Syria Watch

5188 Civilians Killed and 3631 Others Arrested since the Cessation of Hostilities Statement

A Detailed Account of Five months, the Syrian and Russian Regimes are Responsible for 71% of all Violations

The statistics in this report, which is published by SNHR, are based on the Network’s monthly reports. These reports draw upon a daily and cumulative documentation of daily incidents throughout the period of time between the commencement of the Cessation of Hostilities statement on 27 February 2016 and 27 July 2016 where the report records that 71% of all the violations in the five-month period since the commencement of the Cessation of Hostilities statement were perpetrated by the Russian and Syrian regimes.
The report notes that the Russian authorities announced that Russian forces would withdraw from Syria.

The withdrawal, however, was only words on paper as Russian forces are still bombing the various Syrian governorates using a wide range of weapons including internationally-prohibited weapons such as cluster munition. As it is well known, Russian forces are fighting side by side with the Syrian regime and, therefore, it is a main party in the conflict and have been involved in tens of war crimes. At the same time, the Russian regime was a party to the statement of Cessation of Hostilities and a party in the political process as well which is one of the most major paradoxes in the Syrian tragedy according to the report.
The report anticipates, based on the data it includes, that the American-Russian agreement to coordinate against Al Nussra Front, Al Qaeda branch in Syria, and ISIS will fail as well because the agreement repeats the same mistakes that were made in the Cessation of Hostilities statement. Russian forces will keep targeting civilians and armed opposition factions and claims that they were Al Nussra Front. Nonetheless, the terrorist sectarian militias that are loyal to the Syrian regime aren’t targeted amid an utter lack of any monitoring or accountability mechanisms.

Fadel Abdul Ghani, chairman of SNHR, adds:
“The Syrian people can’t picture that there is an ongoing political process and at the same times barrel bombs are being dropped over them in addition to the arrest, siege, and displacement. There has to be a complete ceasefire and only then the political process will have solid grounds. We hope that this happens before the beginning of the upcoming elections in the US. Otherwise, there will be long months of killing and displacement awaiting the lone Syrian people”
The report documents the killing of 5188 civilians including 1016 children and 694 women during the period of time covered in the report. Government forces killed 3055 civilians including 483 children and 359 women while Russian forces killed 417 civilians including 113 children and 63 women. Additionally, 552 civilians were killed by ISIS including 98 children and 78 women whereas Al Nussra Front killed 17 civilians including two children and one woman. Also, the number of victims killed at the hands of the international coalition forces is 305 civilians including 130 children and 53 women whereas Self-management forces killed 184 civilians including 17 children and eight women. Furthermore, 392 civilians including 102 children and 92 women were killed by the various armed opposition factions.

Moreover, the report records that 3631 individuals were arrested including 113 children and 135 women. Government forces arrested 2517 individuals including 83 children and 114 women while ISIS arrested 585 individuals including four children and five women. Also, Al Nussra Front arrested 97 individuals including one child whereas Self-management forces arrested 168 individuals including 19 children and 12 women. Also, 264 individuals including four women and six children were arrested by armed opposition factions.
According to the report, 152 massacres were perpetrated in the period of time covered in this report where government forces perpetrated 102 massacres, Russian forces perpetrated 19 massacres, ISIS perpetrated 12 massacres, the international coalition forces perpetrated seven massacres, and six massacres were perpetrated by armed opposition factions in addition to six massacre that were perpetrated by unidentified groups.
The report highlights the attacks against vital civil facilities which amounted to 440 incidents of attacks including 275 by government forces and 100 by Russian forces. Additionally, 25 attacks against vital civil facilities were carried out by armed opposition factions, 19 by ISIS, six by international coalition forces, and one by Self-management forces in addition to 14 incidents of attacks that were carried out by unidentified groups.

