Syria is experiencing a wave of violence not seen since 2020, the UN Syria Commission of Inquiry warned in a report. It said that across multiple frontlines, parties to the conflict have attacked civilians and infrastructure in ways likely amounting to war crimes.
“Since October, Syria has seen the largest escalation in fighting in four years. With the region in turmoil, a determined international effort to contain the fighting on Syrian soil is imperative. Syria, too, desperately needs a ceasefire,” said Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Commission.
“The Syrian people cannot sustain any further intensification of this devastating, protracted war,” Pinheiro said. “More than 90% now live in poverty, the economy is in freefall amid tightening sanctions, and increased lawlessness is fueling predatory practices and extortion” by different parties to the conflict.
The upsurge in fighting in Syria started on October 5 when consecutive explosions during a graduation ceremony at a military academy in the government-controlled city of Homs killed at least 63 people, including 37 civilians, and injured scores.
Syrian government and Russian forces responded with bombardments affecting at least 2,300 sites in opposition-controlled areas over just three weeks, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. “Their indiscriminate attacks, which may amount to war crimes, hit well-known and visible hospitals, schools, markets and camps for internally displaced persons, and have since continued,” said the report.
Since the start of the Gaza onslaught, tensions have increased between some of the six foreign armies active in Syria, notably Israel, Iran and the US - raising concerns of a wider conflict. Israel reportedly struck alleged Iran-linked sites and forces in Syria at least 35 times and attacked the Aleppo and Damascus airports, temporarily halting vital UN humanitarian air services. Pro-Iranian militias reportedly attacked US bases in north-east Syria over 100 times, and the US responded with air strikes against pro-Iranian militias in eastern Syria.
Meanwhile, in northeast Syria, the Turkish military accelerated operations against Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in retaliation for an attack claimed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Ankara in October. Turkish aerial attacks on power plants deprived nearly one million people of water and electricity for weeks, in violation of international humanitarian law. Civilians were also killed in targeted aerial attacks fitting a pattern of Turkish drone strikes. “Such attacks may amount to war crimes.”
Five years after the fall of Baghuz when ISIS lost its territorial control in Syria, “almost 30,000 children are still held in internment camps, prisons or rehabilitation centers in northeast Syria,” Commissioner Lynn Welchman said. “These children were already victimized during ISISs rule, only to be subjected to years of continued human rights violations and abuses.”
The Commission has concluded that living conditions in Al-Hol and Al-Rawj camps amount to cruel and inhuman treatment and outrages on personal dignity.
“No child should ever be punished for their parents’ actions or beliefs,” Welchman said. “We urge all States to immediately allow all children, including Syrian children, to return home from the camps and take measures to ensure their reintegration into society and accountability for the crimes they have suffered.”
The Commission concluded that 16.7 million inside Syria now require humanitarian assistance, the largest number of people in need since the start of the crisis.
A severe shortfall in donor funds has forced the UN to suspend regular food aid in Syria, placing millions in the grip of hunger. Yet aid deliveries are held hostage to arbitrary decision-making by the Syrian government and hampered by sanctions.
