Syria Watch

SNHR: The Targeting of Mosques by the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

Introduction:

For decades, the Totalitarian Dictatorial Syrian regime prevented public gatherings and peaceful sit-ins, and tortured and arrested anyone who did or tried to participate in such acts.

When the Syrian Revolution began under the context of the Arab Spring, mosques were the only place available for demonstrations. Most of the demonstrations launched from mosques with participants from other sects and religions because they were the gathering points.

In this regard, Syrian government’s Armed Forces deliberately targeted to shatter the prestigious emotion that the Syrian People have for these mosques, so it shelled, destroyed, vandalized, and stormed mosques in unprecedented and barbaric ways. This is unprecedented, even when considering the days of French colonialism, in which the French government recognized the sanctity of the mosques and didn’t pursue anyone who entered a mosque.

SNHR already prepared a report on the percentage of destruction in Syria, in which more than 3 million buildings were affected, and more than 700,000 buildings were totally destroyed including houses, schools, mosques, and hospitals.

SNHR also conducted a report on destroyed or damaged schools, a report about destroyed or damaged churches, and a detailed report over hospitals. In this context, we reviewed in a survey conducted in all of the Syrian provinces regarding damaged and destroyed mosques. This survey took a while to compile, because of the high number of destroyed mosques.
 

First : Mosques Targeted by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

SNHR documented at least 1,451 mosques. At least 348 were completely destroyed due to shelling by Scud missiles, surface to surface missiles, TNT, artillery, and other weapons.

Targeted mosques were systematic and widespread in all Syrian governorates, in very large numbers where the ratio was distributed as follows:

Damascus countryside topped the statistic with almost 400 mosques, then Idlib, Daraa, Homs, and Aleppo:

Damascus countryside: 387
Idlib: 308
Daraa: 237
Homs: 217
Aleppo: 158
Homs: 135
Damascus: 92
Dier Alzoor: 67
Lattakia: 37
Raqqa: 25
Qunaitra: 5
Mosques in Hasaka, Tartous, and Swidaa were not targeted.

SNHR shot videos and photos of most of the destroyed mosques with their names and locations, and can provide them in any form asked for.

SNHR also documented in addition to destroyed mosques the murder of at least 48 orators and Imams of mosques in different Syrian Governorates by the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces from shelling and raiding, and some in ethnical cleansing operations (Baniyas massacre and Jdidt Alfadl massacre) 6 field executions, 1 slaughtered with knives, and 2 who were arrested and cruelly tortured to death.    
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9Bj18tlYYKBQUxKdDVKZFBHZU0/edit

Syrian Opposition converted many mosques into shelters because of the destruction of hundreds of thousands of homes, that were shelled by the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces.

About 100 mosques were converted into field hospitals to aide the injured.
  
Few mosques were converted into schools and educational places.

Appendix and attachments:
Examples for damaged and destroyed mosques in various different governorates

–          Damascus countryside: Arbin, 8/12/2012, Syrian Government’s Armed Forces shelled mosques in Arbin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO8wLeA6WYs

–          Damascus: Alqadam, 27/7/2012, the effects of destruction on Hasan Albasri mosque caused by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Damascus Countryside: Daria, 9/12/2012, the effects of destruction on the oldest mosque in the city by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces 

–          Damascus Countryside: Harasta, 14/11/2012, the effects of destruction on Sheikh Mosa mosque after it was shelled by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Damascus: Hajar Alaswad, 19/7/2012, the effects of destruction on Imam Nawawi mosque after being shelled by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces  

–          Damascus Countryside: Doma, 29/7/2012,  shelled Albaghdadi Alsharqi mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PELjQRWh3pg

–          Damascus Countryside: Doma, 1/1/2013, the effects of destruction on Taha mosque after being shelled by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces   

–          Damascus Countryside: Doma, 2/11/2012, the effects of destruction on the big mosque by MIG

–          Damascus Countryside: Mdira, 16/12/2012, the effects of destruction on the town mosque in which a rocket launcher was used by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

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–          Idlib: Binch, 13/2/2013, the effects of destruction on the town mosque for the second time by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

the first time

–          Idlib: Maarat Alnoaman, 24/10/2012, huge destruction in Bilal mosque cause shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Idlib: Maarshmarin, 12/10/2012, effects of destruction on a mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Idlib: Binch, 14/12/2012, Bilal mosque shelled by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Idlib: Taftanaz, 5/8/2012, effects of destruction on the town mosques from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

