Syria Deeply: The many battles against ISIS: Lebanese-Syrian border, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa

 

 

Aug. 25th, 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to our weekly summary of Syria Deeply’s top coverage of crisis in Syria.

Lebanon-Syria border: The Syrian army and Lebanese Hezbollah launched a joint operation against the so-called Islamic State on the Syrian-Lebanese frontier this week with the aim of expelling the militant group from its last border stronghold.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Thursday that the Syrian army and its Lebanese allies had captured more than 270 square kilometers [100 square miles] from ISIS on the Syrian side of the border since launching the operation on Saturday. He added that 40 square kilometers remained under militant control.

The Lebanese army launched a simultaneous but separate operation against ISIS on the Lebanese side of the border, and has captured more than two-thirds of the militants’ local territory. The extremist group now holds only a patch of territory on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, an area gradually falling under the army’s control.

ISIS is reportedly seeking an evacuation agreement that would grant fighters safe passage from the Lebanese border to militant-held areas in eastern Syria but the Lebanese army has ruled that out.

Deir Ezzor: Russian warplanes have carried out an intensified aerial campaign on Islamic State positions in eastern Syria this month with the aim of helping the Syrian government drive the jihadi group from one of its other last strongholds.

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi said this week that Russian fighter jets had flown more than 900 missions, killed 800 ISIS militants and destroyed 40 armored vehicles this month alone, the Associated Press reported.

He added that Russian jets were now making 60 to 70 flights a day targeting ISIS militants coming from other areas to join the upcoming battle in Deir Ezzor.

Last week, a Russian airstrike targeted an ISIS convoy in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor, killing at least 70 militants and destroying several armored vehicles, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, Syrian troops and allied fighters are pushing toward the militant bastion from two directions. Pro-government forces advancing south from Raqqa city joined up with their counterparts advancing from the east on Thursday, effectively surrounding ISIS in a large enclave in the Homs desert, according to Reuters.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are also gearing up for the battle against ISIS in Deir Ezzor. The head of the Deir Ezzor military council, which fights under the SDF, told Reuters on Friday that his forces would launch an attack on ISIS in eastern Syria within several weeks in conjunction with the battle for Raqqa city.

Raqqa: ISIS regained control this week of territory previously lost to pro-government fighters in the eastern countryside of Raqqa province.

In a counter-attack on Thursday, ISIS retook areas along the southern banks of the Euphrates river and positions near Raqqa’s provincial border with Deir Ezzor, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least 34 Syrian troops and allied fighters were killed in the offensive.

Meanwhile, U.S. coalition warplanes continued to carry out intense air strikes on the city. At least 42 civilians, including 12 women and 19 children, were killed in an attack on Monday, according to the AP.

Amnesty International said on Wednesday that airstrikes and artillery attacks launched by the U.S.-led coalition on the city of Raqqa had killed hundreds of civilians over the past three months.

It also accused the Syrian government and Russia of carrying out “indiscriminate air bombardments against towns, villages and displaced people’s shelters full of civilians” south of Raqqa, on the southern bank of the Euphrates River.

“Civilians are thus trapped in the city, under fire from all sides, as the fighting intensifies,” the report said.

The following day, the United Nations called for a humanitarian pause in airstrikes to allow an estimated 20,000 trapped civilians a chance to escape the embattled city.

 

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International Center for Transitional Justice: World Report August 2017 – Transitional Justice News and Analysis

ICTJ World Report

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August 2017

In Focus

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“This Is Us”: White Supremacy in the United StatesIn the wake of Charlottesville, some took to Twitter to distance the United States from the white supremacist march using #ThisIsNotUs. But this is us, writes Virginie Ladisch, and white Americans have an obligation to educate themselves about the history and persistence of white supremacy in their country.

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AfricaMillions of citizens voted in the presidentital election in Kenya amidst fears of a recurrence of voter-fraud and widespread violence that marked past elections.  Opposition leader Raila Odinga claimed “massive” fraud following the reelection of Uhuru Kenyatta, leading to protests. At least five died in the aftermath. Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court ordered to review the case of Laurent Gbagbo, the former president of Cote d’Ivoire who is being charged for crimes against humanity, to determine whether or not he should be released from detention while still on trial. A notorious warlord wanted for crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, surrendered to UN peacekeepers and was transferred to stand trial for his allegations. Prosecutors at the ICC have endorsed 121 witnesses, including some forced wives, in the trial of Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier turned rebel commander accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in northern Uganda. An estimated 80,000 apartheid victims still have not benefited from the special reparations fund issued by the Department of Justice in South Africa through the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, and reported struggling financially with the minimal compensation awarded to them. The Minister of Federal Government in Sudan renewed its efforts to involve armed movements in national peace processes, and to reintegrate demobilized fighters into all states. The proposed genocide apology from Germany for colonial-era massacres committed in Namibia from 1904 to 1908 has been delayed, further impeding upon redress for the approximately 75,000 victims killed by German authorities. The United Nations announced that it was investigating mass graves found in a town in Mali, where various human rights abuses were also discovered by the UN mission in the country over competition for land control.

