First half of March witnesses 303 killing, injury cases across Syria

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, based on statistics the department recorded, published its report for the first half of March, revealing that security chaos pace has witnessed a surge in most of the Syrian areas despite disaster that hit the Syrians due to the Feb. 6 earthquake.

The department noted that the increase in human rights violations in the first half of March hit 66 percent in comparison with the same period in February.

Parties to the conflict, though the Syrian conflicts is entering its 13^th year, continue committing their violations, which are rapidly increasing following a decline during the earthquake period, in most of the Syrian cities.

The Monitoring and Documentation Department, in its report, tackled the prominent human rights violations that have been practiced since early this month based on information obtained by the department from a network of field sources deploy in different Syrian parts.

The report includes the toll of human rights violations including kidnapping, arbitrary arrest, torturing, and killing, as well as indiscriminate shelling and the Islamic State (ISIS) practices.

The department documented the killing and wounding of 303 individuals, 221 of which were civilians  and 82 military personnel.

107 civilians were killed, including ten children, and 14 women as 114 others were wounded including 16 children and two women.

Most of the 303 individuals were killed and wounded illegally by unknown individuals in light of lack of monitoring, increasing security chaos and possible impunity.

Fifty-six out of the 303 killed and wounded individuals were victims of explosions of remnants of war that are widely spread in regions that witnessed battles. Of these 56, 28 lost their lives, including four children, two ladies and eight military personnel, and 28 others were wounded, eight of which were of children and five military personnel.

Four civilians were killed and ten others were wounded, including children, by Turkish border guards while they were trying to cross into Turkey. The Turkish border guards’ practices urged resident in the opposition-held areas to organize protests against their violations against Syrians seeking a better life.

The toll of military personnel victims has reached 82, including 56 killing cases and 26 wounding cases,  in the areas held by the four controlling powers [Syrian government, Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), Turkish-backed Syrian opposition, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front)].

The toll of the military personnel victims is as follows: 40 soldiers of the Syrian government forces were killed and 17 others were wounded, ten fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed and four others were wounded, two HTS militants were killed and two others were wounded, and two Turkish-backed SNA militants and two others of foreign nationalities were killed, and three others were wounded.

Most of the military personnel victims were killed and wounded in the recent military escalation between the parties to the conflict.

The de-escalation zone in the countryside of Idlib, Hama, Aleppo and Latakia witnessed mutual shelling between the government forces, the HTS, and the Turkish-backed SNA factions, recording 96 attacks targeting 66 sites.

Twenty sites of the government forces were hit with 33 attacks by HTS and the SNA factions. Other government military sites in Aleppo, Hama and Tartus were subjected to Israeli shelling.

Meanwhile, the government forces shelled 45 positions of both the HTS and the SNA with 62 attacks.

Additionally, a site of the Iranian-backed militias in Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria, was targeted with a missile by unknown individuals, killing seven and wounding 12 others.

Unknown individuals targeted the US-led Global Coalition base in al-Omar oil field in northeast Syria.

Despite the catastrophe of the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Turkey, the latter has not stopped its shelling of areas in northeast Syria. In the first half of March, 12 military posts and residential areas in each of Kobani and Ain Issa received 15 attacks by Turkey and its affiliated SNA factions.

The attacks resulted in the wounding of two civilians and two SDF fighters.

Speaking of the ISIS activity across Syria, the report noted the group was drastically active in the Syrian Desert areas and targeted civilians. ISIS launched 13 attacks, killing 19 individuals and wounding five others.

Nine ISIS attacks targeted shepherds and truffle hunters, three against the government forces, and one against an SDF checkpoint.

The SDF and the Coalition launched a security operation, as a result three individuals accused of belonging to ISIS were arrested.

In areas occupied by Turkey and its affiliated SNA factions, violations have continued wounding four civilians, the SNA factions cut 316 trees in Afrin countryside, and theft continued.

The SNA factions exploited the state of chaos caused by the earthquake in Aleppo countryside to seize aid and life-saving support for affected people, whose houses and shops were also robbed by the factions.

The Monitoring and Documentation Department also documented 77 arrest cases most of which were recorded in Deir ez-Zor and Damascus.

The government forces arbitrary arrested 27 individuals, including students, most of which were arrested without realizing the reason for the arrest. Eighteen individuals, including soldiers and officers of the government forces, were arrested by Iranian-backed forces for leaking information to anti-Iran parties. HTS arrested 21 individuals who opposed its policy, the Turkish-backed SNA factions arrested two individuals in Afrin, and the SDF arrested nine individuals.

The pace of human rights violations in Syria, in case parties to the conflict do not abide by their commitments in protecting civilians and allowing them to live in dignity without assaults, impunity, and maltreatment, is expected to rapidly increase, resulting in more sufferings and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.