Syria Watch

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: #SaveSyria
Dear Colleague,

This summer the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepped up its attacks on rebel forces and Syrian civilians, this time besieging the ancient city of Aleppo. In Syria’s largest city, territory had been divided between government control in the west and opposition control in the east. Last month the government surrounded the eastern part of the city, indiscriminately bombing the residents and systematically blocking delivery of food and medical supplies.

The main roadway in or out, Castello Road, became a harrowing passage dotted with burned out cars and permeated by the smell of death. Anyone attempting to enter or leave faced attack.

Largely cut off from outside assistance, the 300,000 desperate residents in Aleppo, including 120,000 children, lived mostly without food, water, medical supplies or electricity. They faced daily, deadly attacks and even starvation.

This video tells the story of life under siege and chronicles the efforts of some of those trying to assist.

Please share this video and help us raise awareness to #SaveSyria.
WATCH THE VIDEO
Sincerely,

Cameron Hudson
Director, Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Image courtesy of Aleppo Media Center.

Syria Justice and Accountability Centre: The SJAC Weekly Update
Rebels driving food trucks from Idlib into eastern Aleppo after breaking the siege on August 6
Photo Credit: Khaled Salameh

Rebels’ Gains are the UN’s Losses in Aleppo
“Leave or starve” is how the Syrian opposition described Russia’s proposal to create humanitarian corridors in Aleppo to allow civilians to flee ahead of increased airstrikes. By the end of July, Assad government forces, with support from Russia, successfully surrounded rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, besieging about 300,000 residents. The United Nations (UN) estimated that food and medical supplies in these areas would only last between one to three weeks with dire humanitarian consequences. The ultimatum — to either remain and endure air bombardments and starvation or escape to the western side of the province under government control — amounted to forced displacement which is prohibited under international humanitarian law. Before the corridors could take effect, however, a coalition of rebels including Ahrar al-Sham, Jeysh al-Fateh, and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) broke the siege, bringing in trucks of food supplies. Despite the relief that these food trucks brought to civilians in the area, it is difficult to overlook the fact that the so-called liberators have been accused of committing numerous human rights violations in the past. The symbolism of aid reaching besieged areas through these fighters instead of the UN has negatively impacted the UN’s image among Syrians and could jeopardize the peace process.

Before the siege ended, the Russian and Syrian governments issued a statement to the UN, announcing the establishment of four humanitarian corridors, three for civilians and one for armed rebel fighters. Despite the Syrian government’s guarantees of safety, Aleppo residents dubbed them “death corridors” because they feared the government would target anyone who tried to utilize the corridors through airstrikes or arrests. The Syrian opposition even compared Syria’s strategy to Grozny, where Russia dropped leaflets  to inform Chechen civilians of humanitarian corridors, briefly allowing people to flee, only to then bombard and flatten the city.
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The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is a Syrian-led and multilaterally supported nonprofit that envisions a Syria where people live in a state defined by justice, respect for human rights, and rule of law. SJAC collects, analyzes, and preserves human rights law violations by all parties in the conflict — creating a central repository to strengthen accountability and support transitional justice and peace-building efforts. SJAC also conducts research to better understand Syrian opinions and perspectives, provides expertise and resources, conducts awareness-raising activities, and contributes to the development of locally appropriate transitional justice and accountability mechanisms. Contact us at info@syriaaccountability.org.

Syria Deeply Weekly Update: Smokescreens in Aleppo, Talks of Possible Partitioning

WEEKLY UPDATE
August 6, 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:Monday marked the passing of the deadline to resume peace talks for a political transition in Syria. The Geneva-based talks did not resume this week, nor was a cease-fire agreed to. Instead, two major players in the Syrian conflict did speak about the possibility that Syria could be partitioned before the end of the war.Just before the weekend, the head of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, expressed his doubts that Syria would remain one country in the future. Less than a week later, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, voiced a similar opinion, saying that sectarian fighting in the region could lead to the partitioning of Syria and Iraq.

The battle for Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, continued this week. Residents of the now-besieged eastern part of Aleppo city have been burning tires in a desperate effort to prevent warplanes from targeting civilians and opposition fighters on the front lines.

But fighting in Aleppo showed no signs of stopping by the week’s end. On Friday, the leader of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, issued two audio statements announcing that they had entered the third stage of their operation to break the siege in eastern Aleppo and promising “victory” for his “people in Aleppo.”

Nearly 300,000 people have been stuck in the eastern part of the city since Syrian and Russian forces cut off the last rebel supply route out of the city, Castello Road. Airstrikes have been near-constant, and Syrian government forces and their Russian allies used aircraft to target six medical facilities in opposition-held areas of Aleppo within one week, according to the global nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).

Weekly Highlights:

Aleppo’s Healthcare in Critical Condition

Amid the blame game of warring parties in Aleppo, the healthcare system in Syria’s largest city is dying a slow and excruciating death. The week ending July 23-24 was the worst for medical facilities in opposition-controlled Aleppo in the history of the conflict. In government-controlled western Aleppo, physicians are fleeing and only three hospitals remain to serve 1.5 million residents.
A Free Syrian Army fighter walks through a street in the Amariya district in Aleppo. On the wall, someone has written “We will fight until the end [God willing]. AP/ Manu Brabo

Governing the Most Dangerous City in Syria

Aleppo has long been one of Syria’s most violent battlefields, but despite the ongoing fighting and clashes for control between various warring factions, local councils in opposition-held areas of the city continue to govern.
A Syrian man rides a motorcycle passing by a damaged building that was destroyed by airstrikes in Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo Media Center via AP

Attack in Jordan Leaves 70,000 Syrians Trapped in Desert Without Aid

Oxfam’s Camilla Jelbart Mosse spoke to Syria Deeply on the difficulties faced by aid organizations trying to reach 70,000 Syrians trapped in the desert after a suicide attack in June led Jordan to close its border and suspend aid deliveries.
Stranded Syrians carry water bottles at the Rukban border camp near northeast Jordan, on June 25, 2016. International aid organizations say little water and no food has reached the nearly 70,000 displaced Syrian stranded in the desert after Jordan sealed its border in response to a suicide attack on June 21. AP

Additional Reading:

For new reporting and analysis every weekday, visit www.newsdeeply.com/syria.
You can reach our team with any comments or suggestions at info@newsdeeply.org.

Top image: Children in eastern Aleppo burn tires as residents of the besieged city attempt to create a smokescreen to confuse government and Russian airstrikes. Khaled Khaled, Syria Civil Defense/Aleppo Media Center photographer

Syrian Network for Human Rights: The Killing of 1557 Civilians in July 2016
Including 1008 Civilians at the Hands of the Syrian and Russian regimes
I. Introduction
The report includes only the death toll of civilians that were killed by the main six influential parties in Syria:
– Government forces (Army, Security, local militias, Shiite foreign militias)
– Russian forces
– Self-management forces (consisting primarily of the Democratic Union Party forces, a branch for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party)
– Extremist Islamic groups
– Armed opposition factions
– International coalition forces
– Unidentified groups
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