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Americas

Colombia’s transitional justice system received case files on 12,000 alleged military criminals and is in the process of verifying which cases qualify as war crimes. The country will institute a transitional justice tribunal and truth commission in the coming months following the selection of judges. The UN also removed more than 7,000 weapons from demobilization zones where former FARC guerillas handed their arms over under the peace deal. Governments in the Caribbean strengthened pressure on Europe to pay reparations for human rights violations committed during the transatlantic slave trade, and included Norway and Sweden in their list of countries to be held accountable. Nurses of the Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women’s Health in Canada are working to seek justice for the hundreds of Indigenous women victims who were forcibly sterilized in Canadian hospitals in the 1970s, and to raise awareness about health care discrimination against Indigenous women specifically. Ottawa also announced its first Indigenous court, which is meant to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s criminal justice system. In Argentina, four former federal judges in Argentina were sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s last dictatorship

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AsiaThe International Commission of Jurists urged reform in Nepal’s transitional justice measures in a discussion paper focused on the inclusion of victims and human rights organizations. Likewise, the budget for rehabilitation allotted for more than seven hundred kamaiya families in the country reportedly failed to utilize 120 million of its rupees or reach just land compensation, but government officials are working on special programs to settle the freed communities. An International Crisis Group report revealed that Tamil speaking women in Sri Lanka are still seeking truth and justice for wartime human rights violations, and that little has been accomplished to reach reconciliation among communities. Aung San Suu Kyi encouraged national dialogue and the inclusion of the military in Myanmar’s move to civilian rule at the Forum on Myanmar Democratic Transition. Meanwhile in the country, women continue to struggle to have their voices heard in peace processes, and are building a rights movement to access full participation.

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EuropeA court in Kosovo ruled to detain Agim Sahitaj for committing war crimes against Kosovo Albanian civilians in 1999. The proposed Albanian language law in Macedonia that came from the country’s 2001 Ohrid peace accord and would extend the use of Albanian throughout the region, is set to appear before parliament for adoption soon. The initial releases of the approximately 6,000 men and women held in the Omarska detention camp in Bosnia in 1992 was commemorated on the sixth of August, and victims and other civilians honored those who died under the command of the Bosnian Serb forces. Poland demanded compensation from Germany for World War II damages, claiming that the country has failed to take full political, moral, and financial responsibility.

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MenaFollowing protests, Tunisia‘s parliament delayed voting on a bill that calls for amnesty for former public officials accused of corruption during the rule of president Ben Ali. President Michel Aoun of Lebanon visited the historic region of Chouf to celebrate the 16th anniversary of reconciliation between Christian and Druze communities in Mount Lebanon that facilitated co-existence following the country’s Civil War. German prosecutors arrested a 29-year-old man from Syria for alleged war crimes that he committed with the Islamic State after he joined in 2014.

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Publications

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Not Without Dignity: Views of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon on Displacement, Conditions of Return, and CoexistenceDiscussions about a future return of refugees and coexistence among groups currently at war in Syria must begin now, even in the face of ongoing violence and displacement.

Lessons in Truth-Seeking: International Experiences Informing United States InitiativesThis report disscusses the Greensboro Truth and Reonciliation Commission’s Final Report on the 1979 killings of five anti-Ku Klux Klan demonstrators. It focuses on a meeting of representatives from truth recovery efforts around the world to assess the Greensboro experience.

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Syria Justice and Accountability Centre: Assad’s Son, Math Competitions, and Solving the Syrian Nepotism Equation

SJAC Update | August 22, 2017
One of many tweets by journalists and commentators about Hafez Al-Assad’s ranking at the Math Olympiad in Brazil. | Credit: @AASchapiro

Assad’s Son, Math Competitions, and Solving the Syrian Nepotism Equation

On July 17, Hafez Al-Assad, the son of Bashar Al-Assad, participated in the International Math Olympiad competition in Brazil as a member of the Syrian national team. Hafez scored last on the team and received one of the lowest rankings in the entire Olympiad competition. Syrian commentators were quick to ridicule his scores, but their commentary overlooked how Hafez gained admission on the team in the first place. There are no available details about the qualifying process, but one simple answer is that, as the son of the President, Hafez had priority to enter the prestigious competition – a practice of nepotism so common in Syria that many overlooked it. Syria has a long history of nepotism within its government and economic institutions. As a form of institutionalized corruption, nepotism must be addressed during Syria’s transition to ensure that government is ethical, impartial, and representative of all Syrians.

Nepotism is the use of power to provide jobs or other opportunities to unqualified or undeserving family or friends – a form of corruption because officials use public office for private gain. While there is no international standard for combatting nepotism, there are some international instruments that provide guidelines and principles. For example, Article 25(c) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that citizens have “the right and the opportunity” to access public service roles “on general terms of equality.” Moreover, Articles 7 through 9 of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) encourages countries to create systems to prevent conflicts of interest, institute codes of conduct for public officials, and establish objective criteria for issuing government contracts.

