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Syria Watch
Syrian Network for Human Rights: The Syrian Regime Has Dropped Nearly 70,000 Barrel Bombs on Syria
The Ruthless Bombing
SNHR has released a report entitled: “The Ruthless Bombing” which documents that Syrian regime forces has dropped nearly 70,000 barrel bombs since July 2012.
The report says that the use of barrel bombs by the Syrian regime army manifest one of the most appalling ways in which the international community has blatantly let down the Syrian people as these barrel bombs have been forgotten almost completely in the last year with no condemnations to be heard about the repeated use of this barbarian type of weapons. Additionally, the report questions the possibility of accepting a regime that drops barbarian barrels on its own country without agreeing to any form of political settlements, except for one that rehabilitees it and only leads to giving some ceremonial ministries to its opponents.
Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, says:
“The repeated use of this arbitrary, indiscriminate weapon against residential communities is a message to the Syrian people that protecting civilians and the international law are mere illusions, and that you have to submit and accept the regime that is killing you. Security Council has to take decisive action against the Syrian regime’s use of arbitrary weapon on this large, widespread scale. The U.N. special envoy has also to play a more effectual role in putting an end to the winter of barrel bombs in Syria.”
The report documents the toll of barrel bomb use by Syrian regime forces from the first time it was used in July 2012 until December 2017 and the resultant casualties and attacks on vital civilian facilities. The report stresses that the use of barrel bombs haven’t stopped for even one month, including the months that saw de-escalation agreements or Geneva Talks.
The report draws upon the daily, ongoing, routine monitoring and documentation efforts, in addition to accounts by survivors, eyewitnesses, and local media activists as the report contains nine accounts. Also, the report relies on videos and pictures that were posted online.
The report sheds light on the nature of barrel bombs, manufacture methods used by the Syrian regime, types of containers and explosive materials, and whatever chemical or incendiary substances that are added in some cases. Also, the report outlines a number of areas where the Syrian regime used barrel bombs heavily in the context of military progression such as Darayya city and Khan al Sheih town in Damascus suburbs, and al Mayadeen city in Deir Ez-Zour.
The report records that no less than 68,334 barrel bombs have been dropped by Syrian regime helicopters or fixed-wing warplanes from its first documented use in July 2012 until December 2017. These barrel bombs have resulted in the killing of 10,763 civilians, including 1,734 children and 1,689 women (adult female). In addition, no less than 565 attacks on vital civilian facilities were recorded in which barrel bombs were used, including 76 on medical facilities, 140 on schools, 160 on mosques, and 50 on markets.
According to the report, the governorates that saw the largest portion of barrel bombs were Damascus and its suburbs, followed by Aleppo and then Daraa while barrel bombs were used the most in 2015 where Syrian regime forces dropped 17,318 barrel bombs in that year alone.
The report says that Security Council resolution 2139 represented some hope for the Syrian people due to the fact that barrel bombs were explicitly mentioned in that resolution which also promised to take further steps in the case of non-compliance. However, the rate of barrel bomb use, according to the report, never changed after the resolution was adopted. The report divides the overall toll of barrel bombs before and after the resolution as the report records no less than 20,183 barrel bombs since from July 2012 to February 22, 2014, when the resolution was adopted, while no less than 48,151 barrel bombs were documented in the period of time from the resolution was adopted until December 2017.
According to the report, 87 attacks with barrel bombs loaded with a poison gas and four attacks with barrel bombs loaded with incendiary ammunitions were recorded. All of these attacks took place after Security Council resolution 2139 was adopted.
The report stresses that the Syrian government has, beyond any doubt, violated Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254, and used barrel bombs in a systematic, widespread manner. Also, the Syrian government, through the crime of willful killing, has violated Article 7 of Rome Statute as well as the rules of the international human rights law, which guarantee the right to life. Seeing that these crimes were committed in a non-international armed conflict, it constitutes war crimes.
The report adds that barrel bomb attacks are an indiscriminate bombing that targeted defenseless civilians and caused significant damages to civilian objects. The damage was too excessive compared to the anticipated military benefit.
