268 people killed, injured in Syria during 1st half of June

Syria during the 1st half of June

The toll of victims in the first half of June reached 268 individuals recorded by the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press Agency.

During the first half of June, Syria witnessed escalation at all levels recording an increase of about 26 percent in human rights violations, and an increase of about 19 percent in the toll of the civil victims. Meanwhile, the intensity of the escalation between the parties to the conflict in the country increased by about 109 percent. Based on an analysis of data recorded by the Department, the Islamic State (ISIS) activity increased by 66 percent compared to the first half of May. 

This report addresses the most prominent human rights violations recorded since the beginning of June based on information obtained by the Department from a network of field sources in various Syrian territories.

The report includes the toll of human rights violations carried out by all parties to the conflict, such as killings, abductions, torture, arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate shelling, and ISIS activity.

The Department recorded the killing and wounding of 268 people, 163 of which civilian casualties, 66 were killed, including six children and six women, and 97 were wounded, including 13 children and eight women. Most victims were extrajudicially killed and injured by unidentified individuals and military personnel affiliated with one of the parties to the conflict due to the absence of censorship, increased security chaos, and impunity.

Among the recorded number of victims 15 people were killed and injured due to remnants of war, six individuals were killed, including two men, two children and two military personnel, and nine were injured, including one man, four children, one woman, and three military personnel.

The number of military victims reached 105, including 70 dead and 35 wounded. They varied between the four zones of control [those of the government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The casualties toll reached 39 dead and 24 wounded in government-held areas, whereas 17 fighters of the SDF were killed and seven others were wounded. Three militants of the HTS were killed. As for the SNA militants, five were killed, and one was wounded.

Additionally, six non-Syrian militants were killed and three others were wounded.

Meanwhile, toll of shelling cases between parties to the conflict in Syria and the number of victims has increased by about 109 percent, recording 32 shelling cases against the government forces’ sites with 38 attacks, 31 of which were carried out by the HTS with 35 attacks, one by Israel with three attacks in Damascus. 

As for the government forces, they targeted 93 sites of the HTS with 233 attacks. Russia shelled two sites of the HTS with two attacks. One site of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in Manbij was targeted with dozens shells, which the Department has not managed to verify their number.

The Turkish forces shelled 33 sites in northeast Syria with 93 attacks, 12 of which were carried out with drones.

ISIS activity in the region also witnessed a surge by 26 percent during the first half of the month, targeting civilians and military personnel.

The total toll of victims of the ISIS direct targeting or landmines in Syria reached 24 people, 19 of which were killed and five others were wounded.

The group carried out five attacks and claimed two of them, killing 16 people and wounding three others. The attacks were distributed as follows: two in Deir ez-Zor, one each in Homs, Hasakah, and Raqqa.

The attacks targeted two civilians, two SDF fighters, and one against the Iranian-backed militias.

 In turn, the SDF launched two security operations, as a result, three people were arrested on charges of belonging to ISIS, and one was killed.

Regarding to arrests, 147 people were arrested in the first half of June, most of them were from Idlib, 15 of them, including two children who applied for the government Junior Certificate exams, were arrested by the government forces. 

The HTS arrested 58 people, including two women and an activist. Most of the arrestees were people opposed the HTS policy or involved in protests, demanding the release of detainees in the HTS prisons.

The SNA arrested 22 people, including four women, under the pretext of dealing with the Autonomous Administration, and others in Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) after they were deported from Turkey.

Meanwhile, the SDF arrested five people under different charges.

The Turkish intelligence arrested three people, including a French individual, after the HTS handed them over. The Turkish border guards also arrested 44 Syrian asylum seekers, including six women, on their attempt to cross the Syrian-Turkish border.

As for the violations of human rights committed by the SNA factions, they wounded 12 people, including a lady. The Monitoring and Documentation Department recorded five cases of imposing royalties by the SNA and one appropriation, and chopping of 750 trees in Afrin region.

The violations carried out by the Turkish border guards against Syrian asylum seekers are still continuing, they wounded 51 people while trying to cross Syrian-Turkish border and killed another while plowing his land near the Turkish border in the countryside of Idlib. In northeastern Syria, the Turkish shelling killed 22 civilians and military personnel, including a lady, and wounded 23 others.

It is expected that human rights violations will continue to rise until the end of this month due to the simmering escalation between the parties to the conflict. So that the conflicting parties have to adhere to its responsibilities and commitments in protecting civilians, securing a decent life for them, never attacking them, never underestimating or humiliating them, and working to halt arrests and enforced disappearance.