 
 
–          Idlib: Maarat Alnoman, 20/11/2012, destroyed minaret of Thei Alnorin mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Idlib: Maarat Alnoman, 3/11/2012, effects of destruction of the Big mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

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Lattakia:

–          Lattkia countryside: 31/7/2012, effects of destruction on mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Lattkia: Marwniate,24/9/2012, effects of destruction of the Khaled mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

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Homs:

–          Homs Talebesa – Awion Husain, 30/1/2013, shelled Alwahid mosque by Artillery by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Homs, Buwaydah Al Sharqiyah
3/1/2013, shelling the village mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

effects of destruction

–          Homs –  Alkhaldiah, 28/11/2012, shelling Iman mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Homs – Sultaneah, 23/9/2012, shelling the town mosque with artillery by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–         Homs – Alhwla, 10/9/2013, effects of destruction on the Taldao Archeological Mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Homs – Alhwla, 10/9/2013, effects of destruction on Shuhadaa mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

eyewitnesses on the shelling incident

–          Homs – Aldaba, 16/7/2012, effects of destruction on town mosque for the second time by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Homs – Alhwla, 26/12/2012, effects of destruction on the town mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces centered near Hamiri checkpoint 
 

–          Homs – Alrastan, 21/9/2012, effects of destructions on Hidayah mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Homs – Old City, 9/12/2012, destroyed mosque from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Homs – 27/7/2012, targeting Khaled Bin Alwalid Archeologicalmosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces shelling

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Daraa:

–          Daraa – Yadowda, 12/1/2013, shelled Yadowda village mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces


–          Daraa – Noaemeah, 3/9/2013, shelled Abo Bakr Alsdik mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces


 
–          Daraa – Safirah, 9/2/2013, shelled Ahl Badr mosque’s minaret by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Daraa – Shiekh Miskin, 10/11/2012, shelled Ali Bn Abi Taleb mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

 
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Dier Alzoor:

–          Dier Alzoor – Miadine, 15/10/2012, effects of destructions on the main mosque in the town from shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Dier Alzoor – Albokamal, 8/9/2012,  effects of destruction of the big mosque in the city of shelling by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Dier Alzoor – Alaardi, 2/11/2012, effects of destruction of the Bilal mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

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Hama:
–          Hama – Kafar Nabodah, 13/2/2013, effects of shelling on the town mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Hama – Kafar Nabodah, 28/1/2013, shelling on city mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Hama – Karnaz, 1/2/2013, shelled big mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Hama – Kafar Zita, 22/1/2013, shelled mosque in the town by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

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Aleppo:
–          Aleppo – Tarek Albab, 14/9/2012, the effect of destruction caused by the shelling of Alaqsa martyrs mosque

–          Aleppo – Andan, 25/9/2012, the effect of destruction caused by the shelling of the big mosque by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces

–          Almahmandar ( Alkadi ) mosque, 26/8/2012

–          Ismailiah Archeological mosque, 25/9/2012

–          Othmaniah Archeological mosque, 21/9/2012

–          Omayyad mosque

–          Mosque in Alsalhine neighborhood, 22/8/2012

–          Alkhair Archeological mosque, 12/11/2012

–          Mosque in Jainagh area, 1/7/2012

–          Almshatiah, 13/12/2012

–          Fatima Alzahraa Mosque, 20/8/2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA9DZo2sUW0 –

–          Albotool  Mosque, 20/8/2012

–          Alrashid Mosque, 5/9/2012

 
 
 
 
Targeting Mosques by Armed Rebels
Some armed factions supporting the opposition targeted at least 4 minarets of mosques, and justified their action by claiming that Syrian Government’s Armed Forces had placed snipers in these minarets and targeted civilians. For example, a sniper who killed more than 27 civilians from the neighborhood was killed in an explosion in the Abo Bakr Mosque minaret in Daraa, which was located on a high hill overlooking the entire city.

Al Nusra troops stormed Hosseiniyeh, which belongs to a Shiite sect and is considered to be an enemy target. Most of them support Alassad’s regime. This incident occured in Jisr Ash-Shughur area.

