Syria Watch

Syrian Network for Human Rights: We condemn the participation of the Iranian Regime in the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) meeting

We condemn the participation of the Iranian Regime in the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) meeting.

SNHR condemns the invitation of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran to participate in a meeting of International Syrian Support Group (ISSG), to be held on 17 May in Vienna City. SNHR stresses that the Islamic Republic of Iran and through the militias related to it, topped by “Iranian Revolutionary Guard” are involved in committing wide and various violations which are considered to be war crimes and against humanity in Syria.
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Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Underbelly of the War: Trade in Human Organs

WEEKLY UPDATE
May 14, 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 an overview of some of this week’s news highlights:

In Syria this week, a weeklong riot by 800 mostly political detainees in Hama’s central prison was put to an end on Monday after a deal, brokered by the Red Crescent, arranged for the release of more than 80 prisoners that were being held without charge.

A local cease-fire in Aleppo – brokered by Russia and the U.S. on May 4 with the aim of reviving a wider cessation of hostilities agreement that has broken down across much of western Syria – extended through much of the week, but was allowed to expire on Thursday.

And even though the localized cease-fire was in place in the city itself for much of the week, violence continued on the divided city’s outskirts. In the southern countryside, battles on Monday between Jaish al-Fatah, a coalition of Islamist factions including the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, and pro-government Iranian militia killed at least 13 Iranian troops and wounded another 21. It was Iran’s bloodiest day since Tehran began deploying troops to Syria in 2012 to support President Bashar al-Assad.

On Tuesday, ISIS militants cut off a key road connecting the government-controlled city of Homs with the ancient city of Palmyra to its east, a little more than a month after pro-government forces recaptured the world heritage site. ISIS militants also shot down a Syrian army helicopter, attacked troops watching over the nearby Mahr and Jazal gas fields, and took over two government checkpoints and an abandoned military barracks in the area.

Government forces in Damascus on Thursday turned away an aid convoy headed for the besieged suburb of Daraya, leaving some 4,000 civilians without much-needed vaccines and medical supplies. Not one delivery of food aid has made it into the besieged suburb since government forces surrounded it in 2012.

And on Friday, human-rights watchdog Amnesty International accused rebels fighting under the Fatah Halab (Conquest of Aleppo) coalition in Aleppo of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Shiekh Maqsoud, killing at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, between February and April 2016.

The Fatah Halab coalition includes two Islamist rebel factions – Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham – that Russia unsuccessfully tried to blacklist earlier in the week.

Hezbollah confirmed on Friday the death of its top military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, in a “major explosion” at the Damascus airport. While the cause of the explosion has not yet been confirmed, both Lebanese and Israeli media outlets quickly suggested the blast could have been caused by an Israeli airstrike. Badreddine is the third high-profile leader in the Lebanese Shiite militia to be assassinated in Syria in six months.

Stories of the Week:

Underbelly of the War: Trade in Human Organs

In Syria and its neighboring countries, an underground network of organ traders has sprung up, preying on the thousands affected by the five-year-long war and offering them desperately needed cash for nonessential organs.

Syrian children whose families fled their homes in a camp for internally displaced people in the village of Atmeh in December 2012. AP/Muhammed Muheisen

One Fighter’s Recruitment – and Escape – from ISIS

As ISIS swept over large swathes of the eastern province, former FSA fighter Abu Khadija pledged his allegiance, believing the extremists were his best bet to topple the Assad government. Now, after escaping, he wishes he could take it all back.

ISIS fighters parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq, on June 23, 2014. AP/File

In Rebel Areas, Journalists Complain of New Curbs

Reporting from Syria’s opposition-held areas is dangerous work, according to local journalists on the ground, who say they’ve been censored and intimidated by rebel factions across the country.