Countries have adopted these principles into their national frameworks in various ways. Some countries include anti-nepotism and conflict of interest provisions in their constitutions. Such is the case in Article 26 of Colombia’s constitution. Other countries maintain ethical standards or codes of conduct to establish clear guidelines for public officials. While codes are important to set standards, the difficulty is often in upholding those standards in practice. For example, Jordan adopted a code of conduct for public sector employees that was a positive step towards implementing UNCAC, but the Jordanian government has struggled to fully operationalize it among all bureaucratic agencies.

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The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is a Syrian-led and multilaterally supported nonprofit that envisions a Syria where people live in a state defined by justice, respect for human rights, and rule of law. SJAC collects, analyzes, and preserves human rights law violations by all parties in the conflict — creating a central repository to strengthen accountability and support transitional justice and peace-building efforts. SJAC also conducts research to better understand Syrian opinions and perspectives, provides expertise and resources, conducts awareness-raising activities, and contributes to the development of locally appropriate transitional justice and accountability mechanisms. Contact us at info@syriaaccountability.org.

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Maldives Tries to Resume Execution in 60 Years

By: Brian Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia 

MALE, Maldives – The Maldives is planning to carry out its first execution since the mid-1950s. The last execution in the country was carried out during the British colonial rule which ended five decades ago.

Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom is photographed with his wife, Fathimath Ibrahim. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Chronicles.

As the Maldives government plans to carry out its first execution in 60 years, many human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development have expressed concerns about the recent decision. These organizations have sent a letter to President Abdulla Yameen about human rights violations. According to these organizations, three prisoners who are on death row did not receive fair trials.

Currently, Hussain Humaan Ahmed, Ahmed Murrath, and Mohammed Nabeel are believed to be at risk of execution. All three were convicted of murder since 2009.

In 2014, Mr. Yameen’s administration reintroduced the death penalty. After the military coup removed then president Mohamed Nasheed, Mr. Yameen’s government worked towards restoring the death penalty in the Maldives.

The South Asia director for Amnesty International, Biraj Patnaik, stated that the talks of executions were a “feeble attempt to look tough and distract attention” from the current political climate against the president.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has been working to stop the Maldivian government from conducting planned executions. In their recent letters, the committee stated that “should your government go ahead with the executions, it would violate Maldives’ obligations under international law, including to protect the three men’s right to life.”

For more information, please see: 

Financial Times – Maldives set to restore death penalty as political crisis deepens – 7 August, 2017

San Francisco Chronicle – Rights groups alarmed over planned executions in Maldives – 10 August, 2017

ABC – Rights groups alarmed over planned executions in Maldives – 10 August, 2017

NGOs suspend refugee rescue operations off Libyan coast

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

A Libyan Coast Guardsman looks over a boat of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Image courtesy of Getty Images.

ROME, Italy – Nongovernmental aid group Doctors Without Borders has suspended work in Libya due to threats by the Libyan Coast Guard.

The Italian Coast Guard’s rescue coordination center told Doctors Without Borders on August 11th about the alleged threats by Libya, saying that the threat poses a “security risk”.

After the notice, Doctors Without Borders decided to temporarily discontinue use of its largest rescue boat in Libyan waters because of an “increasingly hostile environment for lifesaving rescue operations.”

Many migrants are smuggled from Libya by human traffickers in small, dangerous dinghies. The Italian Coast Guard has worked with its Libyan counterpart over the problem. In July, Italy sent naval ships to Libya to help curb human smuggling across the Mediterranean.

The Italian government has been searching for solutions to the crisis for some time. One of these solutions has been by imposing strict rules on nongovernmental aid groups. The government has urged groups like Doctors Without Borders to agree to allow Italian judicial authorities to board their ships.

Another rule involves forbidding nongovernmental aid groups from entering Libyan waters without explicit authorization by the government.

Any group that does not abide by the rules may not be permitted to dock in Italian ports.

To an extent, it appears that the rules may have curbed a small part of the crisis. In July, the amount of Libyan migrants arriving in Italy was reduced to half of what it was prior. About 11,459 migrants from Libya arrived on Italy’s shores in July 2017. In July 2016, that number was at 23,522.

Doctors Without Borders has refused to sign on to Italy’s rules on rescuing off the Libyan coast.

But it is not the only group that has heeded governmental warning over Libyan threats.

After the announcement by Doctors Without Borders, a German nongovernmental aid group, Sea Eye, also decided to suspend rescue operations in Libyan waters.

“A continuation of our rescue work is not currently possible,” founder of Sea Eye, Michael Buschheuer, said in a statement. “It would be irresponsible towards our crews.”

Doctors Without Borders will continue to have medical personnel present on other ships. But their largest rescue vessel, the Prudence, will be out of commission.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Rescue ship suspends work after ‘threats by Libyan coastguard’ – 13 August 2017

Al-Jazeera – German NGO halts refugee rescue operations off Libya – 13 August 2017

The New York Times – Doctors Without Borders Suspends Migrant Rescue Patrols Off Libyan Coast – 12 August 2017

Reuters – MSF suspends Mediterranean rescues as migrant dispute mounts – 12 August 2017

L.A. Times – Doctors Without Borders suspends rescue ships off Libya over security concerns – 12 August 2017

The Guardian – Number of migrants arriving in Italy from Libya falls in half by July – 11 August 2017