Thousands of homes deliberately razed in Syria

Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus in July (top) and September 2012

Mazzeh area of Damascus in February (top) and July 2013

Satellite imagery, witness statements, and video and photographic evidence show that Syrian authorities deliberately and unlawfully demolished thousands of residential buildings in Damascus and Hama in 2012 and 2013, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.  



The 38-page report, “Razed to the Ground: Syria’s Unlawful Neighborhood Demolitions in 2012-2013,” documents seven cases of large-scale demolitions with explosives and bulldozers that violated the laws of war.

The demolitions either served no necessary military purpose and appeared to intentionally punish the civilian population or caused disproportionate harm to civilians, Human Rights Watch found.


“Wiping entire neighborhoods off the map is not a legitimate tactic of war,” said Ole Solvang, emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “These unlawful demolitions are the latest additions to a long list of crimes committed by the Syrian government.” 

The Syrian government, as part of its Geneva-2 negotiations, should make a commitment to immediately end demolitions that violate international law and to compensate and provide alternative housing to the victims, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations Security Council should refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).  

The seven cases Human Rights Watch documented took place between July 2012 and July 2013 in the following areas: the Masha’ al-Arb’een and Wadi al-Joz neighborhoods in Hama, and the Qaboun, Tadamon, Barzeh, Mazzeh military airport, and Harran Al-‘Awamid neighborhoods in and near Damascus.  


The total building area demolished, based on analysis of the satellite imagery, is at least 145 hectares – an area equivalent to about 200 soccer fields. Many of the demolished buildings were apartment blocks several stories high, some as many as eight. Thousands of families have lost their homes as a result of these demolitions.

All of the affected neighborhoods were widely considered by the authorities and by witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch to be opposition strongholds.  
 

Government officials and pro-government media outlets have claimed that the demolitions were part of urban planning efforts or removal of illegally constructed buildings. However, the demolitions were supervised by military forces and often followed fighting in the areas between government and opposition forces.

As far as Human Rights Watch has been able to determine, there have been no similar demolitions in areas that generally support the government, although many houses in those areas were also allegedly built without the necessary permits. 

These circumstances, as well as witness statements and more candid statements by government officials reported in the media, indicate that the demolitions were related to the armed conflict and either served no necessary military purpose and appeared to intentionally punish the civilian population, or caused disproportionate harm to civilians in violation of the laws of war.   

One woman who lived near Wadi al-Joz, one of the demolished neighborhoods in Hama, told Human Rights Watch: “After the demolition in Wadi al-Joz, the army came to our neighborhood with loudspeakers. They said that they would destroy our neighborhood like they destroyed Wadi al-Joz and Masha’ al-Arb’een should a single bullet be fired from here.”

Several owners of houses that were demolished contended that contrary to the government’s stated pretext for the demolitions, they had all the necessary permits and documents for their houses. 

Commenting on the demolitions in an interview with an international journalist in October 2012, the governor of the Damascus countryside, Hussein Makhlouf, also explicitly stated that the demolitions were essential to drive out opposition fighters. 
 
Some of the demolitions took place around government military or strategic sites that opposition forces had attacked. While the authorities might have been justified in taking some targeted measures to protect these military or strategic locations, the destruction of hundreds of residential buildings, in some cases kilometers away, appears to have been disproportionate and to have violated international law.     
 


Local residents told Human Rights Watch government forces gave little or no warning of the demolitions, making it impossible for them to remove most of their belongings. Owners interviewed by Human Rights Watch also said they had received no compensation. 


One local restaurant owner from the Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus told Human Rights Watch security forces arrived one morning unannounced with bulldozers and ordered him to leave the premises: “When I asked why, the soldier said ‘no more questions’ or else I would be detained.” 
 
He said they denied permission to remove anything from the restaurant and forced him to leave on foot, leaving his motorcycle behind.

“As I was walking I looked back and I saw the bulldozer demolishing my shop,” he said. “The shop was opened by my grandfather many years ago. I personally managed the restaurant for eight years. Before my eyes, all of my family’s hard work was destroyed in one second.”


The report is based on detailed analysis of 15 “very-high resolution” commercial satellite images and interviews with 16 witnesses to the demolitions and owners whose houses were demolished.

