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.” 

The UN implicates Assad in Syria war crimes

The UN’s human rights chief says an inquiry has produced evidence that war crimes were authorized in Syria at the “highest level,” including by President Bashar al-Assad.

Navi Pillay

It is the first time the UN’s human rights office has so directly implicated Assad.

Commissioner Navi Pillay said her office held a list of others implicated by the inquiry.

The UN’s commission of inquiry into Syria has produced “massive evidence... [of] very serious crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity,” Ms Pillay said.

“The scale of viciousness of the abuses being perpetrated by elements on both sides almost defies belief," she said.

The evidence indicated responsibility “at the highest level of government, including the head of state,” she added.

The inquiry has also previously reported it has evidence rebel forces in Syria have been guilty of human rights abuses.

However, the investigators have always said the Syrian government appears to be responsible for the majority, and that the systematic nature of the abuse points to government policy.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad was dismissive of Ms Pillay’s remarks.

"She has been talking nonsense for a long time and we don't listen to her," he told AP.

Mekdad was in The Hague at a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to discuss the effort to destroy Syria's chemical weapons. Mekdad told the BBC's Anna Holligan, Syria needed lorries and armored vehicles to move the chemicals

He told the BBC Syria needed more money and equipment from the international community.

He said Syria needed lorries and armored vehicles to transport chemicals to prevent “terrorists” attacking the vehicles on their way to the port of Latakia, where they will be loaded onto a US naval vessel for destruction.

An OPCW spokesman at the conference told the BBC that any donations of dual-use equipment would be carefully monitored and there would have to be strict guidelines imposed to make sure the machinery could only be used for the purpose of removing the weapons.

Ms Pillay said the UN commission of inquiry had compiled a list of those believed to be directly responsible for serious human rights violations.

It is assumed senior figures in the Syrian military and government are on that list, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.

However, the names and specific evidence relating to them remain confidential pending a possible prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

She has previously called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the ICC.

Foulkes says Ms Pillay has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the ICC, something it has not so far done. Her surprising candor today may be a sign of her impatience.

Syria is not a state party to the ICC and therefore any investigation into the conflict would need to be mandated by the Security Council.

However, Russia and China have a veto on the council and would be highly unlikely to let such a move pass.

Human rights groups say the regime's use of air power often amounts to war crimes

Ms Pillay's statement is a reminder of the severity of the situation in Syria as preparations are made for the Geneva-2 peace conference next month, the BBC correspondent says.

Ms Pillay, a former judge at the ICC, said perpetrators of crimes must face justice.

"Accountability should be key priority of international community, and I want to make this point again and again as the Geneva-2 talks begin," she said. "I reiterate my call to all member states to refer the situation to the ICC."

Both the government and the opposition National Coalition have said they will attend the conference, but the head of the Western-backed rebel Free Syrian Army has said it will continue fighting during the talks.

The National Coalition says it categorically rejects any role for Assad in any transitional government, while the regime has said it is not going to negotiate a "handover of power".

Also on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group that monitors deaths in the conflict, said its estimate of the number of dead had now reached 125,835, more than a third of them civilians.

Almost 28,000 rebel fighters had died, and more than 50,000 on the side of the government, including both regular soldiers and pro-regime militias. The latter figure also includes almost 500 dead from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and other foreign Shiite militias.

However, it said it believed these figures were an underestimate as both sides were reticent about reporting deaths in their ranks.

BBC/Agencies

Houla accounts eclipse Annan and Assad

The Houla massacre has totally eclipsed UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s talks today with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

The UN helping count Houla bodies (Photo from bbc.co.uk)

Jihad el-Khazen, a renowned and veteran Arab journalist who is usually softspoken, says Houla marks the end of Assad.

“There are bodies of 35-to-50 children who were either shot or knifed to death,” the former editor-in-chief of the Saudi-owned pan-Arab dailies Asharq Alawsat and al-Hayat writes today in his column for the latter.

“I don’t see the outside world, whether Arab or European, remaining mum this time. Public opinion wants more than words from leaders.

“I can see two possibilities, but not a third: Either the regime disappearing by international consensus à la Yemen or an open-ended civil war. Long term, I frankly can’t see Dr. Bashar al-Assad remaining as president.

“…We’ve had thousands of fatalities so far and more are in the offing. There’s no end in sight for the Syrian crisis. But the Houla massacre marks the point of no return for the regime and its men.”

Ghassan Charbel, al-Hayat’s current editor-in-chief, writes in his editorial today, “Damascus is not accustomed to international envoys coming to question its doings on Syrian territory. It didn’t accept that previously, whether the envoys carried warnings or words of advise. Syria was used to receiving envoys soliciting its help to control this or that regional fire. That stage is gone. Syria is now an ailing state.”

Charbel continues, “The Syrian government couldn’t have shut out Annan today. It is receiving him, not because he carries a magic panacea for its ills but because it wants to keep Russia and China on its side… Syria would not have welcomed Annan had it succeeded in stifling the protests. Russia gave it the time to do so, but it failed… The scenes coming out of Houla have now burdened Syria’s allies. Proof was the UN Security Council condemnation of the massacre. Russia was able to soften the censor but failed to stop it.”

In New York, Human Rights Watch said Annan should push Syria’s government to allow the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry access into the country to investigate the killing of at least 108 Houla residents. The Syrian government has so far refused entry to the UN-mandated commission. Human Rights Watch also reiterated its call to the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Survivors of the Houla attack have meantime spoken to the BBC, which published their accounts on its website.

