Syria Watch

Syrian Network for Human Rights: The Syrian Regime Targets Children in Schools
I. Introduction
Hass village is located between Ma’aret Al No’man city, to its east, and Kafr Nobbol, to its west. It is eight kilometers away from Ma’aret Al No’man city. The village is under the joint control of Armed opposition factions and Fateh Al Sham Front.
This report documents the targeting of a school complex that includes three schools in the village by fixed-wing government forces warplanes where SNHR team have contacted a number of residents, eyewitnesses, survivors, and local media activists. The report includes two accounts. We have explained the purpose of the interviews to the witnesses who gave us their permission to use the information they provided in this report.

Syria Deeply: Weekly Update: The Many Battles for Syria’s Northern Provinces

WEEKLY UPDATE
October 28, 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:Syrian opposition forces launched an operation on Friday to break the siege of eastern Aleppo. The counterattack, against pro-Syrian government forces who have been surrounding the area since July, began with heavy shelling on the western, regime-controlled side of Syria’s largest city.“There is a general call-up for anyone who can bear arms,” a senior official with Jabhat al-Shamiyya, an Aleppo-based rebel group, told Reuters. “The preparatory shelling started this morning.”The offensive comes after months of siege and heavy aerial bombardment by Syrian and Russian air forces on the opposition-held parts of Aleppo, and the failure of a United Nations Security Council resolution to put an end to the airstrikes.Opposition forces and civilians in the northwestern Idlib province also came under heavy Russian and Syrian aerial bombardments this week. At least 82 people have been killed in airstrikes since last week: 36 of them, including 22 children, in repeated attacks on a school district in the village of Hass on Wednesday.As Russia and Syria fight opposition forces in Aleppo and Idlib, U.S.-led coalition forces are reportedly gearing up for an operation aimed at pushing the so-called Islamic State out of its Syrian stronghold in Raqqa. U.S. defense secretary Ashton Carter and his British counterpart Michael Fallon announced on Wednesday that their operation will begin “in the next few weeks.”Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish-backed Syrian rebels would also begin targeting ISIS’s stronghold in Raqqa, after it had completed operations to push militants out of the northern city of al-Bab and Syrian Kurdish forces out of the town of Manbij.Further complicating the situation in northern Syria, Syrian Kurdish YPG forces will be both fighting Turkish-backed rebels in Manbij and participating alongside U.S. and U.K. forces in the operation against ISIS in Raqqa.Weekly Highlights:

The U.N. Resolution on Aleppo Is Not About Saving Aleppans

The recent failure of the U.N. Security Council resolution on Aleppo comes as no surprise given Russia’s history of using its veto power, writes Dragana Kaurin, a refugee of the Bosnian war formerly with OCHA and UNICEF.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a new conference,  Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 at United Nations headquarters. AP/Mary Altaffer

The Fatal Threat to All Sides of Syria’s Conflict: Part 1

In the first installment of our Q&A series on infectious diseases in Syria, medical researcher Dr. Annie Sparrow discusses Zika, TB, meningitis and other illnesses that have emerged since the conflict began, and how failure to treat these diseases will have a lasting effect on the population.
Men breath with oxygen masks inside a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, after a suspected chlorine gas attack. Aleppo Media Center via AP

My Days in Damascus: Letter to a Friend

Farah is a young woman living in Syria’s capital city, where she faces the daily struggles of trying to maintain a normal social and professional life in a country being ripped apart by war.
Flowers in a garden in the Damascus citadel. Farah

Additional Reading:

Top image: A distraught man in front of destroyed buildings after airstrikes killed over 20 people, in the northern rebel-held village of Hass, Syria, Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016.  Muaz al-Shami, Syrian Revolution Network, via AP

VDC: Is This Collateral Damage?
The attack started at 10 to eleven in the morning and lasted for 15 minutes. Ten carried-by- parachute missiles dropped from fixed wing Sukhoi in Eight aerial attacks on the village. The attack destroyed six houses, 3 schools, a health center, and a local bakery. Moreover, VDC was able to document 36 deaths. All civilians; 14 males, 6 females, and 16 children. and 40 injuries the majority are the school children and teachers.
VDC strongly condemns this bombing, and considers it to be in line with the other systematic and continuous hostile activities carried out by the Russian and Syrian governments against the civilians in besieged areas. Moreover, VDC confirms that attacking schools is a clear violation of the International Humanitarian Law, and considers this attack to be yet another addition to the series of violations carried out by the Russian and Syrian forces against civilians, infrastructure, humanitarian and relief workers. VDC calls again on the international community and the United Nations to stand up to their responsibilities in protecting civilians with all possible means.
بدأت الهجمة على قرية حاس في الساعة العاشرة وخمسين دقيقة واستمرت تقريبا لمدة 15 دقيقة. تم استهداف القرية بعشرة صواريخ محملة بمظلات هوائية من طائرة سوخوي ضمن ثمان غارات جوية. استطاع مركز توثيق الانتهاكات في سوريا توثيق تدمير ستة منازل وثلاث مدارس ومستوصف وفرن آلي. وسقوط 36 قتيلا جميعهم مدنيين وموثقين بالاسم. توزعوا على الشكل التالي: 14 ذكر بالغاً، 6 إناث بالغات، و16 طفلاً. بينما أصيب 40 آخرين أغلبهم من طلاب المدرسة والكادر التدريسي.

