things that weren’t allowed under IS authority such as cutting off beards and smoking. According to the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights, the ten-week battle for Manbij claimed the lives of over 400 civilians and 1,200 SDF and IS fighters.

The use of human shields is illegal under international law under the Geneva Convention and its Protocols along with the Rome Statute. IS has been accused of using human shields in previous incidents. After IS forces were pushed out of Fallujah in later June, on ground forces claimed that IS took civilians with them to protect their retreat. There was confusion concerning this situation which led to the IS convoy being fired upon. In May and June of this year, IS forces attempted to slow down Iraqi forces in Fallujah by positioning themselves near civilians trapped in the crossfire.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Syria war: ISIL flees Manbij with ‘human shields’ — 13 August 2016

BBC — Photos show IS militants fleeing Manbij with ‘human shields’ — 19 August 2016

CNN — Jubilation in Syria’s Manbij as ISIS loses control of key city — 14 August 2016

Guardian — Isis appears to use civilians as human shields to flee Syrian town — 19 August 2016

Thousands March Against Femicide in Peru

By Cintia Garcia

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, PERU—An unprecedented number of protestors, more than 50,000, marched on August 13th denouncing violence against women. Protestors in Lima marched to the palace of justice while eight other cities across Peru simultaneously held protests. The march was an outcry against lenient sentences given by the court in two high profiled cases of male perpetrators.

Over 50,000 Protestors in Lima. (Photo Courtesy of Telesur)

Those among the protestors included the newly elected president, Pedro Pablo Kucynski and his wife. He announced his plan of combating femicide: “to ask for facilities for women to denounce violence because abuse flourishes in an environment where complaints cannot be made and the blows absorbed in silence and this not how It should be.” Also present was Victor Ticona, the president of Peru’s judicial system, he stated, “Today, the 13th of August, is a historic day for this country because it represents a breaking point and the start of a new culture to eradicate the marginalization that women have been suffering, especially with violence.” He also announced that a commission of judges would receive the protestors and listen to their demands. Protestors chanted “by touching one, they are touching all of us” and “no more violence nor impunity.”

Peru has experienced a rise in gender violence. According to the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable people, fifty-four women were killed by their partners and another 118 women were victims of femicide attempts. An estimated seven out of ten Peruvian women have been victims of violence. A study conducted by the defender’s office stated that in eighty-one percent of the cases of attempted femicide no measures were taken to protect survivors. Because the state neglected to protect survivors, twenty-four percent of those women were murdered by their male perpetrators. Ana Maria Romero, Peru’s minister of women stated, “our problem is not a lack of legislation, it is how we apply the law. Those in charge of justice need more sensitivity and a better understanding of the rights of the women.”

These protests follow those that have occurred earlier this year in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico—all under the slogan “Ni Una Mas” coined by the slain poet and activist Susana Chavez.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian—Women in Peru Protest Against Rising Tide of Murder and Sexual Crime—13 August 2016

Telesur—Tens of Thousands March Against femicide in Peru—13 August 2016

Fox News Latino–#Not One Less: Tens of Thousands March in Peru Protesting Violence Against Women—14 August 2016

The Guardian—50,000 March in Peru Against Gender Violence—14 August 2016

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Unprecedented Moves In War-Torn Syria

WEEKLY UPDATE
August 20, 2016
Dear Readers,Welcome to the weekly Syria Deeply newsletter. We’ve rounded up the most important stories and developments about Syria and the Syrians in order to bring you valuable news and analysis. But first, here is a brief overview of what happened this week:The week saw several firsts in the now five-year-long Syrian conflict, which, as unbelievable as it may seem, have further complicated the war and worsened the situation on the ground.For the first time since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Syrian government warplanes bombed Kurdish-controlled areas in the northern Hasaka province. At least 13 people were killed in airstrikes on positions in northeast and northwest Hasaka.The Syrian government’s allies also made unprecedented moves this week. On Tuesday, Russia used an Iranian air base for the first time to strike targets in Syria, while a top Chinese official visited Damascus and announced that it was open to intensifying its military partnerships in Syria with both Russia and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.As shifts took place on the diplomatic front, clashes on the ground continued. Fighting has been steadily increasing in the opposition-held province of Idlib as the battle for Aleppo, just 56 kilometers (35 miles) away, intensifies. Several opposition factions originating from Idlib launched an offensive on government forces last week to break a government siege on eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo, and forces allied with the Syrian government have been retaliating.According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, dozens of airstrikes have hit Idlib since last weekend: Airstrikes on Wednesday killed at least 25 people, at least five children died from aerial bombardments on Tuesday, and on Friday at least six people, including at least one child, were killed in airstrikes in the southern Idlib neighborhood of Khan Shekhon. On Monday, a suicide bombing targeted a bus carrying opposition fighters, killing 25 people and injuring at least 25 others.Meanwhile in Aleppo, opposition forces attacked an army base and residential district in the northwestern part of Aleppo city after detonating car bombs in the area. Rebel groups then attacked government positions in the southwest of the city, in a cement factory near a route that opens up into eastern Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The Battle for Aleppo is ongoing, with some 2 million people inside the divided city at risk of siege and living under intense airstrikes and shelling.

