Syria’s fault lines starting to heat up again – UN
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Wednesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syria warned against the return of confrontations to the war-torn country Syria with “several frontlines across the country flared up in recent months.”
This came in a report, in which Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, chair of the UN’s Syria commission, told journalists in Geneva, “Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that is where it may be heading.”
The report noted that after Iran and Russia helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to regain control over 70% of the country, the US supported the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State Organization (ISIS), and Turkey established a safe zone near its southern border, fighting calmed down in recent years.
Pinheiro told the journalist that the UN thought to some extent that war in Syria ended.
However, events documented in the 50-page report showed the opposite, disclosing “grave violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law” had increased across the country in the first six months of 2022.
The United Nations said fault lines between various areas are now starting to heat up again.
Commissioner on the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Hanny Megally, said, “We are seeing increasing violence.”
The report documented deaths of former opposition leaders, continued torture, ill-treatment in detention centers, Russian air strikes over opposition-held areas and dozen Israeli strikes across Syria.
The report also mentioned the deteriorating security condition in Hawl Camp, where murders are on a rise.
The Commission will present the report to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday.