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UN Warns of Possible War Crimes in Turkish-Controlled Syria

Turkey-backed Syrian fighters in Saraqib, eastern Idlib province. (AFP)
Turkey-backed Syrian fighters in Saraqib, eastern Idlib province. (AFP)
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UN Warns of Possible War Crimes in Turkish-Controlled Syria

Turkey-backed Syrian fighters in Saraqib, eastern Idlib province. (AFP)
Turkey-backed Syrian fighters in Saraqib, eastern Idlib province. (AFP)

Armed groups in the area of northern Syria controlled by Turkey may have committed war crimes and other violations of international law, the UN rights chief said Friday.

Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the situation in those areas of Syria was grim, with violence and criminality rife.

In a statement, Bachelet's UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said it had noted an "alarming pattern in recent months of grave violations", having documented increased killings, kidnappings, unlawful transfers of people, seizures of land and properties and forcible evictions.

The victims include people perceived to be allied with opposing parties or as being critical of the actions of the Turkish-affiliated armed groups, Bachelet's office said.

Those affiliated groups have also seized and looted houses, land and property without any apparent military necessity, said OHCHR.

Furthermore, increased infighting among the various Turkish-affiliated armed groups over power-sharing was causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

Turkey condemnation

The Turkish foreign ministry later Friday took umbrage at Bachelet's statement and "strongly condemned the failure to mention the Syrian regime and the PKK/YPG terrorist organization, which are the main cause of the violations in the report".

Ankara considers the US-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG group a terrorist organization linked to outlawed PKK Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.

"We totally reject the unfounded allegations against Syrian opposition groups" and the "baseless claims against our country in connection with these groups," it said.

The ministry in a statement also accused Bachelet of "undue criticism" and said Ankara would notify the UN of its "views and challenges" related to the report.

Turkey controls large stretches of northeastern Syria through various armed groups, and is conducting operations aimed at driving out Kurdish and extremist factions.

In October last year, Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies occupied a 120-kilometre (75-mile) stretch of land inside the Syrian border from Kurdish forces.

Ankara has also deployed forces in several military posts it established in northwestern Idlib as part of a 2018 deal with regime ally Moscow, while Turkey also controls a stretch of territory along its border in neighboring Aleppo province following a series of military offensives since 2016.

Call for investigation

Bachelet's office said it had documented the abduction and disappearance of civilians, including women and children.

It also said that from the start of the year until last Monday, it had verified the deaths of at least 116 civilians as a result of improvised explosive devices and explosive remnants of war, while a further 463 civilians were injured.

"I urge Turkey to immediately launch an impartial, transparent and independent investigation into the incidents we have verified, account for the fate of those detained and abducted by the affiliated armed groups and hold accountable those responsible for what may, in some instances, amount to crimes under international law, including war crimes," Bachelet said.

"This is all the more vital given that we have received disturbing reports that some detainees and abductees have allegedly been transferred to Turkey following their detention in Syria by affiliated armed groups."

Meanwhile Bachelet voiced concern that parties to the conflict in Syria were using essential services as a weapon.

"Impeding access to water, sanitation and electricity endangers the lives of large numbers of people, a danger rendered all the more acute amid fighting a global pandemic," she said.

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Arab World

Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Shock still grips the family of retired Lebanese General Security captain Ahmed Shukr, who was abducted days ago, as Lebanese security and judicial assessments increasingly point to Israeli intelligence as being behind his disappearance, over suspected links to the 1986 vanishing of Israeli airman Ron Arad in southern Lebanon.

His brother, Abdul Salam Shukr, told Asharq Al-Awsat the story began when a Lebanese expatriate living in Kinshasa, identified as A.M., contacted Ahmed and asked to rent his apartment in the Choueifat area, south of Beirut.

The two agreed months ago, and the man paid $500 in rent.

The expatriate made repeated visits to Lebanon and met Shukr at his home during one of them. He later contacted the retired officer to say that a wealthy African investor named Salim Kassab, later found to be a fake name, was interested in purchasing a plot of land in the eastern city of Zahle and needed his assistance.

Abdul Salam said the expatriate inspected the land, then called two weeks after leaving Lebanon to say the investor had agreed to buy it and would visit the country. He asked Ahmed to meet him at the site at 4:30 p.m. on the day of the abduction.

