Syria Watch

Syrian Network for Human Rights: Syrian People’s Casualties Exceeds 15,000

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) and Damascus Centre for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS) observe rigorous documentation standards to verify each piece of information by seeking testimonies from two people, who do not know one another, before it is included in the casualties’ record.

Syrian citizens killed by the Syrian regime; from the start of the revolution on 18 March 2011 until 16 June 2012

  • Confirmed death toll (documented by name): 15,163
  • Children: 1,114
  • Women: 957
  • Killed under torture: 579

Victims killed by the Syrian regime, throughout the duration of the suspended UN observers’ mission, between 12 of April 2012 and 16 June 2012

  • Total figure of victims documented by name: 3,087
  • Children: 277
  • Women: 193
  • Under torture: 137

 

Statistics and information provided by Syrian Network for Human Rights and Damascus Center for Human Rights  Studies.  For further information, please see:

Syrian Network for Human Rights – Confirmed Death Toll Report – 19 June 2012

Syrian Network for Human Rights – UN Observers’ Death Toll Report – 19 June 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Wednesday 20 June 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Updates from the Road (2)!

Syrian Revolution Digest – Tuesday 19 June 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Updates from the Road (1)

Russia will not be part of the solution in Syria. Yemeni-style scenarios are unlikely. Obama needs to hit the reset button again. There is little time left to save a country and a region from a meltdown.

Tuesday June 19, 2012

News

Op-Eds & Special Reports

Sectarian realities in Homs

USA Politics and Syria

On the personal front

Getting Serious on Syria: my participation in a panel at the American Enterprise Institute where the keynote speaker was Senator McCain: Excerpt from my intervention, the whole event.

More fall-outs from our April trip to Kosovo: The Pristina-Damascus Connection

Over the next 5-7 days, I will be taking part in a series of activities that will take up most of my time and might, therefore, be unable to update the blog as regularly and extensively as I want. But I will be back in full force soon.

Syrian Network for Human Rights: Documenting the Widespread Massacres

In the past few weeks the number of massacres taking place around Syria drastically increased.  The Syrian Network for Human Rights, in collaboration with the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, have documented a number of them.  Below is their summarized reports for the past four massacres; beginning with the most recent.

Douma | 16 June 2012

The Syrian regime’s combat forces launched a fierce and concentrated attack on the city of Douma, located to the east of the capital Damascus. The residents came under continual mortar shelling by the forces surrounding the city; additionally there was intense shelling originating from the vehicles administration headquarters, which is located in the neighbouring city of Harasta. The shelling went through the night until dawn; it stopped around 3:00 am.

Artillery shelling was concentrated on residential quarters located behind the mosques of Haseeba and Al-Agha. Eight people, including three women, were killed at the onset, when shelling targeted a residential building. This was a clear indication that shelling was random with the intent of killing for the sake of killing. This building, the first target, is located between the Great Mosque and Haseeba Mosque and the area is one of the most densely populated quarters of the city.

We were not able to access the inflicted area to provide assistance due to the full siege and the Syrian government’s refusal to give access to any Human Rights or relief organization to work on the Syrian territories.  By contacting locals and victims’ relatives, we were able to confirm eight names of the victims who fell to the shelling and documented at least 40 wounded, including four people with very critical injuries.

There is a severe shortage of medical necessities because the Syrian government hinders the transport of the wounded and the injured to hospitals, so they are treated in houses that lack real medical supplies or preparation facilities.

Saqba | 16 June 2012

The Syrian regime forces moved from Douma to Saqba on this same day.  Upon entering the city, which is located east of Damascus, they quickly took control and began to instill terror in the residents.  Tanks, armoured vehicles and infantry advanced from the south (from the Kafr Batana region), the north (from the Hamouriya direction), the west (from the Hazza direction), and the east (from the Jesreen direction). This entry in the city was followed by raid campaigns, around a square known as Al-Jameiya, while other combat troops moved to the secondary school street, and remaining troops moved to the northern area of Al-Jouzeh.

