Bombings by Unidentified Parties Accounted for 24 Percent of all July’s Deaths and Resulted in Two Different Massacres
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Press release: (Download the full report below)
The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed in its latest monthly report, released today, that 55 civilians were killed in Syria, in July 2023, including 16 children, four women, and three individuals who died due to torture. The report notes that bombings by unidentified parties accounted for 24 percent of all July’s deaths and resulted in two massacres.
The 17-page report provides details on the death toll of victims documented as having been killed by the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria in July 2023, particularly focusing on the most notable deaths that occurred during this period. The report also sheds light on SNHR’s work concerning the issue of extrajudicial killing.
The report draws upon the information gathered from our constant daily monitoring of news and developments, through SNHR’s extensive network of relations with various sources, in addition to our analysis of numerous photographs and videos.
The report reveals that the Syrian regime has failed to register the deaths of any of the hundreds of thousands of citizens it killed since March 2011 in the civil registry’s death records, adding that the regime exerts absolute control over the issuing of death certificates, which are not made available to any of the families of its victims, including the missing and forcibly disappeared, whether these victims were killed at the hands of the Syrian regime or by other affiliated parties. The Syrian regime only allows death certificates to be issued for those who meet the narrow criteria set by the regime and its security services. The report further notes that the vast majority of victims’ families are unable to obtain death certificates from the regime, for fear of linking their names to those of individuals detained by the regime and killed under torture, since this would mean that these family members were dissidents who opposed the regime, or that their loved ones would be registered as ‘terrorists’ if they are wanted by the regime’s security services; additionally, many victims’ families have been forcibly displaced outside the areas controlled by the regime.
The report further reveals that on August 10, 2022, the regime government’s Minister of Justice issued Circular No. 22 specifying the procedures for the conduct of proceedings related to registering deaths at Sharia courts. The circular included new conditions stipulating that five items of evidence must be submitted to and approved by the relevant judges in proceedings related to the registration of deaths. It also requires that all relevant courts involved in death registration cases comply with the circular’s content. The circular also imposed security clearance conditions on judicial authorities for the registration of death cases, increasing the security services’ intrusion into these legal procedures.
The report documents the killing of 55 civilians, including 16 children and four women (adult female) at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria in July 2023. Of this total, the Syrian regime was responsible for the killing of eight civilians, including one child and a woman, while Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) killed four civilians, including three children, and one civilian was killed by international coalition forces. Furthermore, all armed opposition factions/Syrian National Army (SNA) killed three civilians, including two children, while Russian forces killed one civilian this month. The remaining 38 civilians, including 10 children and three women, were killed by other parties. The report also notes that July saw two massacres at the hands of other parties, in which 13 civilians, including five children and one woman, were killed. Lastly, the report documents the killing of one Civil Defense (White Helmets) worker at the hands of Syrian regime forces in July.
As the report reveals, Aleppo saw the highest number of victims this month, accounting for approximately 37.5 percent of all victims killed in July, followed by Daraa governorate with approximately 25 percent. Most of the victims killed in the two governorates were killed by other parties.
As the report further reveals, five civilians, including one child and one woman, were killed by landmine explosions across Syria during July, bringing the total number of victims killed by landmines since the beginning of 2023 to 91 civilians, including 20 children and eight women.
Furthermore, the report notes that SNHR documented the deaths of three individuals due to torture at the hands of Syrian regime forces in July. The Syrian regime is responsible for the deaths of approximately 39 percent of all victims documented as having died due to torture since the beginning of 2023 at the hands of the parties to the conflict and controlling forces in Syria. March 2023 saw the highest monthly number of victims documented as dying due to torture so far this year, accounting for 31 percent of all this year’s victims to date.
As the report further reveals, the evidence collected by SNHR indicates that some of the attacks documented in the report were deliberately directed against civilians and civilian objects. These attacks, along with indiscriminate bombardment, also resulted in the destruction of vital facilities and buildings. The report additionally notes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the war crime of attacking civilians has been committed in many cases.
As the report also notes, the use of remote bombardment to target densely populated areas reflects a criminal mindset intent on deliberately inflicting the greatest possible number of deaths, which is a clear contravention of international human rights law and a flagrant violation of the Geneva VI Convention, Articles 27, 31, and 32.
The report calls on the UN Security Council to take additional steps following its adoption of Resolution 2254 and stresses the importance of referring the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court, adding that all those involved in perpetrating crimes against humanity and war crimes should be held accountable.
The report also requests that all relevant United Nations agencies make greater efforts to provide food, medical, and humanitarian assistance in areas where fighting has ceased, and in internally displaced persons’ camps, and to follow up with those states that have pledged voluntary contributions.
The report additionally calls for the implementation of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine (R2P) after all political channels have proved fruitless throughout all the agreements reached, as well as the Cessation of Hostilities statements, and Astana agreements that followed, stressing the need to resort to Chapter VII, and to implement the norm of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly.
The report further recommends that the international community should work to launch projects to create maps revealing the locations of landmines and cluster munitions in all Syrian governorates. This would facilitate the process of clearing these lethal munitions and educating the population about their locations.
The report additionally calls on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) to launch investigations into the cases included in this report and previous reports and confirms the SNHR’s willingness to cooperate and to provide further evidence and data in any such investigations, as well as calling on the commission to focus on the issue of landmines and cluster munitions in its next report.
The report also stresses that the Syrian regime must stop the indiscriminate shelling and targeting of residential areas, hospitals, schools, and markets, as well as ending its acts of torture that have caused the deaths of thousands of Syrian citizens in detention centers and comply with UN Security Council resolutions and customary humanitarian law.
Lastly, the report reiterates its call on all the parties to the conflict to provide detailed maps of the locations where they have planted landmines, especially those present in civilian locations or areas near residential communities, as well as making several additional recommendations