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German Court Convicts Man Over Syria War Crime

Police secure the area in the German town of Wuerzburg, Germany, June 25, 2021, during a "major operation." REUTERS/Heiko Becker
Police secure the area in the German town of Wuerzburg, Germany, June 25, 2021, during a "major operation." REUTERS/Heiko Becker
    Asharq A-Awsat
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German Court Convicts Man Over Syria War Crime

Police secure the area in the German town of Wuerzburg, Germany, June 25, 2021, during a "major operation." REUTERS/Heiko Becker
Police secure the area in the German town of Wuerzburg, Germany, June 25, 2021, during a "major operation." REUTERS/Heiko Becker

A German court on Thursday convicted a Palestinian man from Syria of a war crime and murder for launching a grenade into a crowd of civilians waiting for food in Damascus in 2014. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The 55-year-old, identified only as Moafak D. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in 2021 in Berlin, where he had been living as a refugee. His trial opened in August.

The German capital's district court found that the defendant on March 23, 2014, fired a grenade from an anti-tank weapon into the crowd in the Yarmouk district of Damascus, killing four people and seriously wounding two others, The Associted Press reported.

It said that he was the commander of a checkpoint for a Palestinian group, probably the Free Palestine Movement, and on the day in question also was supposed to be overseeing a distribution of food packages by the UN Relief and Works Agency, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

The court said that part of the district was at the time controlled by militias loyal to President Bashar Assad’s government.

The Yarmouk district, which grew out of a Palestinian refugee camp, was cordoned off by the Syrian government from July 2013 to April 2015, causing shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

The court said the defendant acted out of revenge against civilians in the district after his 25-year-old nephew was killed two days earlier by shots fired by opponents of Assad's government.

He was convicted of a particularly serious war crime, four counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and bodily harm. The court also determined that he bears particularly severe guilt, meaning that he won't be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany.

The verdict can be appealed.

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Baku Seeking to Diffuse Tensions between Israel, Türkiye in Syria

Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)
Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)
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Baku Seeking to Diffuse Tensions between Israel, Türkiye in Syria

Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)
Turkish troops return after a joint US-Türkiye patrol in northern Syria, as it is pictured from near the Turkish town of Akcakale, Türkiye, September 8, 2019. (Reuters)

With growing influence after its recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian separatists in 2023, Azerbaijan is using its close ties with Israel and Türkiye to defuse tensions between the regional foes in Syria.

Azerbaijan’s top foreign policy adviser Hikmet Hajiyev told AFP that Baku has hosted more than three rounds of talks between Türkiye and Israel, who are both operating in Syria to reduce what they see as security threats.

“Azerbaijan is making diplomatic efforts for an agreement,” Hajiyev told Turkish journalists in Baku on a visit organized by the Istanbul-based Global Journalism Council. “Both Türkiye and Israel trust us.”

The overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad sparked security concerns in Israel.

It has since staged hundreds of strikes deep inside Syria, the latest on Friday, to allegedly stop advanced weapons falling into the hands of Syria’s extremists and to protect the Druze minority.

Israel has accused Ankara of seeking to turn Syria into a Turkish protectorate, raising fears of a confrontation.

In Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev is considered a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has consistently aligned himself with Ankara’s positions on key international matters, including the Syrian issue.

Azerbaijan also enjoys good relations with Israel, which is very reliant on Azerbaijani oil, and is a major arms supplier to Baku.

And now Baku, which has established contacts with Syria’s new rulers, is pushing quiet diplomacy by facilitating technical talks between Türkiye and Israel.

“We are successful if the two parties agree on a common model that respects each other’s concerns,” Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Baku-based Center for Analysis of International Relations, told AFP.

“Syria, and especially its northern territories, is the Turkish security concern,” he said.

Türkiye wants to control northern Syria but also to “have a stronger presence” around the Palmyra and T4 airbases to ensure security around Damascus, he added.

In facilitating Türkiye-Israel dialogue on Syria, Azerbaijan is playing a “strategic role,” said Zaur Mammadov, chairman of Baku Political Scientists Club.

“(It) reflects Azerbaijan’s growing influence as a mediator... among regional actors,” he said.

Azerbaijan fought two wars with arch-foe Armenia for control of the disputed Karabakh region -- one in the 1990s and another in 2020 -- before it managed to seize the entire area in a 24-hour offensive in September 2023.