One of the tanks, positioned in the city centre, fired a shell on a residential building; this caused severe damage in the building and several injuries, including a child who received an injury to the eye.  Dozens of residents were arrested. We were able to identify a few of them from the Al-Khawaja family. Following this, troops moved to the Al-Mahfara area, to the west of the city, where they looted commercial shops.

The horrendous massacre harvested the lives of 19 civilians including a woman and a child. We have been able to contact residents to confirm and document the names of victims. To add insult to injury, some of the victims were slaughtered by knives in a revengeful, sadist fashion that was reminiscent of the Dark Ages and reflected a mindset of the utmost savagery.

Maarat Al-Numan | 10 June 2012

 During the night, the Syrian regime’s army forces shelled the city of Maarat al-Numan with many mortar shells, which are internationally considered to be inaccurate.  This mortar shelling is hard evidence, and a clear indicator, that the Syrian regime does not discriminate between the killing of a child, a woman or a young man. This reality is readily apparent on the ground as a high number of children and women are killed.

The preliminary death toll stands at thirteen victims.  The victims’ body parts were scattered in the streets following the attack.  More than 90 people were wounded, 25 of whom suffer from severe and critical injuries. As usual, the Syrian regime has cut off all means of communications and prevented doctors from treating the wounded or transporting them to safer zones where medical care necessities are available.  Many houses and shops were damaged from the attack as well.

Dar’aa | 9 June 2012

The Syrian regime’s army and security forces launched a fierce attack on the city using mortars, which the international community considers to be random inaccurate projectile, and heavy machineguns. Those shells hit the houses of:

Suliaman Shihadeh Aba Zeed, Adnan Dyab Aba Zeed, Ibrahim Mifleh Aba Zeed, Muhammad Kheir Aba Zeed, Yusuf Aba Zeed, Abu Nasir Abu Al-Qayasin al-Bajabja neighbourhood

A shell fell on al-Dallou family house killing 7 members of the family and burning down the house.  Residents recovered the bodies of Mansour Rizq Aba Zeed, Rita Rizq Aba Zeed and Rizq Hasan Shihada from under the rubble.

The regime’s army snipers, stationed at the roof of the national hospital, targeted citizens who came to donate blood following the attack.  The regime’s army checkpoint, stationed at Al-Sad road, targeted a civilian car that was transporting the wounded to the makeshift hospital, killing the volunteer in the process.

 

For further information, please visit the website listed below:

Syrian Network for Human Rights 

Syrian Revolution Digest – Sunday 17 June 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

Obama’s Legacy!

In the first major battle of Cold War II, Russia and its allies (the Assad regime, China, Iran, Belarus, Venezuela, etc.) are winning, so far. Forget about killing Bin Laden and ousting Qaddafi, if Obama loses Syria, that and the regional chaos that will ensue will be what he is remembered for. If Obama’s strategy is to wait for November, the battle might just be lost by then, and his legacy set in blood and stone.

Sunday June 17, 2012

Death tolls: 60. The Breakdown: 17 in Homs, 18 in Damascus (15 in Suburbs and 3 in City), 11 in Hama, 5 in Deir Ezzor, 5 in Daraa, 4 in Aleppo.

News

Associated Press journalist wounded in Syria

Op-Eds & Special Reports

Group of Tel Aviv Arabs post Anti-Assad signs in Nazareth: But Israeli Arabs remain deeply split over events in Syria.

The rebels risked a great deal in allowing journalists to embed with them, but they needed to get their message out, not through the opposition “leaders” in London, and in answer to the regime’s version of events. Commander al Sheikh told Shelton, “We want the people of the world to understand us as people, to see our revolution from a human prospective. The Syrian people cannot turn back. We must fight until victory.”

A great roundup by Rhonda Parker, with reference to the Digest and a personal interview

Excerpts

In an interview published yesterday by American PBS Newshour, self-proclaiming Alawite “Shabiha active member” Abu Jaafar, said he is “ready to kill women and children to defend his friends, family and president.” “Sunni women are giving birth to babies who will fight us in years to come, so we have the right to fight anyone who can hurt us in the future,” said the Alawite militiaman, a member of the ancient offshoot of Shiite Islam to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the powerbase of his regime belong.