In addition, Human Rights Watch reviewed media reports, government decrees, and videos of the destruction and its aftermath posted on YouTube. 



“No one should be fooled by the government’s claim that it is undertaking urban planning in the middle of a bloody conflict,” Solvang said. “This was collective punishment of communities suspected of supporting the rebellion. The UN Security Council should, with an ICC referral, send a clear message that cover-ups and government impunity won’t stand in the way of justice for victims.” 

Syrian rebel tanks roll into the frontline

Syrian rebel tanks rolling into the field of battle yesterday

I have seen tank kills by Syrian rebels using anti-tank guided missiles.

I have also seen rebels driving away tanks captured from Syrian army facilities.

But it is the first time I see rebels in a tank formation rolling into Reef Dimashq (see above my screen grabs from a video posted on YouTube yesterday afternoon).

The formation included one or more of the following: T-72, BMP, Shilka and APC.

As I hinted in yesterday’s post, the Syrian rebels seem to have seized back the military initiative, launching major offensives against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad on several fronts.

They used tanks and heavy artillery to advance to within 12 miles of the Assad family’s mountain hometown of Qardaha in the province of Latakia, according to activists and human rights groups quoted by the Washington Post.

Videos posted by rebel groups on YouTube showed tanks firing on mountain villages and rebel groups raising their flags over captured government positions in four villages belonging to members of Assad’s minority Alawite-cum-Shiite sect.

The Latakia Coordination Committee said scores of Alawites had fled from the countryside into the city.

Charles Lister of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center said the scale of the offensive, which appeared to be the biggest yet in Assad’s heartland, would come as a blow to the recent confidence displayed by the regime.

Aleppo's central prison under fire

Rebels in the northern province of Aleppo are meanwhile pounding Aleppo’s central prison ahead of storming it to free some 4,000 men and women being held there.

They are also threatening to seize Nubl and Zahra, two Shiite villages loyal to Assad. Activists say Assad’s allies, among them fighters from Iran and Hezbollah, had reinforced both villages.

The rebels had earlier revealed a list of six demands, including the surrender of Assad forces and their weapons, followed by a power sharing deal between the villagers and the rebels.

Assad said yesterday the country's crisis can only be solved by using an “iron fist” to eradicate “terror.”

Speaking at an Iftar meal in the countdown to the end of Ramadan, he also dismissed the political opposition as a “flop” that could play no role in solving the country's brutal war.

“No solution can be reached with terror except by striking it with an iron fist,” Assad said.

“I don't think any sane human being would think terrorism can be dealt with via politics… There may be a role for politics in dealing with terrorism preemptively,” but as soon as “terrorism” rears its head, it has to be struck down.

Also yesterday, Assad got cheering words from Tehran, where his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rohani said the Islamic Republic’s strong support of the Syrian president is unflinching.

“No force on earth can destabilize or undermine the deep-rooted, historic and strategic relations between the two friendly peoples and countries," Rohani told Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halki, who was in Tehran for the Iranian president’s inauguration.

In New York, Human Rights Watch today said in a press release: “Ballistic missiles fired by the Syrian military are hitting populated areas, causing large numbers of civilian deaths, including many children.

“The most recent attack Human Rights Watch investigated, in Aleppo governorate on July 26, 2013, killed at least 33 civilians, including 17 children.



“Human Rights Watch has investigated nine apparent ballistic missile attacks on populated areas that killed at least 215 people that local residents identified as civilians, including 100 children, between February and July.

“It visited seven of the sites. There were no apparent military targets in the vicinity of seven of the nine attacks investigated by Human Rights Watch. In two cases there were nearby military objectives that may have been the government force’s intended targets, but were not struck in either attack…”

Syria averaging 6,000 refugees and 165 deaths daily

Two Saudi mobile bakery trucks to produce 70,000 Arabic pita bread loaves a day

On royal orders, the “Saudi National Campaign to Support the Syrian Brethren” yesterday started operating two massive mobile bakery trucks at two Turkey-Syria border crossings.

Each of the trucks has the capacity to produce 35,000 Arabic pita bread loaves a day for distribution to displaced Syrians in Turkey and contiguous Syrian areas.