Here is what it quoted them as saying:

Hamza Omar, opposition activist based in Houla

"The shabiha militias attacked the houses. They had no mercy. We took pictures of children, under 10 years [old], their hands tied, and shot at close-range, from 10cm, just 10cm. By knife they cut their neck, not exactly all his neck, but they make a hole in the neck, a hole in his eyes."

Rasha Abdul Razaq, survivor

"We were in the house, they went in, the Shabiha and security, they went in with Kalashnikovs and automatic rifles.

We asked them what was going on and they told us to go inside. We said: 'What is it? What do you want?’ They said: 'Take everything out, whatever you are hiding,' and we told them: 'We are not hiding anything'.

They took us to a room, and hit my father on the head with the back of a rifle and shot him straight in the chin.

They took us inside and told us to gather in the corner of the room. A man started shooting in the air so we all hid behind my mother. We were about 15 people.

Then they opened fire. After they shot us they started to step on us, and one of the men asked the other to check whether we were all dead. Then they went outside and started shooting in the air.

We were eight siblings, including myself, and my sister-in-law and her son -- she was also six months pregnant. With us as well were my father, my uncle's wife and her daughter, as well as our neighbor and her three kids.

My aunt and her two daughters -- one of them was only injured and she's here with me -- she is one month old, the other one died. We were all in the house.

I survived with my mother and the one-month-old girl and my sister. They shot at us but we survived.

What's going to happen to us? When we hear that the army and the security is coming we start running in the streets, we are afraid they would repeat what they did to us the other day.

There were 100 houses in the neighborhood; they killed everyone inside. They went into people's houses and opened fire and killed them all.”

Rasha Abdul Razaq's mother, survivor

"He [an attacker] said: 'We are from the mountain there, from Fulla,' so I said: 'We are neighbors then, we don't have any terrorists here,' and he said: 'You are the terrorists'. They thought I was dead. It was thanks to God that I survived. He was shooting my kids and yelling. Please get my daughter and me some protection -- we are staying now in different people's houses. We are worried they will liquidate us.”

Anonymous, survivor

"We were opening our houses to them, we thought they were the army, and that they were doing inspections.

One of them told me: 'Go back inside, your turn is next'. I was with my husband and kids. So I got my husband's army service card, I thought maybe they would not bother with us when they see it. But I only survived because one of them shot another by mistake, and he yelled: 'I need help, Fakher was shot'. That kept them busy while we ran away, bullets were flying around us, from the army and the shabiha."

Anonymous, survivor

"When they opened the door, I was still with them in the room. I was standing behind the door of the living room. They took my brothers outside, and I hid on the attic. All I could hear was gunfire; it felt like the whole house was shaking.

I opened the door, and I saw bodies, I couldn't recognize my kids from my brothers. It was indescribable. I have three children; I lost three children. I am shaking, I'm shaking as I'm speaking to you."

Um Mohammed, survivor

"We fled Friday night... They are targeting us with rockets and killing people… We fled through the plantations bombed here, bombed there. I don't know how we made it to the good people. As we walked the snipers targeted us, we hide between the plantations."

Um Abdullah, survivor

"Rockets and bombardments everywhere … I don't have any news of my own family. Why are you not intervening? All the corpses are piling up. If it were a foreign country all countries would have intervened. Come and remove all these corpses from the streets."

Akrama Bakour, Free Syrian Army, Houla

"There were two massacres. The first happened on the Sadd road and started at around 2:30pm on Friday afternoon.

The second massacre happened around 11pm, on the road at the main entrance of Taldou, facing the military security point.

On the Fulla-Taldou road -- 500m to 700m from Fulla village -- this village is supportive of the regime -- a van, two pickup trucks and a group of motorcycles came from that village.

They entered the neighborhood, and met a shepherd at the entrance. His name is Mahmoud al-Kurdi, and he was with his daughter-in-law and his four grandsons. They shot them, killing them all except the daughter-in-law. She was shot in the thigh and belly area but she is still alive.

They then entered the house of Samir Abdul Razaq. He was killed with his children -- Sawsan, Houda, Jouzila and Nada. And his daughter-in-law Halloum El Khlaf, six months pregnant, with her son Ala'a Abdul Razaq, and Samir's sister-in-law Khaloud El Khalaf, and her daughter, Rahaf Al Hussein -- but her daughter Zahra Al Hussein was shot twice but survived.

Samir's wife was hit with the back of the rifles but she fainted and is now still alive. Also among the victims in this house were four kids whose father is Fadi al-Kurdi.

The next house they entered was the house of Qutayba Abdul Razaq, he survived and his one-year-old daughter was injured. He lost his wife and five of his children.

All of those I'm counting died by gunshots, direct fire. They were gathered in one room and shot. There was one kid however whose head was skinned with a knife. The knife was found among the bodies and we have its picture.

The third house belongs to Nidal Abdul Razaq, his wife and four of his children were killed, and he and one of his children are still alive.

Adel Abdul Razaq -- his whole family, a wife and six children.

Mustafa Abdul Razaq was killed with his four daughters, his wife and his daughter in law.

Ayman Abdul Razaq -- all of his six children were killed as was his wife, one of the children was disabled.

Abdul Khalek Abdul Razaq -- his wife and daughter survived gunshots but he lost six other children and his daughter-in-law and her three children.

Abdul Rahman Abdul Razaq lost his wife, his five daughters and 11 grandchildren as well as his six daughters-in-law and four of his sons. He still has two who are still alive; one is called Firas and the other Rateb. This massacre was of 27 people in the same room.

Also killed in the massacre were Yaacoub Hussein Abdul Razaq, Mohammad Shafiq Abdul Razaq, Mohammad Abbara and his daughter Amina and her family of seven."