By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BEIRUT, Lebanon – At least one person was killed and two other wounded during a raid by the Lebanese army at refugee camps near the country’s border with Syria on September 25^th. The Lebanese army says it was searching for Syrian militants at the camps. The military says soldiers patrolling camp located outside the town of Arsal opened fire on men who they say were trying to set fire to tents at a neighboring camp, a statement said. Local residents disputed the military’s official version of events alleging abuse by military personnel. However, army spokesman dismissed the allegations as “lies,” adding: “Our troops act in accordance with international standards of humanitarian treatment.”

By the time the raid ended hundreds of males, including children as young as 13, had been rounded up and taken away for questioning by the military. According to the  Lebanese army, the Arsal raids resulted in the arrest of 22 Syrian men suspected of involvement in attacks against the military – bringing the total number of Syrians detained in similar military raids over the past two weeks to an estimated 450. Dozens more were reportedly freed after interrogation.

“The situation was very bad,” said Kasem al-Zein, a former field doctor for the Free Syrian Army who now runs a hospital in the border-town of Arsal. “The refugees think the raids are unjust because they haven’t done anything wrong.” al-Zein said he treated several patients suffering from smoke inhalation and a young girl with third-degree burns on her leg.

Among those detained and later released after the raids conducted last Thursday’ was Syrian refugee Sleiman Khaled, who claimed he was blindfolded, beaten and interrogated by Lebanese soldiers at an unknown location. “They took all the men randomly,” he said. “When we got there they asked for our IDs, and those who had them on hand were separated from those who didn’t. They didn’t tell us why [we were being detained], only that they suspected we were cooperating with ISIS and Nusra.”

Arsal is the first stop for many civilians fleeing war-torn Syria. However, what was once a site of refugee has become a frontline for the tensions between the Lebanese population and incoming refugees as well as the ongoing tensions between supporters of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and Syrian rebel groups. Arsal’s local refugee camps have been badly damaged by the ongoing fighting, prompting refugees to seek shelter in the town itself. Last month, Arsal was the scene of deadly clashes killed dozens and rebels captured a group of Lebanese soldiers.

Human Rights Watch reports that the Lebanese authorities failing to take adequate steps to prevent and to prosecute increasing violence by Lebanese citizens against Syrian Refugees  following  last month’s outbreak of clashes in Arsalbetween the Lebanese Army and extremist groups the Islamic State  of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front. According to Human Rights Watch, The attacks against Syrians, most of them refugees, are being carried out in “a climate of official indifference and discrimination, with the violence appearing in some cases to be attempts to expel Syrians from specific neighborhoods or to enforce curfews.”

“Lebanon’s security forces should protect everyone on Lebanese soil, not turn a blind eye to vigilante groups who are terrorizing refugees,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The security forces have a duty to protect all persons in Lebanon, whatever their nationality.”

Human Rights Watch documented 11 violent attacks in August and September against unarmed Syrians or those perceived to be Syrian by Lebanese citizens, including attacks with guns and knives. In at least four of these instances, witnesses reported that the attacks took place in full view of Lebanese security forces, who did not intervene.

For more information please see:

Human Rights Watch – Lebanon: Rising Violence Targets Syrian Refugees – 30 September 2014

Al Jazeera – Lebanon Refugee-Camp Raids Fuel Resentment – 28September 2014

BBC News – Lebanese Army Raids Syrian Refugee Camps in Arsal – 25 September 2014

Reuters – After Border Town Attack, Syrians’ Welcome in Lebanon Wears Even Thinner – 24 September 2014

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

United Nations Headquarters, United Nations – More than two dozen foreign ministers have urged permanent members of United Nations Security Council to avoid using the veto power in matters that involve mass atrocities including genocide. The Security Council has been criticized for failing to produce resolution to respond to mass-atrocities committed by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups including the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) during the Syrian civil war which has raged on for more than three years. Several resolutions on Syria proposed by members of the United Nation’s most powerful body have been vetoed by Russia and China.

France, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council is proposing that the France, The United States and The United Kingdom voluntarily refrain from using the veto in what French foreign minister Laurent Fabius called “mass crimes”. “We cannot stay paralyzed,” He said calling for an agreement by next year’s 70th anniversary of the UN’s founding.