One truck was parked at the Bab al-Salam border gate, the other at the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

In New York, three UN officials told the Security Council the conflict in Syria has caused the world's worst refugee crisis for 20 years, with an average of 6,000 people fleeing every day -- and another 5,000 killed every month -- in 2013.

UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said refugee numbers had not risen "at such a frightening rate" since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

He was speaking to the UN Security Council, which also heard UN assistant secretary general for human rights Ivan Simonovic say that 5,000 Syrians are being killed each month.

UN aid chief Valerie Amos said at least 6.8 million Syrians needed urgent help.

Since the uprising in March 2011 as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighboring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced. In addition, at least 6.8 million Syrian require urgent humanitarian assistance, half of them children.

GUTERRES

Guterres said two-thirds of the nearly 2 million refugees registered with the UN had fled Syria since the beginning of the year -- an average of 6,000 a day.

"We have not seen a refugee outflow escalate at such a frightening rate since the Rwandan genocide almost 20 years ago," he told a rare public briefing to the Security Council.

Guterres said the impact of the refugee crisis on neighboring countries was "crushing," but said the acceptance of Syrians by countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq was "saving hundreds of thousands of lives."

And he said the "danger that the Syrian conflict could ignite the whole region" was "not an empty warning.”

Lebanon and Jordan are currently the two most affected countries, hosting over one million refugees between them.

“Measures must be taken now to mitigate the enormous risks of spillover and to support the stability of Syria's neighbors, so as to keep the situation from escalating into a political, security and humanitarian crisis that would move far beyond the international capacity to respond,” he said.

SIMONOVIC

Simonovic told the meeting some 5,000 lives were being claimed in Syria each month, demonstrating "a drastic deterioration of the conflict.”

"In Syria today, serious human rights abuses, war crimes and crimes against humanity are the rule," he said.

“Government forces carry on with indiscriminate and disproportionate shelling and aerial bombardments, using among other weapons tactical ballistic missiles, cluster and thermobaric bombs, all causing extensive damage and casualties if used in densely populated areas,” Simonovic said.

AMOS

Ms Amos said $3.1bn was still needed to provide aid in and around Syria for the rest of the year, and she accused both sides in Syria of "systematically and in many cases deliberately" failing in their obligation to protect civilians.

"We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people," she said.

Ms. Amos said while UN agencies continue to deliver assistance, gaps in the humanitarian response remain as access to many affected areas such as Homs and Aleppo is difficult due to security concerns or government restrictions.

“While we know where those considered most vulnerable are located, humanitarian organizations are still not able to get regular, consistent and unimpeded access to millions of affected people,” she said, adding the government has also imposed bureaucratic procedures which have impeded humanitarian workers to access affected areas.

“Some locations remain inaccessible due to active fighting or insecurity. However, there are other areas, sometimes only a few kilometers away from our offices -- including in Damascus and Homs -- where we are not granted authorization to enter.”

Ms. Amos noted that the situation inside the country has worsened, with reports indicating an “open and blatant violation of the rules of war, with total disregard for human life and dignity, in a climate of generalized impunity.”

Denial of access to Qusayr

Denial of humanitarian access and safe passage to civilians trapped in fighting in violation of the laws of war has been a recurring issue during the Syrian armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said in a report on the eve of the UN Security Council meeting.

A recent Human Rights Watch investigation into the government and Hezbollah attack on Qusayr, near Homs, found the government’s refusal to allow humanitarian organizations access to the town appears to have contributed to several dozen deaths because no safe evacuation routes were available to civilians, and wounded people were denied adequate medical care.

“Many lives in Qusayr might have been saved if the Syrian government had allowed aid organizations to do their job,” said Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch. “When people are dying every day, Security Council members should be calling for humanitarian access, not hiding behind political negotiations.”