Weekly Highlights:

Educational Reform for Syrians Must Not Ignore the Country’s Children

Humanitarian solutions to the education crisis facing Syrian children are largely ignoring those most in need, argues Middle East writer and researcher James Denselow. Children inside Syria are being overlooked.
Syrian refugee children sit on the ground as they listen to their teacher inside a tent, the home of a refugee family that has been turned into a makeshift school, at a Syrian refugee camp in the eastern town of Kab Elias, Lebanon. AP/Bilal Hussein, File

My Days in Damascus Entry 4: Getting Permission

Farah, a young woman living in Syria’s capital city, writes about the obstacles and discrimination she faced as a young, single woman trying to rent a studio apartment in Damascus.
A stray cat in an alleyway in the center of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Farah

Diabetes Patients Battle for Insulin in Syria

In the second installment of our series on chronic illnesses in Syria, we explore the diabetes crisis across the war-torn country and the constant struggle to obtain the insulin needed to treat the disease.
Rada Hallabi, 4, who is sick with diabetes, lies on a blanket in a refugee camp on the border with Turkey, near Azaz village, Syria, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. AP/ Manu Brabo

Additional Reading:

For new reporting and analysis every weekday, visit www.newsdeeply.com/syria.
You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: A screenshot from a video shows five-year-old  Omran Daqneesh, who was pulled from the rubble of a bombed building, bloodied and in shock, after an airstrike in Aleppo. Aleppo Media Center

Syria Justice and Accountability Centre: The SJAC Weekly Update: Monitoring is Needed for All Detention Facilities in Syria
Inside Saydnaya: Syria’s Torture Prison, Video of Amnesty International

Monitoring is Needed for All Detention Facilities in Syria
Prisons are by their very nature isolated and concealed spaces where abuses can go unnoticed, and in countries with ongoing conflict, prisons are often rife with human rights violations. Already, a former photographer with the Syrian military police showed the world evidence of widespread torture through what is now known as the Caesar files. And over the past several months, prisoners throughout Syria have rioted against the government’s practice of summary executions, whereby military field courts, authorized to try both civilians and military personnel, sentence detainees to execution without due process. In Hama and Aleppo, prisoners rioted when death sentences issued by a field court were scheduled to be carried out against fellow inmates. Most recently, on August 3, prisoners in the Sweida civil detention facility rioted due to  mistreatment and the transfer of four detainees to the security branch in Damascus for execution. Although no monitors have been allowed access to any of these detention facilities, Amnesty International created a an interactive 3D model of the Sednaya prison to give outsiders a better understanding of the conditions inside Syrian prisons.

The Geneva Conventions prohibit the inhuman treatment of persons not actively taking part in hostilities, including combatants held in detention. Specifically, the Conventions prohibit murder, cruel or humiliating treatment, torture,and “the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording . . . judicial guarantees.” Syria signed and ratified the Geneva Conventions in 1953, and in 1976, Syria ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states that “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect.” Based on the many reports of abuse and summary executions, the Syrian government is in clear violation of these treaties. The Optional Protocol of the UN Convention against Torture mandates periodic visits of international monitors to detention facilities. Although Syria ratified the Convention (with a reservation on Article 20 that recommends visits to detention centers by the UN Body), it never signed or ratified the Optional Protocol so observers are not mandated by any UN treaty body. However, the UN could pressure the parties to the conflict to accept prison visits as a part of its role as mediator in the ongoing negotiations.
READ MORE

Syrian Network for Human Rights: Russian Forces Surpasses ISIS in Killing Syrian Civilians
State’s Terrorism is more Atrocious than the Terrorism of Extremist Groups
The Russian regime is claiming that Russia intervened in Syria to protect the Syrian people from the terrors of the extreme group ISIS. From our perspective, the Syrian people welcomes anyone who would help get rid of extremist groups with open arms. That, however, should be through practical and actual means and not merely a pretext to justify and mitigate a military interference as we haven’t ever touched on any serious methods to protect the Syrian people from extremist groups whether by Russian forces or by the international coalition forces. All what have been done is a military action that lacks a popular approval firstly, and secondly this military action has failed to protect the Syrian civilians from the savagery of the Syrian regime which is the primary base and justification for the existence of such extremist groups.
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