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| Retrieving the body of an A'zaz infant from the rubble |
(E’zaz) – A Syrian
government fighter jet bombed a residential neighborhood, killing more than 40
civilians and wounding at least 100 others in the town of E’zaz, including many
women and children, Human Rights Watch said
today after visiting the town.
In Wednesday’s attack
at least two bombs destroyed an entire block of houses in the al-Hara al-Kablie
neighborhood of E’zaz, in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.
Human Rights Watch
investigated the site of the bombing two hours after the attack and interviewed
witnesses, victims, medical personnel, and relatives of those killed.
“This horrific attack
killed and wounded scores of civilians and destroyed a whole residential
block,” said Anna Neistat, acting emergencies director at Human Rights
Watch. “Yet again, Syrian government forces attacked with callous
disregard for civilian life.”
E’zaz residents told
Human Rights Watch that, at around 3 p.m., they saw a fighter jet drop at least
two bombs on the residential area. Within seconds, dozens of houses in an area
of approximately 70-by-70 meters – more than half a football field – were
flattened. Houses on the surrounding streets were significantly damaged,
with collapsed walls and ceilings. On the streets around the bombed area,
windows were broken and some walls had collapsed.
Two opposition Free
Syrian Army facilities in the vicinity of the attack might have been targets of
the Syrian aircraft, Human Rights Watch said. One was the headquarters of the
local Free Syrian Army brigade, in the former building of the Baath Party, two
streets away from the block that was hit. The other was a detention facility
where the Free Syrian Army held “security detainees” – government military
personnel and members of pro-government shabbeeha militia. Neither of
these facilities was damaged in the attack.
Rescuers used two
bulldozers to retrieve the dead and wounded from the ruins. By 7 p.m., medical
personnel at the scene said they had recovered 25 bodies, and were looking for
more in the rubble. A man helping to bury the bodies said that by midnight 33
people had been buried in E’zaz.
The exact number of
victims is difficult to verify. Most of the wounded were transported to
hospitals across the nearby Turkish border. A hospital volunteer in the
Turkish town of Kilis, about 20 kilometers north of E’zaz, told Human Rights
Watch 61 wounded people from E’zaz had been brought to the hospital, and
another 13 people had died either on the way to Kilis or shortly after arrival,
among them seven men, two women and four children. At least another 16 severely
wounded people were brought to a hospital in the Turkish town of Gaziantep, about
80 kilometers from E’zaz, a doctor in that hospital told Human Rights Watch.
One E’zaz resident,
“Ahmed,” told Human Rights Watch the bombing had killed at least 12 members of
his family in their home. He believed four other family members were still under
the ruins. He said:
I
was about 100 meters away from the house when I saw the airplane and heard the
sound of the bombing and destruction. My three brothers lived here. I buried 12
of my family members today, including my father, my mother, and my sister – my
brother’s wife as well. Walid, my brother, was cut into pieces. We didn’t
recognize him at first. We buried my brothers’ children also. The youngest was
40 days old.
“Ali” was weeping on
the ruins of his house. He told Human Rights Watch:
I
was on the roof, making tomato soup, when I suddenly heard the plane. I heard
several loud bangs, and was thrown to the floor. When I got up, I saw my wife
who was injured – hit in the chest by shrapnel or debris. She was taken to the
hospital – I still do not know what happened to her.
“Ayman” told Human
Rights Watch:
My
brother, sister and my father’s wife were killed today. What was Bashar
al-Assad looking for in this area? …There were no weapons here. I live far away
from my family, but when I heard the sounds of the explosion I came here and
saw all this destruction. I was here when they removed the bodies of my family
from under the rubble. Two of my killed relatives were 9 and 6 years old.
International
humanitarian law, or the laws of war, applies to all Syrian government and
armed opposition forces in Syria. The laws of war prohibit direct attacks
on civilians…
…Human Rights Watch
called on United Nations Security Council members to impose an arms embargo on
the Syrian government and targeted sanctions on government officials
responsible for abuses, and refer the Syrian conflict to the International
Criminal Court.
“Syrian forces in northern Aleppo are using heavy artillery
and aerial bombing in populated areas that kill and maim civilians every day,”
Neistat said. “All Security Council members should show that protection of
civilians means more than empty words.”