Several governments and high-level UN officials called on the Syrian government to grant humanitarian access to Qusayr during the fighting in May and June. But the Security Council did not issue a statement on access until the fighting was over due to obstruction by Russia. Russia also blocked a subsequent Security Council statement on Homs where the government is imposing a siege on opposition-controlled areas…

Human Rights Watch interviews with witnesses from Qusayr, including three doctors who had reached Lebanon, indicates that several dozen civilians and wounded may have died from lack of medical treatment in the town and during the evacuation, or during possibly unlawful government attacks on those trying to escape…


On May 19, Syrian government forces, supported by a significant number of Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, began a major offensive to retake Qusayr, a Syrian town of about 30,000 people on the border with Lebanon. Opposition forces had largely controlled the strategically important town since July 2012.

For two weeks, government forces subjected the town to intensive bombardment and enforced a siege, preventing food, medical supplies, and other necessities from reaching civilians who remained in the town.

In the months leading up to, and particularly during, the two-week battle for Qusayr, government forces maintained a siege on the town, preventing food, water, fuel, and medical supplies from entering. The lack of electricity and potable water in the town exacerbated the situation…

Dr. Qassem al-Zein, one of the few remaining medical staff in the town during the siege, told Human Rights Watch they tried to bring medical supplies into town through the government checkpoints, but government forces always confiscated the supplies. Cars attempting to smuggle in supplies were attacked on several occasions, he said...


The government’s refusal to allow access to the town by the International Committee of the Red Cross, or other independent humanitarian actors who could have facilitated evacuation of civilians and treated the wounded, appears to have contributed to several dozen deaths… 

Several witnesses told Human Rights Watch about a failed attempt to evacuate 50 wounded civilians and fighters by car in the evening on May 25, for example. About five kilometers north of the town government forces opened fire from a checkpoint, killing 13 people. Those killed included a father whose child lost both legs in the attack…




Information from witnesses indicates that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of civilians and wounded remained in Qusayr on June 4, the day before government forces took control of the town…



Dr. al-Zein told Human Rights Watch he believed the group fleeing Qusayr and neighboring villages consisted of at least 10,000 people altogether, including 1,300 wounded. Others put the total number as high as 15,000.

After rumors started circulating in Qusayr that opposition forces would soon have to abandon the town, civilians started leaving in large numbers on the afternoon of June 4…

Local residents who evacuated on June 4 and 5 said government forces attacked the evacuating groups.



The groups of fleeing civilians, wounded, and fighters came under intensive attacks as they tried to cross the Homs-Damascus highway… during the night of June 7.



The number killed during the evacuation is unknown and estimates vary widely. An activist who is collecting names of those killed during the evacuation provided Human Rights Watch with a list of the names of 29 people killed at the crossing alone. Dozens are still missing, however, according to the activist.

According to medical staff and others, at least 13 people who had been wounded previously died due to lack of medical care, food, and water during the evacuation…



In one case, Walid Khaled Sharouf, an 18-year-old who was wounded in Qusayr by shrapnel in his chest during an airstrike in May died while attempting to flee because he did not get a needed blood transfusion.



Witnesses told Human Rights Watch about two incidents in which convoys evacuating wounded, civilians, and fighters struck anti-vehicle landmines that government forces planted on secondary routes. One man who was helping to evacuate people to the hospital in Yabroud on June 9 told Human Rights Watch:

There were about 30 cars in our convoy. This was the only road that the FSA [opposition Free Syria Army] could use to evacuate wounded. When the first car exploded on a landmine, the drivers in the other cars panicked, trying to turn around their cars. Two more cars hit landmines. A tank shell hit the fourth. All the people in the cars died, both wounded and fighters… 

HRW visits Assad torture chambers in Raqqa

Clockwise from top left, HRW's Lama Faqih, HRW researchers in Reqqa and "bsat al-reeh" 

Human Rights Watch released this statement today

(New York) – Government security branches in Raqqa city hold documents and potential physical evidence indicating that detainees were arbitrarily detained and tortured there while the city was under government control. Human Rights Watch researchers visited the State Security and Military Intelligence facilities in Raqqa, now under the de facto control of local armed opposition groups, in late April 2013.

Local opposition leaders with the support of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and neutral international experts should safeguard potential evidence of torture and arbitrary detention in security forces centers in opposition-controlled areas, Human Rights Watch said.

“The documents, prison cells, interrogation rooms, and torture devices we saw in the government’s security facilities are consistent with the torture former detainees have described to us since the beginning of the uprising in Syria,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Those in control of Raqqa need to safeguard the materials in these facilities so the truth can be told and those responsible held accountable.”

