The Fall of the Assad Regime: Remembering Violations and Accountability Prospects
Available in:
Press Release:
The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights has issued its fourteenth annual report since the outbreak of the popular uprising of March 2011, which monitored the human rights situation in Syria in 2024. The report, titled: “The Fall of the Assad Regime: Remembering Violations and Accountability Prospects”, explored the most notable violations that were documented by SNHR, noting that the all parties to the conflict committed grave violations, yet Bashar al-Assad Regime, supported by his two allies Russia and Iran, was responsible for 90% of these violations -some of which amounts to crimes against humanity and war crimes. The report provides a full analysis of the human rights situation in Syria in 2024 and sheds the light on the continued violations and main issues that are still affecting the Syrian People.
Continuation of Violations
The year 2024 witnessed continued violations against civilians across Syria, most notably:
- Civilian casualties and targeted attacks: Airstrikes and ground attacks on residential areas resulted in massive civilian casualties.
- Enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention: These practices remained a primary tool of repression used by all parties to the conflict, causing immense psychological and physical suffering for the families of the disappeared, who live in constant anxiety over the fate of their loved ones.
- Torture: The report documented numerous cases of death under torture in detention centers, reflecting a systematic culture of fear and oppression.
- Attacks on vital facilities: Attacks on civilian infrastructure have caused widespread destruction and deprived millions of Syrians of essential health and education services, exacerbating social chaos.
The Fall of the Bashar al-Assad Regime
The fall of Bashar al-Assad Regime on December 8, 2024, was the most significant event of the year. This followed the launch of Operation Deterrence of Aggression on November 27 to retake areas previously under his control. Despite its collapse, the regime and its allies committed grave violations in their attempts to counter the military operation. Most notably:
- Indiscriminate attacks: These have killed and injured hundreds of civilians and destroyed vital facilities.
- Mass arrests and forced conscription: Young men were immediately taken to the battlefronts after their arrest.
- Use of indiscriminate weapons: Such as barrel bombs, cluster munitions, and incendiary devices, resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties.
The Humanitarian Disaster after the Fall of the Regime
With the fall of the regime, the crisis of the forcibly disappeared emerged as one of the most serious national disasters. Despite the release of thousands of detainees in the final weeks of 2024, approximately 112,000 Syrian citizens remain forcibly disappeared since 2011, meaning hundreds of thousands of families live in hope of finding their loved ones.
The circulation of rumors about the existence of secret detention centers, and the influx of families and activists to these sites, has led to the tampering with crime scenes and the destruction of forensic evidence. The philosophy of enforced disappearance perpetuates the psychological and physical suffering of victims’ families by systematically spreading rumors and creating confusion. The Syrian Network for Human Rights believes that protecting these sites and preserving their evidence should have been a top priority following their liberation.
Shifts after the Fall of the Regime
For the first time since 2011, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) has been able to enter Syrian territory, and teams from the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM), along with the Institution for Missing Persons, have begun their work inside the country.
Report Message
The report constitutes a historical document that documents the extent of the violations suffered by the Syrian people, and a testament to their resilience and determination to achieve justice, dignity, and freedom. Its findings confirm the heavy price Syrians have paid for their legitimate demands. While documentation of violations and the exposure of those responsible continues, the primary goal remains to hold those involved accountable, particularly those involved in crimes against humanity, and to ensure that former regime figures are not re-emerged in the new Syrian administration, paving the way for the construction of a democratic Syria that embraces all its people.
The executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Fadel Abdulghany, said:
“This report comes at a pivotal historical moment, marked by the fall of the Assad regime, one of the most brutal regimes in the history of Syria and the region, leaving behind a heavy legacy of suffering and millions of victims. At the Syrian Network for Human Rights, we believe that justice and accountability are not just an option, but a fundamental necessity for achieving civil peace and building a new Syria. Therefore, we call for a comprehensive transitional justice process that redresses all victims and puts an end to impunity. We need urgent international and UN support to complete this complex process. This is a sincere call to all who believe in a stable and prosperous Syria based on justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators of violations.”
Report Content
The report is divided into three chapters, covering the following:
- Violations in 2024: Reviewing the most prominent patterns of violations documented by the network.
- Context of Violations: Linking the incidents to the political, human rights, and military circumstances in Syria during the year.
- Legal Reference: The report relied on international humanitarian law and international human rights law to assess the violations, noting the Assad regime’s violations of the constitution and domestic laws.
Report Limitations
This report represents the bare minimum of what SNHR has been able to document in terms of the scale and severity of the violations. It should be noted that the extended context of these violations since March 2011 makes it difficult to separate ongoing violations from the accumulation of past abuses. SNHR emphasizes that the report does not address the social, economic, and psychological aspects of these violations, focusing directly on documenting crimes and attacks.
- Summary of the most prominent violations in 2024
Extrajudicial Killing
According to SNHR’s database, 1,264 civilians, including 242 children and 118 women (adult females), were documented killed by parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria during 2024. Responsibility was distributed as follows:
Bashar al-Assad Regime: killed 356 civilians, including 92 children and 40 women, and committed 14 massacres.
Russian forces: killed 29 civilians, including 9 children and 2 women, and committed two massacres.
ISIS: killed 4 civilians, including 1 child.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham: killed 21 civilians, including 1 child and 2 women.
Armed opposition factions/SNA: killed 25 civilians, including 4 children and 3 women.
Syrian Democratic Forces: killed 166 civilians, including 23 children and 6 women, and committed two massacres.
US-led International Coalition forces: killed 1 child.
Other parties: killed 662 civilians, including 111 children and 65 women, and committed at least 14 massacres.