Sir Mark Lyall Grant, The United Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United Nations, expressed support for France’s proposal saying, “The UK is appalled by its recent abuse at the expense of millions of suffering civilians.” United States Ambassador Samantha Power  did not express specific support for the Fabius’ proposal but criticizes the China and Russia’s vetoes on the Syrian issue, the United States has used its veto power more than two dozen times on issues involving Israel.

“We can even ask ourselves whether ISIL would have gained the foothold it has if the Security Council had been able to come together,” she said, using an acronym for the Islamic State extremist group that has seized huge parts of both Syria and Iraq. Neither Russia nor China sent its ambassador to United Nations to the meeting and China’s representative suggested that Security Council members should “fully consult” with each other to keep disputed draft resolutions from reaching a vote.

Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin has maintained that Russia will oppose any change to veto rules. Vitaly Churkin’s deputy Alexander Pankin reiterated Russia’s concerns asking what mechanism the UN Secretary General would resort to in order to limit a Security Council member state’s right to use veto. Russia’s representative said the veto repeatedly protected the council from “doubtful undertakings” and asked skeptically how secretary general Ban Ki-Moon would determine what qualified as a mass atrocity. Earlier this year Ban Ki-moon called Syrian conflict an “extraordinarily brutal war” and warned that the UN’s credibility would suffer if was unable to help end it.

Earlier this year both Russia and China vetoed a draft UN resolution calling for the crisis in Syria to be referred to the international criminal court – ignoring support for the measure by 65 other states and all 13 remaining members of the Security Council. Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, dismissed that vote as a “publicity stunt.

“Moscow and Beijing can veto a resolution but they can’t suppress the desire for justice by the Syrian people and the dozens of governments that stood for their rights,” said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch in response to the vetoes. “With the Syrian crisis entering a fourth year, atrocities raging on all sides, and the death toll skyrocketing well over 150,000, Russia and China’s vote for continued impunity is a disgrace.”

For more information please see:

Irish Independent – UN’s Big Guns Urged to Limit Veto – 26 September 2014

RIA Novosti (Russian State Media) – Russia Vows to Oppose Push to Change UN Veto Rules – 26 September 2014

The Associated Press – Security Council Urged to Spare Veto in Atrocities – 25 September 2014

The Guardian – Russia and China Veto UN Move to Refer Syria to International Criminal Court – 22 May 2014

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – As U.S. and Coalition forces target the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and the Khorasan group in Syria the Assad regime continues the tighten its grip on communities near the capital, targeting rebel held communities. Syrian forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad overran rebels in Adra al-Omalia, a town 30 km northeast of the Syrian capital. Syrian State Media, SANA reported that the armed forces had “imposed their control over the town of Adra al-Omalia and eliminated a number of terrorists.” SANA reported that Syrian soldiers were combing the area and clearing out explosives planted by armed groups. The raids were an important advancement for the Assad Regime which is attempting to strengthen its grip over the areas around Central Damascus. Assad’s forces, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, have been gradually extending control over a corridor of strategic territory that reaches from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, confirmed that the government had taken control of Adra al-Omalia after clashes with rebels including some fighters from the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, whose assets have also been targeted by U.S. air strikes. The United States considers the Nusra Front a terrorist organization. The Observatory earlier reported that at least 29 people – 18 of them rebel fighters – died during fighting on Wednesday between rebels and government forces in the outskirts of Damascus. Fighting still regularly kills nearly 200 people a day Syria.

Syrian opposition activists warn that the continued U.S. and Coalition Airstrikes in Syria may ultimately help the Assad regime if regime assets are not targeted in the strikes. The Assad regime is a primary target of ISIS fighting, the regime views the ISIS organization as continued threat and could use the airstrikes as indirect aid to reclaim territory taken by the ISIS group and as an opportunity to open new ground battles against the militants.

The Coalition strategy against ISIS may incentives the Assad regime ramp up fighting against the Free Syrian Army and other moderate fighters out of fears that these groups will receive increased aid from the international community. United States President Barack Obama has lobbied for increased military aid and training to moderate Syrian rebels as a potential proxy force to fight ISIS militants on the ground in Syria. This firepower would likely ultimately be turned against the Assad regime.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Syrian Army Overruns Town Near Damascus – 25 September 2014
The Jerusalem Post – Report: Syrian Army Retakes Area Northeast Of Damascus – 25 September 2014
Reuters – Syrian Army Extends Grip In Town Northeast Of Damascus – 25 September 2014
The Washington Post – U.S.-Led Airstrikes Could Open New Fronts For Syrian Battles Against Islamic State – 25 September 2014