In the State Security facility, Human Rights Watch researchers observed on the ground floor and in the basement, rooms that appeared to be detention cells.

Among the documents were what appeared to be lists of security force members who had worked there. Human Rights Watch researchers also saw a “bsat al-reeh” (بساط الريح) torture device in the facility, which former detainees have said has been used to immobilize and severely stretch or bend limbs.

Several former detainees held at other intelligence facilities in Syria have described to Human Rights Watch how security guards used “bsat al-reeh” torture devices in detention facilities across the country. They tie a detainee down to a flat board, sometimes in the shape of a cross, so that he is helpless to defend himself. In some cases, former detainees said guards stretched or pulled their limbs or folded the board in half so that their face touched their legs, causing pain and further immobilizing them.

Among the reams of documents and case files Human Rights Watch researchers saw in the Military Intelligence facility in Raqqa were some that appeared to list all of Raqqa’s college graduates, suggesting that they were of interest to the security branch by virtue of their college education. Researchers also observed three solitary confinement cells and one group detention cell in the right half of the first floor of the facility.

Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed five people formerly held by Military Intelligence in Raqqa, who said that security forces detained and interrogated them there. They said that the security services questioned them about lawful activities, such as participating in peaceful demonstrations, providing relief assistance to displaced families, defending detainees, and providing emergency assistance to injured demonstrators. They believed that they were detained for these lawful activities, making their detention arbitrary.

Four said that officers and guards in the facility tortured them. They identified Mohammed al-Ahmed, also known as Abu Jassem, as the person responsible for their interrogations, and in some cases, abuse. Raqqa residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch said opposition fighters killed Abu Jassem during the battle for control of Raqqa, which came under opposition control during the first week of March.

In addition to the State Security and Military Intelligence branches, three other facilities in the city of Raqqa – formerly managed by Criminal Security, Political Security, and Air Force Intelligence – are now also controlled by armed opposition groups.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly documented widespread violations by Syrian government security forces and officials, including enforced disappearances, torture, and arbitrary and incommunicado detentions of peaceful protesters, activists, humanitarian assistance providers, and doctors.

Based on information from former detainees and defectors, Human Rights Watch previously identified the locations, agencies responsible, torture methods, and, in many cases, the commanders who were in charge of 27 detention facilities run by Syrian intelligence agencies across the country where torture has been documented. The systematic patterns of ill treatment and torture that Human Rights Watch has documented point to a state policy of torture and ill treatment and therefore constitute a crime against humanity.

The de facto authorities in opposition held areas still face many challenges and competing priorities. Some are still subject to attack by Syrian government forces and are struggling to provide basic services to local populations. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need to safeguard potential evidence in these and other former security force facilities that could be vital to future domestic and international accountability processes, Human Rights Watch said. This evidence could also help to clarify the role intelligence forces played in abuses in Syria.

Documents and material in these facilities could vanish or be destroyed if not promptly secured. Destruction or mishandling of these documents and material will weaken the possibility of bringing to justice those responsible for serious crimes. In addition, their loss could encumber future truth seeking processes and prevent the comprehensive documentation of crimes committed by the Syrian government. Truth commissions can be valuable complementary tools to criminal justice for preserving historical memory, clarifying events, and attributing political and institutional responsibilities.

The de facto authorities in Raqqa and local opposition leaders should coordinate the collection and storage of this potential evidence from security force branches now under their control, Human Rights Watch said. They should seek the support of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and neutral international experts, including those with expertise in collecting forensic evidence and in working before criminal tribunals.

The armed opposition groups that have taken control of these facilities should secure them while allowing civilian opposition leaders, with outside support, to organize the removal of materials and photographing of physical evidence that is not movable.

Authorities should also create a central repository in a secure and undisclosed location to receive and store this potential evidence until proper criminal investigations can be undertaken. If possible, copies of relevant materials should be made and stored in a separate location in case originals are destroyed or lost.

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Other countries should join the mounting calls for accountability by supporting a referral to the ICC as the forum most capable of effectively prosecuting those bearing the greatest responsibility for abuses in Syria. On January 14, a letter was sent to the Security Council on behalf of 58 countries calling for an ICC referral. The Security Council has taken no action in response.