إن مركز توثيق الانتهاكات في سوريا VDC يدين بشدة هذا الاستهداف ويضعه في سياق الأعمال العدائية الممنهجة والمستمرة التي تقوم بها القوات الحكومية السورية والروسية ضد السكان والأعيان المدنية فيالمناطق المحاصرة. ويؤكد المركز أن استهداف المدارس هو خرق كبير للقانون الإنساني الدولي يضاف إلى سلسلة الخروقات وانتهاكات القانون التي ترتكبها القوات الجوية الروسية والسورية في استهداف مظاهر الحياة والأماكن العامة والخدمية والطواقم الطبية وطواقم الانقاذ.
إن مركز توثيق الانتهاكات يجدد دعوته للمجتمع الدولي والأمم المتحدة ممثلة بمجلس الأمن الدولي إلى اتخاذ كل الاجراءات القانونية لتحمل مسؤولية حماية المدنيين بكل الطرق المتاحة.
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Syrian Network for Human Rights: 649 Individuals Killed at the Hands of the International Coalition Forces including 244 Children and 132 Women
I. Introduction
This is the 11th report published by SNHR in its continued updates on the attacks that are carried out by the international coalition forces and left civilian casualties or targeted vital civil facilities.
Led by the United States, international coalition forces entered Syria on 23 September 2014 to fight ISIS and operated without publicly siding with any of the conflict parties until the end of 2015 when they started to support and side with the Kurdish-majority Self-management forces, which consist primarily of the Democratic Union Party forces, a branch for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, under the pretext of fighting ISIS. These forces, however, fought and took over areas that were formerly under the control of the Syrian opposition factions which was the case in Tal Ref’at and the surrounding areas.
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Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Russia Makes Moves in Syria

The most important updates on the war in Syria.
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WEEKLY UPDATE
October 21, 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:Brokered earlier in the week by Russia, a “humanitarian pause” began in Aleppo on Thursday that saw a halt to Syrian and Russian airstrikes in order to allow rebels and civilians to evacuate the besieged eastern side of Syria’s largest city. Russia originally announced that the pause in airstrikes would last for eight hours, despite a U.N. assessment finding that at least 12 hours were needed to carry out evacuations. Moscow later increased the halt in fighting to 11 hours. Two exit corridors were established to facilitate evacuation, but many rebels and residents said they would not leave the opposition-held side of Aleppo. Some rebel groups criticized the pause, claiming it was merely a ploy aimed at getting fighters to abandon their position and empty the city. Residents also claimed that they feared they would be arrested by pro-Syrian regime forces if they evacuated the area.As the pause began, Russia joined the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar in talks in Geneva aimed at separating armed opposition groups from extremists in Aleppo. Despite this diplomatic involvement, Russia also ramped up its military presence in Syria. A Russian aircraft carrier, a battle cruiser and other support vessels were reportedly on route to the country on Friday.Weekly Highlights:

Pause in Aleppo Is Not ‘Humanitarian’ but a Means of Military Escalation

Russia’s 11-hour “humanitarian pause” to facilitate evacuations from eastern Aleppo will not allow for much-needed aid, but rather is part of an overall strategy for a military solution to the conflict, says Middle East analyst Sharif Nashashibi.
A boy sits amongst rubble in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, Syria. Syrian Civil Defense- White Helmets via AP

Green Gold: How ISIS Is Making as Much Money From Wheat as From Oil

As ISIS comes under increased attack in some of the region’s most fertile lands, Middle East agriculture researcher Eckart Woertz discusses how the militant group shrewdly chose to export a renewable resource.
Men make bread at a bakery in the old city of Aleppo, Syria. Wheat is one of Syria’s most important commodities. AP/Andoni Lubaki, File

Pixels of War: Photographing the Siege in Eastern Ghouta

In the first installment of “Pixels of War,” our diary series on Syrian journalists, Artino describes his time as a war photographer, wanted by the regime, in besieged Eastern Ghouta.
Artino

Additional Reading:

Top image: Artino taking a photo. Artino