Rights Report Accuses Syria Regime Services of Killing Thousands of Civilians

Military police patrol of the regime. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Military police patrol of the regime. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
TT

Rights Report Accuses Syria Regime Services of Killing Thousands of Civilians

Military police patrol of the regime. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)
Military police patrol of the regime. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Monday that it continues to monitor and track the arrests and killing under torture in Syrian regime prisons and security centers.

The Observatory said that 969,854 people, including 155,002 women, were arrested by regime security services since the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution in March 2011.

While thousands of them were killed throughout the years, and many were released, nearly 140,000 civilians, including 29,344 women, remain detained and their fate remains unknown, it added.

SOHR documented by name the death of 49,410 Syrians under torture inside the regime security camps: 48,994 young and adult men, 349 children under the age of eighteen, and 67 women.

The Syrian Observatory has been informed that the number of people who died in the camps reached 105,000 people.

Over 83 percent of the total death toll were killed and/or died in these camps between May 2013 and October 2015.

SOHR sources have also confirmed that more than 30,000 detainees were killed in the notorious prison of Saydnaya alone, while the second-largest percentage of killings occurred in the Air Force Intelligence.

The Observatory warned against the repercussions of non-complying with international accords signed by Syria, as well as the ongoing indifference by the warring powers in Syria to the issue of killing under torture.

SOHR urged attaching the highest significance to this issue and making the voice of the detainees and their families heard by the world.

Moreover, it warned against using laws of counterterrorism to justify arrests of politicians and human rights activists.

It also called for the inspection of detention centers across Syria, especially in regime-held areas, so that the conditions of detainees are unveiled.

Furthermore, the fate of the missing and detainees who have been killed must be disclosed, SOHR added.



Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis
TT

Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

Israel Announces New Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

Houthi militias in Yemen said Israeli airstrikes on Thursday targeted Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah, following several days of Houthi launches setting off sirens in Israel.

The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used by the Houthis at the international airport in Sanaa and ports at Hodeidah, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib along with Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations. It came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”

Netanyahu monitored the new strikes along with military leaders, his government said. The Iran-backed Houthis' media outlet confirmed the strikes in a Telegram post but gave no immediate details. The US military also has targeted the Houthis in Yemen in recent days.

Over the weekend, 16 people were wounded when a Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv. Last week, Israeli jets struck Sanaa and Hodeidah, killing nine people, calling it a response to previous Houthi attacks. The Houthis also have been targeting shipping on the Red Sea corridor, calling it solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has instructed its diplomatic missions in Europe to try to get the Houthis designated as a terrorist organisation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.