“Learning the truth about the role intelligence services have played in spying on and terrorizing Syrians will enable them to guard against these abuses in the future,” Houry said. “But for Syrians to learn the truth once the conflict ends, it is vital even under the tough conditions of war to preserve the potential evidence of the security forces’ role.”

(The statement goes on to quote former detainees describing torture in Raqqa)

Civilian deaths from Syria’s skies, says HRW

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s warplanes specifically “target civilians,” according to a Human Rights Watch citing “compelling evidence that the Syrian government is committing crimes against humanity.” The watchdog publicized the report in this press release:

(Aleppo) – The Syrian Air Force has repeatedly carried out indiscriminate, and in some cases deliberate, air strikes against civilians. These attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war), and people who commit such violations with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes.

The 80-page report, “Death from the Skies: Deliberate and Indiscriminate Air Strikes on Civilians,” is based on visits to 50 sites of government air strikes in opposition-controlled areas in Aleppo, Idlib, and Latakia governorates, and more than 140 interviews with witnesses and victims.

The air strikes Human Rights Watch documented killed at least 152 civilians. According to a network of local Syrian activists, air strikes have killed more than 4,300 civilians across Syria since July 2012.

“In village after village, we found a civilian population terrified by their country’s own air force,” said Ole Solvang, a Human Rights Watch emergencies researcher who visited the sites and interviewed many of the victims and witnesses. “These illegal air strikes killed and injured many civilians and sowed a path of destruction, fear, and displacement.”

Media reports, YouTube videos, and information from opposition activists show that the Syrian government has conducted air strikes all over Syria on a daily basis since July 2012.

Through the on-site investigations and interviews, Human Rights Watch gathered information that indicates government forces deliberately targeted four bakeries where civilians were waiting in breadlines a total of eight times, and hit other bakeries with artillery attacks.

Repeated aerial attacks on two hospitals in the areas Human Rights Watch visited strongly suggest the government also deliberately targeted these facilities. At the time of Human Rights Watch’s visits to the two hospitals they had been attacked a total of seven times.

In addition to the attacks on the bakeries and hospitals, Human Rights Watch concluded in 44 other cases that air strikes were unlawful under the laws of war. Syrian forces used means and methods of warfare, such as unguided bombs dropped by high-flying helicopters, that under the circumstances could not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and thus were indiscriminate.


In the strikes Human Rights Watch investigated, despite high civilian casualties, damage to opposition headquarters and other possible military structures was minimal.

As far as Human Rights Watch could establish, there were no casualties among opposition fighters.

For example, a jet dropped two bombs on the town of Akhtarin in northern Aleppo at around 1 p.m. on November 7, 2012, destroying three houses and killing seven civilians, including five children. The strike injured another five children, all under five.  Human Rights Watch identified a possible military target in the vicinity, a building about 50 meters away that was used by opposition fighters at the time. This building was only lightly damaged in a subsequent attack, however. 

A neighbor who rushed to the site after the attack told a Human Rights Watch researcher who visited the area:

It was tragic. The buildings had turned into a heap of rubble. We started pulling people out using just our hands and shovels. A cupboard and a wall had fallen on the children. They were still alive when we found them, but they died before we could take them to their uncle’s house. There is no clinic or medical center here.

In addition to the attacks on bakeries and hospitals, some attacks documented by Human Rights Watch, particularly those in which there was no evidence of a valid military target in the vicinity, may have deliberately targeted civilians, but more information is needed to reach that conclusion, Human Rights Watch said.


The government’s use of unlawful means of attack has also included cluster munitions, weapons that have been banned by most nations because of their indiscriminate nature. Human Rights Watch has documented government use of more than 150 cluster bombs in 119 locations since October 2012.

Human Rights Watch also documented that the government used incendiary weapons, which should, at a minimum, be banned in populated areas.

The obligation to minimize harm to the civilian population applies to all parties to a conflict. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other Syrian armed opposition groups did not take all feasible measures to avoid deploying forces and structures such as headquarters in or near densely populated areas. However, an attacking party is not relieved from the obligation to take into account the risk to civilians from an attack on the grounds that the defending party has located military targets within or near populated areas.