According to the report, The Syrian regime has violated the rules of the customary international law, the CWC, and all relevant Security Council resolutions -particularly 2118, 2209, and 2235- through the use of barrel bombs. Additionally, using chemical weapons constitutes a war crime according to the ICC’s Rome Statue.
Furthermore, the report says that Syrian regime forces have used barrel bombs loaded with incendiary ammunitions against populated residential neighborhoods without taking any measures to reduce the damages to civilians and civilian buildings and facilities.
The report calls on the Security Council to ensure the serious implementation of its resolutions, and calls on the four permanent state members to apply pressure on the Russian government in order to cease its support for the Syrian regime. In addition, the report stresses that an arms embargo should be imposed on the Syrian regime and all those who supply the Syrian regime with finance and weapon should be prosecuted in light of the risk of these weapons being used in crimes and serious violations of human rights.
Also, the report calls on the Security Council to refer the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court and provide all possible facilitations in this regard. Additionally, the report says that the Security Council should start imposing security and peace and Syria and prosecute all those whose involvement in perpetrating war crimes and crimes against humanity should be prosecuted. The report calls on the European Union and the United States to support the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism that was established in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 71/248, adopted on December 21, 2016, establish local tribunals that enjoy a universal jurisdiction, and address the war crimes that were perpetrated in Syria.
The report says that steps should be taken on the national and regional levels to form alliances to support and protect the Syrian people from the daily killing. In addition, steps should be taken to put the principle of universal jurisdiction into practice with regard to these crimes before local tribunals. Moreover, the report says that pressure should be applied on the Syrian government in order to compel it to ratify Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and comply with its restrictions.
The report calls for the implementation of the “Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) norm especially after all political steps had been consumed through the agreement of the Arab League and then Kofi Annan’s plan and the Cessation of Hostilities statements and Astana Agreements that followed. Therefore, steps under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations should be taken, and the norm of the 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.
Syria Deeply: Join Our Deeply Talks: Diplomacy and Deadlock in Syria
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Syria Deeply: Diplomacy and deadlock in Syria; Moscow declares end of ISIS and partial withdrawal of Russian forces
Dec. 12th, 2017
Welcome to Syria Deeply’s weekly summary of the top coverage of the crisis in Syria.
As part of our Deeply Talks series, Syria Deeply will host a live 30-minute conversation with Rami Khouri, senior public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut, and Maxim Suchkov, editor of Al-Monitor’s Russia-Mideast coverage, about the recent flurry of diplomatic discussions that aims to set the stage for a settlement to the near seven-year conflict. To RSVP and to receive dial-in instructions, click here. To submit questions for our editors or guests, email our community editor Kim Bode (kim@newsdeeply.com) or tweet us @SyriaDeeply with the hashtag #DEEPLYTALKS.
Peace Talks: The Syrian government’s delegation returned to Geneva on Sunday to rejoin United Nations-sponsored peace talks, just a day before Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry announced that a new round of negotiations in Astana is scheduled to start next week.
Two-day talks in the Kazakh capital are expected to begin December 21, days after U.N.-sponsored discussions in Geneva are expected to end. The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, previously said talks in the Swiss city would run until December 15, but as of Tuesday it remained unclear how long negotiations will continue.
The lead negotiator in the government’s delegation to Geneva, Bashar al-Jaafari, quit negotiations more than a week ago, and said that there would “be no progress” as long as the opposition did not reverse its call for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad before the start of a political transition.
As they have in previous rounds of Astana negotiations, representatives from Russia, Iran and Turkey are expected to attend the talks later this month. However, Iraq’s ambassador to Russia, Haidar Mansour Hadi, said on Tuesday that Baghdad would also like an invitation to Astana, according to Russian TASS news.
“I want to ask the Russian leadership to invite Iraq to attend the talks in Astana,” Hadi said in a meeting with Russian politician Konstantin Kosachev.
