New Talks Scheduled in Search of More Permanent Peace in Ukraine

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – Following a long period of relative rest in Eastern Ukraine, there has been another spike in reported use of heavy weapons on the frontline by both sides, in violation of the second Minsk agreement. As a result, France, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany will once again meet to try and work out a way to restore and keep peace.

Ukrainian soldiers stand guard near Mariupol. (Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal)

The current ceasefire agreement requires both sides to pull back weapons with a caliber over 100mm from the front line. The rebels are accused of multiple incidents of 120-122mm attacks on government troops, and Kiev is accused of firing tank and artillery repeatedly at rebels. Pro-Russian senior commander Eduard Basurin claims two journalists were wounded in an attack by the government when troops fired around Pisky, near Donetsk. Kiev also claims one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six wounded by the rebels while in the east.

One area under great risk of heavy fighting is the port city of Mariupol, which has seen scattered fighting already in the regions nearby. The city saw heavy fighting at points last year when the conflict was hot throughout the east, but has since been essentially fortified by Ukrainian troops. Mariupol’s position on the water with access to the Black Sea, as well as its position on land between rebel-held land and Russian-held Crimea, makes it a likely target for the rebels or Russia should they make a big push. Further, the 500,000 civilians within Mariupol are divided: 75 percent support Kiev, while 25 percent support separating from Ukraine. More than 1,000 Ukrainian troops have been deployed to Mariupol since last summer.

There have been over 6,000 killed in the conflict since it began over a year ago, and while many parties have tried to find a solution that results in peace and stability for all, nobody seems to have a permanent answer. Constant smaller violations of the current ceasefire, as well as the occasional serious violations as we have again seen recently, allow the peace to remain a fragile façade that both sides wear while continuing to act in furtherance of their ultimate goals with no resolve for the greater peace. Barring a large-scale conflict and renewed heavy fighting that proves successful for one side, either both sides must be willing to give, or fighting will continue as we have seen: indefinitely and with no hope for peace in sight.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Violence escalates in east Ukraine ahead of talks – 14 April 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Diplomats Seek Withdrawal of Heavy Weapons From Ukraine Front Lines – 13 April 2015

Ukraine Today – ‘Normandy Four’ meeting today in Berlin for talks on fragile east Ukraine ceasefire – 13 April 2015

The Wall Street Journal – European Officials Push for Lasting Peace Deal in Ukraine – 12 April 2015

The Daily Signal – Visit to a Mariupol Hospital Lays Bare Ukraine War’s Toll – 12 April 2015

ISIS Videos Shows Deliberate Destruction of the Ancient City of Nimrud

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A video released by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) shows militants using power tools and bulldozers to deface and destroy monuments in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, before the site was completely destroyed with explosives. The video comes only a week after another video showed the destruction of the UNESCO cite at the Ancient city of Hatra. Damage to Nimrud was first reported in March but the new video shows the full scale of the destruction of the historic cultural site which has stood for more than 3,000 years surviving countless conflicts and regimes.

An image taken from a video released by ISIS on April 11 shows smoke billowing from an ancient site after it was allegedly wired with explosives by Islamic State in northern Iraq. (Photo courtesy of USA Today)

Nimrud, which was once the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire and a major Assyrian city from about 1250BC to 610BC, is located 20 miles south of the modern city of Mosul and is just 3 miles outside the small village of Selamiyah, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of most important archaeological sites in Iraq. Nimrud was first excavated by modern archeologists in the 19th century when many of its artifacts were removed from their homeland and transported to Europe’s largest museums including the British Museum and the Louver, Sadly these artifacts that were once stolen from Nimrud and the Iraqi are now among the only surviving artifacts from the city following its horrific destruction.

Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm, could not confirm that the site shown in the video is in fact the ancient city of Nimrud. However, the organization said “online chatter does seem to corroborate the claims, and the rest of the video does follow the group’s pattern of destroying ‘idols,’ as they call it.” If confirmed, this destruction of cultural sites that belong not only to the people of Iraq but all of humanity, is a crime under international law. The loss of the city of Nimrud is a tragedy not only for the people of Iraq but for humanity, the city represents the cultural achievements of Ancient Mesopotamia, considered by many to be the birthplace of both agriculture and western civilization

ISIS has targeted several other Assyrian sites in Iraq and destroyed countless manuscripts, books and other artefacts that they have declared to be un-Islamic and blasphemous. The group recently destroyed a library in Mosul that contained more than 8,000 ancient manuscripts Irinia Bokova, the director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) has previous condemned the destruction of key historical sites by ISIS saying that the “deliberate destruction of cultural heritage constitutes a war crime.”

Earlier this year’s ISIS supports claimed they were ordered by the Profit to commit these acts of Iconoclasm, the deliberate destruction of cultural and religious idols of other cultures, saying, “the Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him.” While the militants claim their actions are motivated by a desire to destroy what it sees as idolatry ISIS itself does not destroy all artifacts its encounters, instead the illegal looting and selling of antiquities is a primary source of ISIS funding.

For more information please see:

NBC News – ISIS Video Shows Apparent Destruction of Nimrud Archaeological Site – 12 April 2015

The Jerusalem Post – WATCH: ISIS Razes Ancient City in Latest Bid to Erase ‘Un-Islamic’ History – 12 April 2015

USA Today – Video Purports To Show ISIL Destroying Ancient City of Nimrud – 12 April 2015

The Guardian – Isis Video Confirms Destruction at UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hatra – 5 April 2015

Regime Forces Bomb School in Aleppo

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian Civil War using a network of sources on the ground in Syria, reported Sunday that at least nine people, including five children were killed by airstrikes which hit a school in the rebel-held area of Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo. Regime forces have denied the report saying that the army had stepped up attacks on rebels since the insurgents bombarded a government-held residential area in the northwestern city on Saturday. But he said the military had not targeted civilians.

Residents inspect blood stains shelling from regime warplanes hit the Al-Ansari school in Aleppo’s rebel-controlled Al-Mashad neighborhood on April 12, 2015.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in the United Kingdom, released a video it says shows the aftermath of the deadly attack. In the video a man is seen holding what he says is the severed lower leg and foot of a young child, and rescue workers were shown carrying away what appeared to be a body wrapped in a sheet. According to the Observatory, at least 32 people were killed in Aleppo on Saturday, 17 of them in the government-held district of Suleimaniyah bombarded by rebels, and 15 of them in an army air strike that later hit a market in a rebel-held area. The organization added that a number of people were seriously wounded and the death toll is likely to rise.

The airstrikes that hit the school came just a day after the monitoring group and Syrian state rune media (SANA) reported shelling by Syrian rebels on a government-held neighborhood in Aleppo. Footage aired on Syrian state television on Saturday showing damaged buildings and injured people being treated at an overcrowded local hospital.

State TV media reported the shelling targeted the predominantly Christian and Armenian neighborhood of Suleimaniyah in Aleppo killing nine people and wounding 50. SANA also reported that several buildings were severely damaged and people were likely still trapped under the ruble.

Just hours after the shelling Syrian helicopters gunships targeted a market in Aleppo’s rebel-held neighborhood of Maadi in an apparent retaliation by the Syrian government, according to both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition-run Aleppo Media Centre. The Observatory reported that ten people were killed in the attack and dozens more were badly injured.

Aleppo has a major frontline in the four-year-old Syrian civil war, a conflict that has killed an estimated 220,000 people. The city, 30 miles from the Turkish border, is divided between government and rebel control.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – ‘Children Killed’ In Syria’s Aleppo School Bombing – April 12, 2015

Al Arabiya – Five Children Dead in Air Strike on School in Syria’s Aleppo – 12 April 2015

Reuters – Monitor Says Syrian Army Bombs Aleppo School – 12 April 2015

Sky News Australia – Nine People Killed During Syria Air Strikes – 12 April 2015