Human Rights Watch was able to visit only sites in opposition-controlled areas in northern Syria because the government has denied Human Rights Watch access to the rest of the country. While further investigation is needed, interviews with witnesses and victims of air strikes in other parts of the country indicate that a similar pattern of unlawful attacks have taken place there.

Human Rights Watch believes this report should galvanize international efforts to end deliberate, indiscriminate, and disproportionate air strikes and other attacks on civilians, including all use of cluster munitions, ballistic missiles, incendiary weapons, and explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.

The information we have gathered should also assist those seeking to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.



Given compelling evidence that the Syrian government is committing crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch calls on governments and companies to immediately stop selling or supplying weapons, ammunition, and material to Syria until Syria stops committing these crimes.

The international community should in particular press Iraq to verify that no arms from Russia or Iran for Syria are passing through its territory, and to that end allow independent, third-party monitors to inspect convoys and airplanes crossing Iraqi land or airspace and bound for Syria.



“The Security Council, largely due to the Russian and Chinese veto, has failed to take any meaningful steps to help protect civilians in Syria,” Solvang said. “But that should not stop concerned governments from stepping up their own efforts to press the Syrian government to end these violations.”

Damascus clobbers “Friends of Syria”

“All sorts of enemies of Syria and its people met for the fourth time – at a jamboree in Marrakesh on this occasion.

“They discussed ways of killing additional Syrians by perpetuating acts of terror that are claiming the lives of scores of innocents among them every day.

“They declared their unwavering backing of terrorism, which is shedding the Syrians’ blood and is being perpetrated by extremist elements connected to the terrorist organization, al-Qaeda.

“The terrorist alliance resolutions, which were drafted in advance by U.S.-led schemers of Western aggression, betray the alliance’s resolve to prevent and abort any peace settlement (in Syria)…”

The wording is by President Bashar al-Assad’s state-run news agency SANA and is parroted this morning by his official mouthpiece, al-Baath daily under the headline, “Enemies of Syria jamboree in Marrakesh endorses terror.”

It comes the morning after the “Friends of Syria” group of more than 100 nations and organizations called for Assad to step down and formally recognized the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition forces as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called the conference meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, "extraordinary progress." He noted that the European Union is now renewing its weapons embargo on Syria every three months, rather than annually, to be more flexible as the situation on the ground changes.

"We want to have the ability to continue or to change our attitude on this point. The fact that the coalition, which is asking for the right to defend itself, is now being recognized by a hundred countries — yesterday the United States and first by France -- I think this is a very important point."

The conference's final statement said Assad has lost all legitimacy and also warned that any use of chemical weapons "would draw a serious response" from the international community.

But the text made no explicit commitment to arm the opposition.

"I believe that of all the meetings we have had so far for the Friends of Syria, this will turn out to be the most significant," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said at the final news conference.

"With every day that passes, the regime's hold on power weakens. Territory slips from its grasp. The opposition becomes more unified and organized," said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for the Middle East William Burns.

"We look to the coalition to continue creating more formal structures within the opposition and to accelerate planning for a democratic political transition that protects the rights, the dignity and the aspirations of all Syrians and all communities," Burns said.

He also announced the leadership of the Syrian National Coalition has been invited to visit Washington “at the earliest opportunity.”

Conference members made public new humanitarian assistance for Syrians, including $100 million from Saudi Arabia and a fund to be managed by Germany and the United Arab Emirates for the reconstruction of the country after Assad’s exit. The U.S. announced $14 million in humanitarian aid as well.

Khatib

In his speech at the conference, Syrian National Coalition president Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib called on the international community to shoulder its moral and humanitarian responsibilities.