Putin’s Promises: President Vladimir Putin said he ordered a “significant part” of Moscow’s troops to begin their withdrawal from Syria on Monday, during a surprise visit to Russia’s Hmeimim air base near the coastal Syrian province of Latakia.
“The conditions for a political solution under the auspices of the United Nations have been created,” Putin said, according to Reuters. “Friends, the Motherland is waiting for you. You are coming back home with victory,” he said, according to the Associated Press.
Russia’s commander in Syria, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, said Moscow will withdraw “23 warplanes, two helicopter gunships, special forces units, military police and field engineers.” He did not specify how many soldiers and weapons would remain, but said it would be enough to “successfully fulfill the tasks” of stabilizing the situation in Syria, according to the Associated Press.
Putin has previously made similar statements but they did not result in a major or permanent withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria.
Moscow’s decision comes days after it declared the complete defeat of the so-called Islamic State in Syria. “There is not a single village or district in Syria under the control of [ISIS]. The territory of Syria has been completely liberated from fighters of this terrorist organization,” senior military officer Sergei Rudskoi told reporters.
Syria Deeply has not been able to independently confirm the absence of ISIS in every “single village or district” in the country.
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Syria Deeply: Walk-outs in Geneva, Israel strikes near Damascus, and ‘catastrophe’ in Eastern Ghouta
Dec. 5th, 2017
Welcome to our weekly summary of Syria Deeply’s top coverage of crisis in Syria.
As part of our Deeply Talks series, Syria Deeply will host a live call next week, examining the recent flurry of diplomatic discussions aimed at setting the stage for a settlement to the nearly seven-year conflict. Keep an eye on your inbox this week for the invitation.
Peace talks: The eighth round of peace talks opened in Geneva last Tuesday, and by Friday, the Syrian government delegation had quit, saying they would not return without a change in the opposition’s stance toward President Bashar al-Assad.
Chief government negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari said there would be “no progress” as long as the opposition did not reverse its call for the removal of Assad before the start of a political transition. The opposition High Negotiation Committee (HNC) adopted this position two weeks ago during their own talks in Saudi Arabia, where they had hoped to form a stronger, more unified front before heading to Geneva.
In a televised interview with the pro-government al-Mayadeen TV, Jaafari later said the government would not engage seriously in peace talks if the statement was not revoked, and said the decision on whether or not to resume negotiations this week was in Damascus’ hands.
The previous day, U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters that negotiations could run until December 15.
Israel strikes Syria: Israel again threatened Syria over Iran’s presence in the country, saying it would not tolerate Iran-backed forces along its border.
Israel fired missiles toward Damascus on Saturday, reportedly targeting a military site near the capital, according to CNN. Syria’s air defense system intercepted two Israeli surface-to-surface missiles but others caused material damage to the military position, according to state-run SANA news agency.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles targeted an arms depot near al-Kiswa town south of Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It was not immediately clear whether the Syrian army, Lebanese Hezbollah or other Iran-backed forces operated the warehouse.
“Let me reiterate Israel’s policy,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the Saban Forum, an annual gathering of American and Israeli leaders in Washington hosted by the Brookings Institution.
“We will not allow that regime [Iran] to entrench itself militarily in Syria, as it seeks to do, for the express purpose of eradicating our state.”
Damascus suburbs: Despite being a so-called de-escalation zone, the Eastern Ghouta area in the Damascus suburbs has been under heavy bombardment for more than 20 days. At least 192 people, including 43 children, 21 women and four members of the Civil Defense, have been killed since November 14, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“There has been massive loss of life – hundreds and hundreds have been wounded,” special United Nations humanitarian adviser for Syria, Jan Egeland, said, describing the situation as a “catastrophe.”
“In general, there is no calm in this de-escalation zone. There is only escalation in this de-escalation zone,” Egeland said.
Amnesty International claimed the Syrian government used Soviet-made cluster munitions – which 100 countries have banned – in the Eastern Ghouta, killing at least 10 civilians since November 14.
What’s more, a crippling siege has left as many as 400,000 people trapped in the rebel-held area without access to health and basic living necessities.
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