Men hold revolutionary Syrian flags during an anti-government protest in a town in northern Syria on Friday, March 2, 2012. AP/Rodrigo Abd

More Recent Stories to Look Out for at Syria Deeply:

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

Top image: A Syrian woman cooks at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on May 10, 2016. AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

Syrian Network for Human Rights: Hama Prison 2016 on the pace of Sidnaya Prison 2008

Fears threats the life of 762 detainees in the Hama Central Prison

Hama Prison 2016

I. Introduction and the Executive Summary:
Hama Central Prison have witnessed several protests by the inside prisoners since 2013. The Governmental Forces detain nearly 762 prisoners from different governorates, such as: Hama, Al Raqqa, and Damascus countryside. The prison is an official civilian detention center located in the eastern area of Hamah city. The detainees’ files are subjected to the court of “Combating Terrorism” in Damascus, in the first place, then the Military Court and the court of the military field.

This protest “stubbornness” is considered as the third one the detainees do in Hama Central prison, in protest against the unfair death sentences provisions issued against them by the anti-terrorism court and the court of the military field in one hand, and the governmental forces and the transfer of convicts to Sidnaya Military Prison on the other hand. We have published earlier a report entitled “The Anti-terrorism Court” issued verdicts against 56 detainees in Hama Central Prison, Amongst 15 death sentences). The Syrian authorities after the end of second protest punished all the prisoners who participated, through transferring them to prisons that are far from their areas such as Tartous Central Prison, because the conditions of detention are worse, and it is difficult for their families to visit the detainees. We mentioned in a previous report about the detainees’ strike (Political Prisoners in Tartous Central Prison on Hunger Strike For their. 13th day so far)

SNHR managed to contact a number of prisoners inside the prison; all the people we talked to them expressed their fear from the governmental forces breaking into the prison for punishment and retaliation; we will do mention in this report only two scenarios due to the similarity of the stories of the detainees.
We recorded the death of one detainee infected with cancer because of the refusal of the prison administration to let him receive treatment. That happened on 5 May 2016, which marks the fourth day of protest inside the prison.

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Young Film Directors Highlight the People of Zaatari

WEEKLY UPDATE
May 7, 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:

In Syria this week, world powers pushed a series of temporary local cease-fires into place amid renewed diplomatic efforts to revive the nationwide truce.A 48-hour cease-fire arranged by the U.S. and Russia went into effect early Wednesday morning in the divided city of Aleppo, after nearly two weeks of heavy government airstrikes and rebel shelling that killed at least 300 people – mostly civilians. And although the length and the start date of the truce was unclear, it seemed to have initially reduced levels of violence in the area.But late Thursday evening, a camp for internally displaced civilians in an area of northern Idlib controlled by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front was directly hit by at least two airstrikes, killing 28 civilians – including women and children – and wounding some 50 others.Fighting raged on Thursday and Friday in Aleppo’s southern countryside between pro-government forces and al-Qaida affiliated rebels, leaving more than 70 militants dead.After 24 hours of clashes, al-Nusra Front and allied Islamists fighting under the banner of Jaish al-Fatah (the Army of Conquest) seized the strategic village of Khan Touman, just six miles southwest of Aleppo city.Earlier in the week, temporary local truces were announced in Damascus and in the coastal province of Latakia, a “freeze” that quickly fell apart in areas around the capital after the deal was allowed to expire. Shortly after the freeze ended on Thursday morning, 22 government airstrikes hit the town of Deir al-Asafir in the besieged rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta.In other news, inmates in the government-run Hama prison – most of whom are political prisoners – have been rioting since Monday in protest of mistreatment, in demand of “basic rights,” and in opposition of a transfer of prisoners to the Sednaya prison just outside of Damascus, where organizations like Human Rights Watch have reported the practices of torture and political killings to be commonplace.The Hama prison is now completely surrounded by pro-government forces, leaving the inmates inside where they’ve allegedly taken several guards captive, including the head of the prison.The nearby Ajnad al-Sham rebel group, a Damascus-based alliance of several Islamist rebel groups, said it was ready to shell government militias in towns surrounding the prison in response to the mistreatment of inmates. Ajnad al-Sham said the inmates were demanding “basic rights,” including the right to trial.In a statement released on Monday night, the rebel group claimed the government had threatened to “storm the prison and execute all the prisoners without a trial.And in eastern Hama province, militants fighting with ISIS seized the region’s largest gas field on Thursday from government control, killing nearly 30 pro-government fighters and seizing heavy weaponry.Weekly Highlights:

