The Syrian Regime Doesn’t Care about the Ceasefire Agreement
I. Introduction
SNHR has published its special periodic report on attacks against vital civilian facilities by the conflict parties in Syria.
The report notes that since Ankara Ceasefire Agreement went into effect in Syria, bombardment and warplanes’ airstrikes (by Syrian regime and Russian forces) rates have declined, and subsequently, the targeting of vital civilian facilities. Nonetheless, in February, attacks against vital civilian facilities by the Syrian regime forces, who is seemingly the party who would be most affected should the Ceasefire Agreement go on, returned to their former levels prior to the Ceasefire Agreement. The purpose of any documentation reports is to accurately identify and deter the perpetrators of violations.
The report documents the incidents of attack on vital civilian facilities in February where no less than 108 attacks against vital civilian facilities were recorded as follows: 73 by the Syrian regime forces, 11 by Russian forces, three by ISIS, two by armed opposition factions, one by Kurdish Self-management forces, 12 by international coalition forces, and six by other parties.
The report breaks down the facilities that have been targeted in February as follows: 43 Infrastructures, 17 vital educational facilities, 13 places of worship, 24 vital medical facilities, 5 communal facilities, 5 international humanitarian insignia, 1 refugee camps.
Furthermore, the report notes that the documented attacks were only the minimum of the actual magnitude of crimes in light of the many practical difficulties during the documentation process.
The report affirms that investigations conducted by SNHR show that there were no military centers before or during these attacks. Syrian regime forces and the other perpetrators of these crimes must justify their actions before the United Nations and the Security Council.
According to the report, the international humanitarian law considers indiscriminate, deliberate, or disproportionate attacks as unlawful attacks. Syrian regime forces’ attacks against schools, hospitals, churches, and bakeries is an utter disregard for the most basic standards of the international humanitarian law and the Security Council Resolution.
The report also notes that Russian forces, armed opposition factions, ISIS, international coalition forces, Kurdish Self-management forces, , and other parties (Includes groups that we weren’t able to identify and the Turkish, Lebanese, and Jordanian forces) have attacked some of these facilities. The indiscriminate random bombardment is a violation of the international humanitarian law and amounts to a war crime.
The report calls on the Security Council to bind all parties, especially Syrian regime forces considering that it is the main perpetrator of most of these violations, to implement Resolution 2139 and, at least, condemn the targeting of vital civilian centers that are indispensable for the lives of civilians.
Finally, the report calls on the states that support the armed opposition to cease their support for the factions that didn’t respect the international humanitarian law.