 

Recommendations

Human Rights Council:

1-       Consider the sanctity of mosques affected by the attacks that occurred in Syria as a violation of basic human rights;

2-       Denounce violations committed against houses of worship and mosques by Syrian Government’s Armed Forces, and document those attacks;

3-       Pressure the Syrian Government’s Armed Troops and formally request it to stop its violations on mosques;

4-       Persuade allies and supporters of the Syrian Government’s Armed Forces (who supply weapons and gear) to take clear positions against those violations and apply diplomatic and political pressure in an effort to stop and end these violations.
 
Arab League:

1-        Denounce violations against houses of worship and mosques, and document those attacks;

2-       Pressure regionally and internationally to make effective decisions in this regard;

3-       Pressure the Syrian regime to stop those violations that affect Muslims all around the world;

4-       Demand the states that can pressure the Al-Assad regime to stop its deliberate and widespread violations against mosques.
 
Security Council:

1-    Denounce violations against houses of worship and mosques, and criminalize those attacks;

2-    Issue a binding decision against the Syrian regime to stop all violations, specifically against all houses of worship and mosques;

3-      Warn the Syrian government of the consequences for such violations against social peace and its leadership for sectarian and religious wars, and hold it fully responsible for their actions;

4-    Demand the protection of mosques and other archeological places, and warn of their endangerment.

SNHR: Statement of non-governmental organizations condemn the gross violations in Syria

Prepared by the Syrian Network for Human Rights

Arab and International Human Rights and civil society organizations, which took part in the Doha-based conference (3-4 June, 2013) on developing the human rights mechanism of the Arab League reiterated their support for the Syrian People and Syrian rights activists.

The groups stressed their strong condemnation of the systematic human rights abuse, war crimes, and crimes against humanity inflicted upon civilians by the Syrian regime for the third year to suppress the Syrian People’s Revolution and their legitimate demands for freedom, dignity, justice, citizenship, and the rights of people to determine their own future, and choose their regime through a democratic system based on justice, freedom, the rule of law, and human rights.  The conference blamed the Syrian dictatorial regime for the ongoing armed conflicts, urging all sides to respect international humanitarian law and human rights.

Participant groups also denounced the international community’s reluctance to assume its responsibility in putting an end to violence against Syrian civilians, which left up to 90,000 killed (the vast majority of them are civilians that are not involved in the bloody armed conflict, including tens of thousands of women and children), hundreds of thousands of detainees, tens of thousands of enforced disappearances’ victims, in addition to five million displaced citizens and two million refugees in neighboring countries.

The conference urged the necessity of a serious and effective international intervention to stop the bloodshed and end the suffering of Syrians, stressing its support for any effort as long as it responds to the legitimate rights of the Syrian people in choosing its rulers and holding wrongdoers accountable for their offenses.  Calls for participating organizations by Arab governments across the Arab League urging the UN Security Council to take necessary and effective measures to stop the crimes of the Syrian regime, and support the transitional path to democracy is based on the international law of human rights, and to activate the provisions of international humanitarian law in accounting the criminals.

Participating organizations work to provide all support for the human rights movement in Syria in light of enormous and unlimited restrictions imposed by the dictatorial regime in Syria.  They express their solidarity with human rights defenders in Syria and appreciate the precious sacrifices made, and call on all Arab and foreign countries, organizations, international networks, and regional organizations to provide all forms of support and assistance to them.

Time for Transitional Justice Process

Voice of Syria

Special to Voice of Syria, By Radwan Ziadeh*

The Syrian revolution began to realize a dream of freedom, and dignity, in its simplicity. The time for Syrian’s shared dream is now. However, price of the simple dream has not only been huge but still soaring. We thought that systems such as the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Nazi regime in Germany, the fascist in Italy, and Pinochet in Chile had become extinct. We thought, perhaps sinfully, that the international community had developed to the extent that it will never allow a system similar to those from the past to re-emerge in our time and age.

What Syria is witnessing today and what Syrians live in every moment dispel any such hope. After war crimes and crimes against humanity in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the General Assembly of the United Nations established an initiative known as the ‘responsibility to protect’ or ‘R2P’ in 2005, a norm that changed traditional principles regarding protection of the sovereignty of States, stating that sovereignty is not a right – it’s a responsibility. The R2P argues that regimes committing such crimes, they lose their sovereignty; and the international community has the right to take necessary measures to protect civilians and prevent further crimes against them.