Young Film Directors Highlight the People of Zaatari

Following refugee families and an aid worker fighting to keep the camp running, a new film produced by two young filmmakers and backed by Daily Show star Jon Stewart allows viewers to experience what it’s like to live in Zaatari in Jordan, the largest camp for Syrian refugees.

Zaatari refugee camp near the Syrian border in Jordan. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Obama ‘Complicit’ in Aleppo Civilian Deaths: Activists

Twitter users have condemned President Obama’s failure to safeguard civilians in Aleppo after the U.S. leader ruled out a plan to create “safe zones” in the divided city as government airstrikes and fighting with rebels rage on.

A Syrian woman holds a sign during a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut on May 1, 2016, against Syrian President Assad’s airstrikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Protests in Solidarity with Aleppo Spread Worldwide

On the strength of one Facebook post, Syrian activists have inspired global demonstrations to highlight the plight of civilians under attack from government shelling and airstrikes in Aleppo since mid-April.

A female demonstrator holds a red placard that reads “Save Aleppo” during a solidarity protest for civilians in Aleppo on April 30 in Beirut. (Syria Deeply/Zuhour Mahmoud)

More Recent Stories to Look Out for at Syria Deeply:

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

Top image: Refugees from Syria hold placards during a demonstration in the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on May 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Global Centre for the Responsibilty to Protect: Statement on Recent Airstrikes Targeting Displaced Civilians and Hospitals in Syria

6 May 2016

Statement on Recent Airstrikes Targeting Displaced Civilians and Hospitals in Syria

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect is appalled by the 5 May airstrike on a displacement camp in Sarmada, Idlib that killed at least 30 civilians. If proven to be deliberate, this attack not only demonstrates an unconscionable disregard for civilian lives, but is also a war crime. Bombing defenseless civilians represents an obscene violation of the most basic tenets of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.

Yesterday’s attack follows a 27 April targeted bombing of Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo by the Syrian government. The airstrike, which killed at least 50 people, was followed by the unanimous adoption on 3 May of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, condemning attacks on medical and humanitarian workers in situations of armed conflict.

The Al-Quds and Sarmada bombings – targeting hospitals and displacement camps for civilians who are fleeing the conflict – exhibit the unimaginable cruelty of Syria’s civil war. A formal cessation of hostilities, brokered by the United States and Russia, began on 27 February and helped decrease levels of violence across the country. These recent attacks and the government’s offensive against Aleppo represent a dangerous re-escalation of the conflict.

The Syrian government is currently besieging Aleppo, threatening humanitarian access to over 900,000 desperately vulnerable people. Médecins Sans Frontières claims that there have been at least 300 airstrikes on Aleppo since 21 April, including on the Al-Quds hospital. An armed rebel group also fired a rocket at the Al-Dabit hospital in Aleppo on 3 May, killing at least 19 staff and patients, including children.

Syrians have faced over five years of intolerable suffering in a civil war where all parties to the conflict have blatantly disregarded the laws of war and the sanctity of human life. The government, with direct military support from international allies, continues to cause the greatest number of civilian casualties and is manifestly failing to uphold its Responsibility to Protect.

Yesterday’s airstrike on the Sarmada displacement camp shows that UN Security Council resolutions are meaningless if not backed up by measures aimed at holding perpetrators accountable. The latest attacks in Sarmada and Aleppo must catalyze the world into action. All diplomatic efforts must now be made to save the cessation of hostilities, ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, and restart the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva before it is too late. They must also ensure that those responsible for Al-Quds, Sarmada and other attacks on civilians face justice. International law and our common humanity demand nothing less.