Syrian dissident and pro-democracy activist in exile, Ammar Abdulhamid, has been calling for more active international intervention in Syria, and added another addendum in his Syrian Revolution Digest Syria report last night.

Stated Abdulhamid, “I wouldn’t ask for intervention had it not been a reality of our lives already, had Russia, China, Iran, Iraq, Belarus and Venezuela not chosen to intervene from the onset in our affairs, siding with the Assads, arming them to the teeth, helping circumvent sanctions, (and) shielding them from accountability. Things need to be made equal. We need to be given a fighting chance. Assad is conducting a war of attrition against the rebels, while carving out his own personal fiefdom, hedging his bets. We only have one bet: staying the course, come what may.

Meanwhile, in an opinion piece for A&E the National had the soul-searching title, “When tanks crush children, Syrians must ask: who are we?”

The piece documents activists who feel there is a military strategy behind the madness and civilian carnage – including the brutal massacres and targeting of children.

“By outsourcing the dirty work to local militias, the regime distanced itself from the monstrosity of the crimes while deceptively placing the perpetrators within the blurry category of ‘armed gangs,’ said one hama activist.

Another activist from Homs said: “This is what they want to see: we are 20 massacres away from an opposition-free Syrian coast.”

Abdulhamid also stated in an email interview late tonight that he didn’t feel the Free Syrian Army had the time or resources to take civilian hostages, as some pro-Assad media have been alleging in regards to the Christian and Sunni civilians trapped in Homs.

“Basically, at this stage, the few local fighters in Homs City are locked in a fight for survival against pro-Assad militias, they do not have the time or the capacity to take hostages, and the regime does not care about the well-being of hostages anyway. Having hostages – even Alawites – will not stop pro-Assad militias, who, for months now, have been bombing both Sunnis and Christian neighborhoods, destroying mosques and churches, without any hesitation.”

Said Abdulhamid, “The truth of what is happening in Syria is quite simple: Assad and his militias are trying to re-subjugate their opponents using all means at their disposal, including resorting to ethnic cleansing along the coast and in central Syria in preparation for a possible breakup of the country.”

He also stated that Assad and his supporters realize “they have lost control of major swathes of the country, and that their opponents are committed to staying the course until Assad is brought down.”

 For this reason, Abdulhamid said, “…They are carving out a territory that will remain, by virtue of its ethnic makeup, completely loyal to Assad, and so it can serve as a base that will keep the Assads as active players in the regional scene even after the state falls apart.”

He added, “With the help of Russia and Iran, Assad is creating a win-win scenario for himself: reestablishing control over all the country, or becoming the undisputed leader of a critical chunk of it that might be declared as an independent state at a certain point in the future.”

Video Highlights

Qudsaya, West Damascus: the impact of shelling by pro-Assad militiashttp://youtu.be/Agn9qsreFTA , http://youtu.be/TgfOGvYQSkg Buildings catch firehttp://youtu.be/6X234GKD2xo

Zabadani, West Damascus: playing cat-and-mouth with snipershttp://youtu.be/Yjbzi6jAQy8

Douma, East Damascus: buildings catch fire due to shellinghttp://youtu.be/439C6HMQ4g8 Martyrs http://youtu.be/SJ4tbVaCzRE The pounding resumes at night http://youtu.be/wNhHQoZPreY

Dmeir, East Damascus: locals leaving the town at night to escape the shellinghttp://youtu.be/OpzmCM3mySU

Rastan, Homs: a child martyr http://youtu.be/EH40I07gJlQ Martyrshttp://youtu.be/vR1cgbITI5I The cemetery is pounded even as people try to bury their deadhttp://youtu.be/S20e3lCOc2Q The pounding continues http://youtu.be/HFnjOYeFL7E

Houla, Homs: pro-Assad militias set houses on fire http://youtu.be/KtMHHWr69CU At night, the pounding resumes http://youtu.be/7dQV5jtRs2g