The report calls on the government of Russia and the USA to investigate the incidents included, to deal with violations seriously, and to map out the locations of Al Nussra Front and ISIS rather than targeting all areas and neighborhoods under the pretext of combating terrorism.
Furthermore, the report demands that double-standard policies must end as the terrorist groups that are fighting side by side with the Syrian regime, which are mostly of a Shiite and sectarian nature, must be fought in addition to the extremist Islamic groups.
The report emphasizes that the Russian government must immediately withdraw from Syria and not side with the Syrian regime.
Finally, the report calls on for the Syrian case to be referred to the International Criminal Court and for all involved to be held accountable, Also, peace and security must be instilled in Syria and the norm of “Responsibility to Protect” must be implemented in order to save the lives, history, and arts of the Syrian people from being destroyed, stolen, or ruined.

(The full report can be viewed here.)

Justice and Peace: A False Dichotomy

Although the Syria peace talks have stalled in recent months, closed-door discussions continue between the United States and Russia to resolve the current impasse. As these discussions go on, it has become increasingly clear that criminal justice is not a priority for either the UN Special Envoy or the international brokers. Even though amnesties have not been discussed publicly, there is a high likelihood that they will be included if a final deal is ever reached. In fact, as the Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) wrote last year, amnesties are a common component of peace agreements, taking many different forms, ranging from conditional amnesties (as in South Africa) to wholesale blanket amnesties (as in Lebanon). Broad, unconditional amnesties, however, have increasingly been rejected by both international and national courts, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has gone so far to assert that the prohibition on blanket amnesties for those most responsible for gross violations of human rights constitutes customary international law and must be adhered to by all states.

In reality, however, these court decisions and expert opinions have not seemed to have much influence on peace negotiations, particularly those in the Middle East. Former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his aides, for example, received blanket amnesties in a deal mediated by the Gulf Cooperation Council and supported by the international community. Similarly in Syria, it seems as though President Bashar al-Assad will receive some sort of amnesty based on how the negotiations have prioritized peace over justice to date. So what does international practice say about the peace vs. justice dichotomy and what can Syrians who seek justice for their grievances expect from a future peace agreement negotiated under the current framework?

Traditionally, justice has been seen as an impediment to peace, but there is a growing recognition that peace agreements that do not address grievances often lead to renewed conflict. Studies have shown that countries which utilize a combination of amnesties and prosecutions are more likely to have lasting peace than countries which only utilize one mechanism. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the foundation of the modern notion that justice for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide must not be sacrificed for any reason, and the Inter-American Court as well as national courts in Argentina and, most recently, El Salvador, have struck down amnesty laws that shielded those most responsible for war crimes from accountability.

In reality, there must be a balance of peace and justice. The question is how to leverage amnesties to get important concessions while still ensuring that those most responsible are tried. In prolonged and massive conflicts like Syria, it is quite difficult to hold all perpetrators accountable due to the scale of violations. According to Daniel Serwer, SJAC’s newest Board member and Director of the Conflict Management Program at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, “It is impossible to prosecute everyone in a situation as fraught and violent as Syria. It should be up to Syrians to decide whom they want to prosecute, based on the evidence available, the capacity of whatever judicial system is used and the nature administrative measures like vetting and lustration that are less taxing on the judiciary, which is bound to be weakened after a ferocious war.” The trick is to create the conditions for peace within the political agreement while also ensuring society and victims feel as though their grievances have been acknowledged and will be addressed.

Even if justice mechanisms are included in a final peace agreement, the timeline will likely disappoint most Syrians. According to Serwer, “Justice is always slower than people like. Only rough justice can be done quickly, but that can lead to revenge, autocracy, and renewal of conflict.” Examples from other post-conflict or post-authoritarian countries demonstrate that it can often take years, if not decades, for perpetrators to see the inside of a courtroom. Blanket amnesties can further delay the already lengthy justice process. It takes time for national courts in post-conflict countries to rebuild and gain sufficient capacity, legitimacy, and independence to review and overturn blanket amnesty laws. In Chile, the 1978 amnesty law passed by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet was in place for 20 years before the Supreme Court struck it down, opening the opportunity for prosecutions. Since then, 1,000 cases have been opened, and by 2014, 75 of Pinochet’s secret police were sentenced to prison time. Similar examples can be found in Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Uruguay, and Peru. Outside of Latin America, Uganda’s Supreme Court recently ruled on its 2000 amnesty law, which granted immunity to fighters and commanders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The court found that the law exempted grave international crimes, allowing LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo to be prosecuted for violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. While these instances represent a promising trend, their global impact has so far been limited and will likely not influence the outcome of the Syrian conflict.

