38 Civilians Killed in a Bombing on Three Schools in Hass Village in Idlib governorate
SNHR has released the report: “The Syrian Regime Targets Children in Schools” in which the Network documents the targeting of a school complex in Hass village in Idlib on Wednesday 26 October 2016.
The report draws upon a number of accounts by residents, eyewitnesses, and survivors and highlighted two of these accounts. The report includes verified pictures and videos which showed the great destruction in the school buildings that resulted from the bombardment in addition to pictures of the children victims.
According to the report, the targeted areas are civil areas where no military centers or weapon warehouses for armed opposition factions or Extremist Islamic groups were found before or during the attack.
The report says that at 10:52 approximately, two “SU22” fixed-wing government forces warplanes targeted the southern neighborhood in Hass village where the Martyr Kamal Qal’aji school complex is located. The complex contains three schools. The bombing lasted for 20 minutes during which the warplanes dropped no less than nine missiles carried by parachutes.
The report documents the killing of 38 civilians including 18 children and six women. Among the victims were four members of the teaching staff and 14 students.
The report asserts that the Syrian regime has, beyond any doubt, violated Security Council Resolutions 2139 and 2254 which both state that indiscriminate attacks must be halted. Also, the regime violated Article 8 of Rome Statute through the act of willful killing which constitutes war crimes.
The report says that the bombardment mentioned in this report has targeted armless civilians. Therefore, government forces have violated the rules of the international human rights law which guarantee the right to life. Additionally, these violations were perpetrated in a non-international armed conflict which amount to a war crime where all elements were fulfilled.
The report calls on the Security Council to take additional steps as it has been a year since Resolution 2139 was adopted and no pledges to cease the indiscriminate bombardment operations have been made. All the conflict parties must respect these steps and adhere to the rules of the international humanitarian law.
The report says that the Syrian case must be referred to the International Criminal Court and all those who were involved must be held accountable. Also, the norm of the Responsibility to Protect must be implemented in order to protect the lives, culture, and history of the Syrian people from being destroyed, looted, and ruined. Additionally, sanctions must be expanded to include the Syrian and Iranian regimes and all of their pillars who are directly involved in committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Syrian people.