Unfortunately, the R2P has not been invoked given what is happening in Syria. The international community has abandoned Syrians to die at the hands of their ruler. Indiscriminate aerial bombardment has taken the lives of more than 82,000 civilians so far, and Bashar al-Assad’s forces have begun using far-reaching ballistic missiles, SCUDs and even Sarin gas, classified as weapons of mass destruction, against areas of Syria no longer under regime control with utter disregard for the lives of Syrian civilians and to residential areas and infrastructure. If Assad continues his military madness against his own people, Syria then will become a worse hell than it has been so far.

Western media and officials describe uprising in Syria as a civil war, a description the Syrians find far from reality of the ground. Syria is in the midst of a popular revolution against an authoritarian regime. If we conduct a simple comparison of the number of victims in Syria with the number of victims in countries in which a civil war has actually occurred, such as Peru, the conflict (1980-2000) claimed more than 70,000 victims while the number fatalities has long surpassed this figure in a matter of two years.  According to a report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we found that the number of victims has risen from 1,000 per month during the start of the revolution to 5000 per month today. If Assad is allowed to continue his war against the Syrian people, the number of victims can be expected to exceed 150,000 sooner than later.

With ever-increasing destruction and bloodshed in Syria, how can we expect to rebuild the country? Clearly, it will not be possible to fully begin the transition to a pluralistic and democratic society without a complete cessation of violence. And yet, we can begin to consider the first steps to heal the deep wounds that have left Syrian society in tatters.

One option is to lay the groundwork for transitional justice and reconciliation programs. The launch of transitional justice processes can let victims feel that those responsible for committing crimes will be brought to justice and that the ‘era of impunity’, lasting for over 40 years, is over. However, as transitional justice experiences across the world have taught us, it is closely linked to the path of political transition and depends mainly on the political will and vision of both the actors and the democratic forces on the ground.  Unfortunately, Syria has practically no history of political participation aside from complete domination of the regime-supported Baath party, thus here options are few when considering to whom to turn in order to implement post-conflict reconciliation programs.

Some have suggested that the Syrian justice system remains capable of bringing to trial the hundreds, if not thousands, of perpetrators of human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Syria. This remains an option, but those anxious to avoid the mistakes of Libya wherecourts remain inundated with tens of thousands of pending cases leftover from the revolution of 2011, advise using a different path given the lack of credibility the Syrian judiciary has in the eyes of citizens.

International justice is another option. Bashar al-Assad’s crimes are certainly within the scope of work of the International Criminal Court. However, Russia, with its position in the Security Council, may prevent the referral of Syrian criminals to the ICC. Any future government formed after the fall of the Assad regime will undoubtedly ratify the Rome Agreement, enabling an international prosecutor to open an investigation into these crimes. However, the path of international justice remains a less than ideal choice. The process is slow and Syrians will be impatient. Syrians acknowledge that they will need the international community, which failed them before, to rebuild their country and construct future institutions. But they also realize that there are limits to assistance provided by the international community. They will have to ultimately rely on themselves to build their democracy in the future.

In fact, a number of Syrians are beginning to do just that. A few months ago, a group of Syrians announced the creation of a’“National Preparatory Committee for Transitional Justice’ in Istanbul, Turkey. This committee, made up of human rights activists, defected judges and lawyers, and others representing all the various sects and ethnic groups in Syria among them a respected Alawite lawyers and public figures, is determined to consider all the options for a future post-conflict transitional justice and reconciliation program in Syria. The work of this group is crucial. The fact that positions on the committee are reserved exclusively for Syrians, and that this committee was formed without the urging of international actors, means it is uniquely positioned to be considered a legitimate institution in a sea of organizations and committees regarded with suspicion and skepticism by the Syrian public.

Tens of thousands of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and children continue to suffer in Syria. The Syrian society will not be able heal the rifts created by a half-century of brutal Assad family rule without truth and justice procedures. The victims have the right to truth andto know the fate of their loved ones. And also to see punishment meted out to those responsible. A transitional justice and reconciliation program will help Syrians foster confidence in themselves and their community and help the restoration of the structure of society, rocked by grudges of injustice and suffering.

*Besides being a member of Syrian National Council, the writer is a visiting scholar at Lehigh University, and Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in Washington DC.

Source URL: http://www.voiceofsyria.com/463/
—

Dr.Radwan Ziadeh

 –          Executive director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies (SCPSS)- Washington, D.C.
http://www.scpss.org/

 –          Director of Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) in Syria
http://www.dchrs.org

–     Fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in Washington D.C

–          http://www.ispu.org/people/Radwan-Ziadeh

–          Managing editor of the Transitional Justice in the Arab World Project
www.arabtj.org