Amnesties, specifically conditional amnesties, will never be completely dispensable, particularly in large-scale conflicts with numerous perpetrators. Stability requires a peace agreement that the parties to the conflict consent to sign and implement. In turn, transitional justice requires a measure of stability to be possible. Thus, transitional justice and peace are really two sides of the same coin. Transitional justice relies on peace, and long-term peace relies on the type of reconciliation that only a holistic transitional justice process can provide. For Syria, it will be important for the UN and international mediators to promote a balance of justice and amnesties within a final peace agreement. It will require sacrifices and tough choices, but ignoring justice completely, as in Yemen, is not a feasible option.

For more information or to provide feedback, please contact SJAC at info@syriaaccountability.org.

(This article was originally featured on the Syria Justice & Accountability Centre’s website and can be found here.)

SYRIA DEEPLY – Weekly Update – July 23, 2016

 

The Basics · The Government · ISIS · The Opposition · Global Players

 WEEKLY UPDATE

July 23, 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:

Northern Syria was the site of some of of the country’s most violent battlefields this week, and cities under siege saw an increase pro-government forces advances as civilians and opposition forces in the area came under heavy aerial bombardment.

The opposition-held eastern part of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, officially came under siege over the weekend. The only supply route into the eastern areas of the city, Castello Road, came under regime fire on July 7, but forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russian air power, seized the actual road over the weekend.

Food and fuel supplies are running critically low and besieged areas have not received any aid since the beginning of this month, according to the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The latest Syrian government advance on Aleppo and subsequent retaliation from several opposition forces over the last three months have killed at least 955 civilians, including 219 children, and injured some 6,000 others, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The situation is devastating and overwhelming. We hear that dozens of civilians are being killed every day and scores more injured from shells, mortars and rockets. The bombing is constant. The violence is threatening hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, homes and livelihoods,” Marianne Gassers, head of the delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a statement.

In northern Aleppo province, along the Turkish border, the U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces pushed forward in their ground offensive against ISIS militants in the city of Manbij. The SDF has been fighting to push ISIS out of Manbij since May but this week saw a notable advancement in the operation. On Tuesday, the SDF was able to seize an ISIS headquarters in the town that had been set up in a hospital. By the end of the week, the SDF issued a 48-hour ultimatum for ISIS fighters to clear the area “in order protect civilian lives and property.”

The U.S. came under fire for its aerial bombardments over Manbij this week. At least 56 civilians, including children, were killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike over Manbij on Tuesday. At least 167 civilians have been killed in coalition airstrikes in Manbij since the coalition began its operation against ISIS there in May, according to the Observatory.

Opposition forces south of Manbij, west of the capital Damascus have not had the same successes as those in Manbij. Forces loyal to Assad launched a major offensive this week on the rebel-held and government-besieged city of Darayya.

Last month Darayya received the first aid delivery it has seen in the last four years of siege, but opposition forces said the new government offensive began soon after the humanitarian drop, preventing any additional supplies from reaching the city. Since the start of July, some 700 barrel bombs reportedly hit Darayya.

The week ended with a United Nations call for several, local 48-hour cease-fires across Syria to facilitate humanitarian aid deliveries into besieged and hard-to-reach areas. As of Friday, none of Syria’s many warring factions had agreed to the truce.

Weekly Highlights:

Sowing Hope and Weeding Out Siege Profiteers
As sieges have spread across Syria, people in the besieged areas have discovered a secret weapon that’s difficult to detect and almost impossible to defeat: seeds. In many of Syria’s besieged areas, people are turning to urban gardening to make up for the lack of humanitarian aid and exorbitant cost of black-market food.

Seedlings in old food ration tins from the World Food Program. Amrha
Economics Trumps Politics in Syria’s Proxy War
Instead of driving a wedge between regional players, the Syrian conflict’s duration and intractability have forced proxy powers to prioritize cooperation over rivalry for their wider interests, according to Middle East analyst Sharif Nashashibi

From left, Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Feridun Sinirlioglu, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Arabia Adel al-Jubeir and Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov meet in in Vienna. Carlo Allegri/Associated Press

My Days in Damascus Entry 1: Contagious Fear
In her first diary entry for Syria Deeply, Farah, a young woman living in Syria’s capital city, discusses the daily struggles of trying to maintain a normal social and professional life in a country where residents are plagued by fear.