He said the expatriate insisted on the timing because it suited the buyer, despite Ahmed’s objections that darkness would have fallen by then, and the land’s features would not be visible. The expatriate later apologized for not attending, claiming he had broken his foot, and said the investor would visit the site alone with Ahmed.

At the time of the meeting, Ahmed disappeared.

“We know nothing about him except what we have heard through security and judicial leaks,” Abdul Salam said. He added that the abductors had rented a house in Zahle and erased all traces from it after kidnapping Ahmed.

Surveillance cameras tracked the vehicle as it headed toward the town of Souireh in the western Bekaa, where the trail then vanished. Souireh was previously used as a smuggling route from southwestern Damascus into Lebanon.

Loyalty to the state

“My brother served 40 years in the military establishment. His loyalty was only to the state and its institutions. He never belonged to any party,” Abdul Salam said. “We are a family that does not engage in politics.”

Ahmed was lured last week in a carefully planned operation that began in his hometown of Nabi Sheet in the northern Bekaa, before he went missing at a point very close to the city of Zahle.

Family members and residents have been gathering at the home of Nabi Sheet’s mukhtar, Abbas Shukr, to voice their protest and condemnation of the abduction.

The family said Ahmed Shukr retired nine years ago after serving for four decades in the General Security, during which he held several posts, including the Masnaa border crossing with Syria and the Qaa crossing in northeastern Lebanon.

“My brother joined the military in 1979, which means he was an ‘officer of the state’ when Arad disappeared in 1986,” Abdul Salam told Asharq Awsat. “An officer of the state does not belong to parties.”

He rejected attempts to link the family by kinship to Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah leader killed by Israel in July 2024 in Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying no one in the town even knew him.

“He left the town in the early 1980s and never returned. He was distant even from his relatives,” he said, adding that since retiring, his brother “never left the Bekaa. He stayed at home and played cards with friends at night.”

The family home remains in a state of disbelief, a scene that has persisted since his disappearance last week. The case only began to move officially after Vice President of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Ali al Khatib contacted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Interior Minister Ahmed al-Hajjar, according to Abdul Salam.

He said Aoun pledged to instruct security and judicial authorities to expand the investigation and uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident. Officials from the Amal Movement were also in constant contact with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is head of the movement, to follow up on the case.

Mystery remains

“We demand that the judiciary and security agencies confirm or deny the leak about an alleged link to Ron Arad’s disappearance,” Abdul Salam said.

“That leak does not concern us. What matters is what the security agencies say, including General Security, where Ahmed served, and the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, which is leading the investigation.”

He said the key to the mystery lies with A.M., a native of the southern town of Qana who lives in Kinshasa and has been evading the family’s calls.

“The Lebanese state must ask Interpol to arrest him and bring him to Lebanon for questioning,” he urged, adding that the man no longer answers his phone and that all available information about him, including video clips, is now in the hands of security agencies.

Abdul Salam said the family believes the expatriate coordinated the plot with Israel’s Mossad, guiding them to this point and enabling an operation carried out with precision and professionalism.

He said Lebanese security agencies told the family the abductors left no fingerprints, neither at the Zahle property nor at the Choueifat apartment, and that no evidence has been found. The kidnappers’ vehicle also remains unidentified.

Arab World

UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
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UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)

Countries including Britain, Canada and Germany and others on Wednesday condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West ‌Bank, saying ‌they violated ‌international ⁠law and risked ‌fueling instability.

"We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of ⁠settlements," said a joint ‌statement released ‍by Britain, ‍which also included ‍Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.

"We recall that such unilateral actions, as ⁠part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability," the statement ‌added.

Arab World

Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian state media said three people were killed Wednesday in clashes with security forces in coastal Latakia province, the heartland of the country's Alawite minority community.

"Three members of remnants of the former regime were killed after clashes with internal security forces" outside the city of Jableh, state television said.

State news agency SANA had earlier reported "clashes with a group of wanted outlaws" in the area, and said an unspecified number of security personnel were wounded.

Since last December's ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite, Syria's new authorities have frequently reported security operations against remnants of his government.

Syria's coastal areas saw the killing of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.

A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority community were killed at the time.

Last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the Alawite coast in protest of fresh attacks targeting their community.