Arbitrary Arrest and Unlawful Detention
The number of arbitrary arrests and detentions in 2024 amounted to approximately 2,623 cases, including 124 children and 72 women. These cases were distributed as follows:
Bashar al-Assad regime: 1,362 cases, including 32 children and 38 women.
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham: 257 cases, including 3 children and 10 women.
Armed opposition factions/SNA: 423 cases, including 10 children and 16 women.
Syrian Democratic Forces: 581 cases, including 79 children and 8 women.
Deaths due to Torture
The report recorded the deaths of at least 86 people as a result of torture in 2024, distributed as follows:
Bashar al-Assad regime: 52 victims, including two children.
Syrian Democratic Forces: 10 victims, including two children.
Armed opposition factions/SNA: 6 victims.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham: 17 victims.
Other parties: 1 victim.
Violations against Medical and Media Personnel
The report documented the killing of 15 medical personnel, including one woman. Six of them were killed by Assad regime forces, and nine by other parties.
Six media personnel were also killed, five by Assad regime forces, and one by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Attacks on Vital Civilian Facilities
At least 197 attacks on vital civilian facilities were recorded in 2024, perpetrated by parties to the conflict and controlling forces, distributed as follows:
Bashar al-Assad regime forces: 125 incidents.
Russian forces: 11 incidents.
Armed opposition factions/SNA: 7 incidents.
Syrian Democratic Forces: 10 incidents.
Other parties: 44 incidents.
Unlawful Attacks
In 2024, the report documented:
Two cluster munition attacks carried out by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Aleppo governorate, resulting in the injury of approximately 11 people, including five children and two women.
Three incendiary weapons attacks, all by regime forces, resulting in the death of one civilian and the injury of another.
38-barrel bombs dropped on Idlib and Hama governorates by regime aircraft, resulting in the deaths of five civilians, including three women.
Forced Displacement
SNHR estimates that military operations carried out by parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria caused the displacement of nearly 700,000 civilians during 2024.
The report concluded with a number of conclusions and recommendations.
The Report’s Most Notable Conclusions
- Bashar Assad’s regime is responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes
- The Assad regime of Bashar Assad failed to fulfill its primary responsibility to protect the population from atrocious crimes and was even implicated in their commission on a large scale, which required international intervention in accordance with the principle of the responsibility to protect (R2P).
- Documented crimes include extrajudicial killings, systematic torture, forced displacement, indiscriminate shelling, and destruction of civilian buildings, which amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
- Despite UN Security Council resolutions (such as Resolutions 2139 and 2254) and other UN resolutions, the Assad regime has continued its violations with impunity, benefiting from Russian and Chinese political support and Western silence.
- Torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance
- Torture in the Assad regime’s detention centers is systematic and widespread, as we have proven that these practices are carried out under the direct direction of the Assad regime’s leadership, with the knowledge of the President of the Republic, and in coordination with the Ministries of Defense and Interior, and the security services.
- Arbitrary arrests are carried out without a real legal basis, relying on confessions extracted under torture. Consequently, the Assad regime has been operating outside a proper framework of justice.
- The issue of forcibly disappeared persons
- Most forcibly disappeared persons died under torture or as a result of inhumane conditions of detention, yet their bodies have not been returned or their fate revealed, keeping them in a state of enforced disappearance.
- Ending enforced disappearances requires full disclosure of the fate of victims, returning their remains to their families, and holding those responsible accountable.
- These issues require immediate and intensive action by the current authorities to ensure justice on this complex humanitarian issue.
- IDPs suffering
- Northwestern Syria hosts the largest number of IDPs as a result of the Assad regime’s violations, including systematic bombardment of their gathering areas.
- The catastrophic effects of violations on the Syrian social fabric
- The massive accumulation of catastrophic violations committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime over 14 years contributed to the collapse of the Syrian state. The regime was like a cancerous body that had penetrated all institutions, making it impossible to achieve reforms without a radical political transition.
The Report’s Most Notable Recommendations
- The transitional authorities must immediately address the issues of detainees and forcibly disappeared persons, including revealing their fate and returning their remains to their families.
- Transitional authorities also need to fully cooperate with international bodies and courts with universal jurisdiction to ensure that those involved in crimes are held accountable.
- Strengthen the role of Syrian civil society and human rights organizations in documenting violations and ensuring their independence.
- Develop comprehensive demining and residential security mechanisms, involving the community in these processes.
- Provide a secure and neutral environment for the formation of a governing council that represents the components of the Syrian people and restores confidence in national institutions. This governing council shall be the nucleus for the formation of a transitional justice body.
To the UN Security Council and the UN
- Support documentation of violations and accountability
Support organizations that document cases of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and torture, while strengthening international accountability mechanisms. Victim rehabilitation programmes and psychosocial support should also be supported. - Refer crimes to the ICC
Ensure that Syria is referred to the ICC or establish a special tribunal to try those responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes. - Refugee protection
Ensure the security and safety of millions of Syrian refugees, especially women and children, and prevent any country from forcibly returning refugees to Syria.
- Demining
Allocate funding from the UN Mine Action Fund to remove the landmines planted during conflict, focusing on the most affected areas, and ensure transparency in the implementation of these tasks.
To the international community
-
- Bashar Assad and his family, to international or national courts.
- International cooperation in support of justice
Support the efforts of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP) and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) by providing the necessary resources to identify the missing and training local cadres on the use of modern documentation technologies.
- Support the transitional justice process
- Provide support for the establishment of local national institutions in each governorate that address missing persons issues and hold accountable those responsible for crimes.
- Strengthen national reconciliation programs through psychosocial support for families of the missing and work to reduce societal divisions.