“Specifically, the Coalition demands:

1. That the Coalition be acknowledged as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and be given all the ensuing prerogatives.
2. Financial, medical and humanitarian assistance to be able to alleviate enduring suffering that is augmenting every day.
3. Creation of an open-end fund for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of Syria’s infrastructure and provision of all manner of technical support for the reconstruction.
4. Recognition of the Syrian people’s right to self-defense by all possible means
5. The freezing of the ruling clique’s funds – representing monies looted from the Syrian people -- in all countries so these can be earmarked for forthcoming reconstruction and rehabilitation.
6. Preparation of all the documentation considered necessary to refer those responsible for criminal acts in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
7. We call on all countries in the world – each within its own means -- to facilitate residency, movement and employment procedures, and extend schooling and healthcare help, for Syrians and to look after their Syrian communities. Every household in Syria has had at least one martyr, detainee or refugee. We also call on all Syrian embassies around the globe to attend to Syrians’ needs.

Others issues need to be said:

1. We hold Russia chiefly responsible in the event the regime resorts to the use of chemical weapons against our people. We ask Russia to fully lift the political cover and military support it provides to the regime…
2. We are totally against the intervention of foreign troops in our country. We urge our people to preclude any sectarian strife and uphold their unity to prevent the intervention of any foreign forces.
3. I appeal directly to our Alawite brethren, telling them frankly: The Syrian revolution reaches out to you, so reach out to it in turn and initiate a civil disobedience campaign against the criminal regime hiding behind you, because it repressed you like it repressed us.
4. We request the Iranian regime to withdraw all its experts from Syria. We also request Hezbollah to pull out any fighters it might have in Syria.
5. On a sensitive issue: Our differences with the United States on several subjects do not prevent us from seeing the positive side of its latest nod to our people, namely the U.S. recognition of the Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. I have said more than once that I noticed President Obama’s eyes swell when thanking his campaign team. This shows his love for his people and his loyalty to his staff. It also shows he appreciates peoples’ love for their respective nations and their yearning to die for their nations’ sake. That’s why I say in all transparency that the decision to consider one of the groups fighting the regime as terrorist needs to be reconsidered. We are madly enamored of our country. We can have our differences with the political and intellectual ideas and perceptions of certain sides. But we reaffirm that all the revolutionaries’ guns are aimed at bringing down the criminal regime. It is no shame to be driven by religion to want to liberate one’s homeland. But we are unequivocally against all forms of extremism condoning bloodshed and against any kind of fanaticism."

SCUDS

As the conference was winding down, a senior U.S. official said the Syrian regime recently fired Scud missiles at insurgents, but there was no indication the missiles carried chemical weapons.

U.S. military satellites picked up and confirmed the infrared signature of the four short-range Scud missiles, which were launched from the Damascus area into northern Syria, according to the official.

The missiles did not land on the Turkish side of the border but "came close," the official said.

Earlier this month, a U.S. official said Damascus was "ratcheting things up," noting that Assad forces had already fired some 20 rockets with the relatively long range of 60 miles.

NATO too issued a statement Wednesday saying the alliance had "detected the launch of a number of unguided, short-range ballistic missiles inside Syria this week," and that the "trajectory and distance traveled indicate they were Scud-type missiles."

"As the regime becomes more and more desperate, we see it resorting to increased lethality and more vicious weapons moving forward," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. "And we have in recent days seen missiles deployed."

Incendiary bombs

In turn, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday Assad’s army has used air-delivered incendiary bombs in at least four locations across Syria since mid-November.

“We’re disturbed that Syria has apparently begun using incendiary munitions, as these weapons cause especially cruel civilian suffering and extensive property destruction when used in populated areas,” said Steve Goose, Arms division director at Human Rights Watch.

“Syria should stop using incendiary weapons in acknowledgment of the devastating harm this weapon causes.”



Incendiary weapons can contain any number of flammable substances, including napalm, thermite, or white phosphorus and are designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injuries. They are not chemical weapons, which kill and incapacitate by the toxic properties of the chemicals released.



Incendiary weapons produce extremely painful burns, often down to the bone, and can also cause respiratory damage. The burns are difficult to treat, especially in conflict areas lacking adequate medical facilities, and the treatment itself can be excruciating. Permanent scarring and disfigurement can lead to social ostracism.

Incendiary weapons also cause fires to infrastructure due to their broad area effect, which means they cannot be used in a way that discriminates between soldiers and civilians in populated areas.



Since mid-November, the use of incendiary weapons has been reported in at least four locations: Darayya in Damascus, Maarat al-Nouman in Idlib, Babila in Damascus, and Qusayr in Homs.