An oil lamp in Bab Sharqi, one of seven ancient gates in Damascus’ old city. Wisal Ahdab/ Wikimedia Commons

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 child holds up a picture of a Pokemon character that reads “I am from Syria… Save me!” Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office

Violations Documentation Center Ghouta Office Attacked

Damascus Ghouta, July 22nd, 2016
A Syrian government jet fighter attacked one of the Violations Documentation Center (VDC) in Syria offices in Damascus Ghouta with two missiles in the afternoon on Saturday, July 22, 2016. According to confirmed evidence, the attack occurred during an attack on civilian areas in Doma city in eastern Ghota. The attack led to considerable material damage and the destruction of the office.
VDC office director, Thaer Hijazi, mentioned that “Doma city and the rest of eastern Ghota cities are under a heavy attack for a week now, where the frequency was noticeably increased during the last week. Yesterday the main city market was attacked resulting in nine deaths, while today the attack started at noon and in the beginning focused on the city outer neighbourhoods but moved to the city centre later.
The total number of attacks today was twelve, resulting in 70 injuries and 4 deaths. In the afternoon, one of the VDC offices was attacked by two missiles launched from Syrian government jet fighters. The attacked building hosts other civil organization offices like the Local Development Office, The Hurras Network, an office for Rising for Freedom, and an office for the Syrian Non-Violence Movement. The attack did not result in any human casualties but considerable material damage and the destruction of the office.”
The VDC strongly condemns this bombing, and it considers it to be in line with the other systematic and continues hostile activities carried out by the Syrian government against the civilians in Ghota area. The VDC ensures the continuity of its independent legal work in documenting the violations against human rights and the International Humanitarian Law in the Ghota and the rest of Syria from all parties to ensure the fulfilment of its main objective of bringing about justice for the victims and hold perpetrators for the war crimes accountable.

8300 Civilians in Immense Danger in Daraya, Syria

Daraya, July 21st 2016
Five thousand women and children are in immense danger in the city of Daraya, they are part of the 8,300 civilians left in the city according to the Violations Documentation Centre (VDC). In January 26th 2016 the Syrian government armed forces managed to complete the siege on the city extending by this the systematic deprivation of food, medicine and resources, forced on the city since 2012. Evidence based on direct testimonies, Darya local council, and VDC’s documentation members on the ground, show that the Syrian government uses the siege as a mean to penalize civilians in the areas outside its control.

Daraya is 30 square Kilometre and in 2007 used to be the home for more than 250 thousand people, now 90% of all the buildings and infrastructure in the city has been completely ruined with little over 8000 civilians left in the city. After much pressure from the international community, in June this year, the UN finally managed to enter Daraya for the first time since 2012. With only 14 trucks, half full, containing 480 food parcels, fewer medicine and medical kits, and other materials. To people’s dismay, the Syrian jet-fighters, within less than ten hours, attacked the city with 23 barrel-bombs targeting the wheat fields (Video). This indicate the clear Syrian government direction to enforce the siege any not allowing any relief to enter the city. And regardless of the ceasefire in Syria that took effect on February 27 – as part of a negotiated deal, based on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254 in December 2015- between May 12th and May 25th, VDC with Darya local council was able to document 60 missiles, 508 mortar shell launched from the government armed forces on Daraya.

VDC condemns penalizing civilians by the Syrian government and “The use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare” which, in addition to the killing, now puts the lives of more than eight thousand at immense danger and inhuman condition. This is a clear human rights violation and the siege with its systematic deprivation amounts to war crimes.

VDC appeals to all humanitarian and relief organizations, world governments, and the United Nations to pressure the Syrian government in order to implement the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2139 and 2254 to ease the aid delivery to Syrians, insure the respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights, and provide safe passages for civilians in the city.

For further information, please contact VDC. A Hamzah
At email: a.hamzah@vdc-sy.info, Tel: +44 7985794393