1809 victims of HTS, SNA violations in Syria in first half of 2023

Introduction and Methodology:

From the time the Turkish-backed opposition factions, also known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) took control of regions in north Syria, they commenced committing violations, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against the people in those regions. They arbitrarily arrested people, tortured, extrajudicially killed them, seized property, and imposed royalties on the people.  

These practices continue unpunished. Even though these violations have been occurring for over five years, no local or international law has deterred these militants from committing these violation, facilitating impunity without punishment or conviction.

After Turkish forces and Turkish-backed SNA factions invaded Afrin, regions in the northern countryside of Aleppo, Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), and Tel Abyad in 2018 and 2019, they breached human rights laws and covenants. They committed violations and racial discrimination against the original inhabitants, arbitrarily displaced over 700,000  individuals and settled others in their houses, imposed Turkish language on Syrian students in those regions, imposed dealing in Turkish lira, in addition to systematically targeting Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, and people from other religions.

In turn, the HTS, present in vast areas in Idlib since 2014, has negatively contribute to achieving stability and a political solution in Syria by violating the rights of the population and arresting opponents, activists, and civilians, including women, who criticized HTS, under the accusations of spying for foreign parties.

The people were subjected to torture, and psychological, sexual and physical abuse. The HTS also carried out death sentences as they expanded their control.

They imposed extremist laws and rules according to the al-Qaeda ideology to which they belonged before they used the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in an attempt to evade the penalties imposed on them as “terrorist” group.

This semi-annual report issued by the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, is based on its databases that record and document violations committed by Turkish-backed SNA factions and the HTS against civilians. The report also uses information received directly from field correspondents, as well as news articles and reports released by the agency, testimonies from victims and their relatives, and security and human rights sources.

Violations of Turkish-backed SNA factions

The Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press recorded in the first half of 2023, the most prominent violations and assaults committed against civilians by Turkish-backed SNA factions in the northern countryside of Aleppo, Tel Abyad, and Sere Kaniye.

The department documented the killing of 20 individuals, including two women, and the injury of 185 others, including 11 women and 10 children via extrajudicial methods by these factions. They also shelled 45 positions of the Syrian government forces, causing the death of four individuals and the injury of 11 others, including two women.

The most notable incidents occurred in the city of Jindires in the countryside of Afrin on March 20, the eve of Newroz [Kurdish new year] festivities celebrated by Kurds in Afrin. Militants of the Turkish-backed Jaysh al-Sharqiya faction killed five civilian Kurds, four from one family, and wounded a child, for refusing to subject to orders from the militants to put out the Newroz flame, which is a key ritual of celebrating the holiday, that they ignited in front of their house. The factions denied that their militants are the perpetrators, but eyewitnesses and locals stressed the perpetrators were militants of the Jaysh al-Sharqiya faction.

In February, after large parts of Syria were destroyed by the devastating 7.7 magnitude Feb. 6 earthquake, the factions, despite the destruction that happened in areas under their control, did not cease their violations but rather used it as an opportunity for making profits.

They seized relief assistance sent to those affected by the earthquake, taxed aid convoys, stole the belongings of civilians living in tents from their partially damaged houses. Not to mention the racial discrimination during search and rescue operations and distribution of aid. They also indiscriminately bombed the locals’ houses on the pretext of being at risk of collapse without conducting proper studies and procedures. These acts are in violation of human rights laws and international treaties on economic, social and cultural rights.

Our department recorded 131 cases of appropriation of civilian property, including those of women and elderly people, by force of arms, 19 cases of robbery and 231 cases of imposing royalties on the locals, including deportees from Turkey, refugees and displaced persons who entered their areas to visit their relatives, in addition to imposing royalties on relief aid sent to quake-affected people. Over 1,000 tents sent by organizations to quake-survivors, four aid trucks, and hundreds of aid rations were seized by the factions.

Environmental and cultural violations

Environmental and cultural violations are a part of the demographical engineering policy adopted by Turkey and its affiliated factions. Over 9,320 forest and fruit trees were cut , mostly in Afrin and several trees were uprooted to make space for the expansion a Turkish military base in the town of Kaljibrin in the countryside of Azaz in northern Aleppo. The factions also burned 3,255 forest and fruit trees and 1,105 acres of wheat and rye crops belonging to the locals. Our department also recorded six cases of excavation of archaeological sites in Afrin in search of gold and monuments.

Arrests

Most Turkish-backed SNA factions have carried out arbitrary arrests and torture. During the first half of 2023, 496 people were arrested, including 404 in the northern countryside of Aleppo, mostly from Afrin, 79 in Sere Kaniye and 13 in Tel Abyad. The detainees included 411 men, 45 women, 25 children, 15 military personnel, 169 of them were asylum seekers handed over by Turkish border guards to the factions.

The factions released 312 individuals, including those handed over by Turkish border guards and others arbitrarily arrested, after receiving sums of money that reached over $ 400 per person from their relatives. The highest toll of arbitrarily arrested individuals were carried out by the Military Police faction in Afrin, Sere Kaniye, and Tel Abyad. They arbitrarily arrested 126 out of 496 people under charges of dealing with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to make money off of them, in addition to people who participated in protests against them and others arrested without reason.

Violations of HTS

The HTS seized large parts of the city of Idlib and parts of the countryside of Hama and Latakia, turning the region into a safe haven for Islamic State (ISIS) militants and constantly cracking down on the population.

The HTS caused the death and injury of 463 individuals varying between civilian and military personnel, of which 275 lost their lives, including five women, and 188 were injured, including a woman and two activists. The victims of indiscriminate shelling against government-held areas reached 364 people, 201 of whom were killed and 163 injured. The victims of torture, execution and direct targeting reached 99 individuals, 74 of whom were killed and 25 injured.

Our department documented that HTS’ Spoils of War Committee seized 18 houses and shops in Idlib, 450 acres of agricultural land, 34 UN aid trucks sent for quake-affected people, in addition to seven shelters for quake-survivors set up by humanitarian organizations and teams.

Executions

The Monitoring and Documentation Department documented 24 cases of executions carried out by HTS via security apparatuses, including three women. These individuals were executed after they were detained and forcibly disappeared without clarifying the reason and place of arrest and did not allow their relatives to meet them or hire lawyers.

Executions are one of the most prominent violations of HTS against the people of Idlib and other areas under their control. They conduct extrajudicial executions against men and women without going to trials but rather by orders from HTS’ security official, Abu Maria al-Qahtani, HTS’ leader, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, and its Shura Council.

A security source told North Press that HTS uses execution methods of stoning, death by the firing squad or cutting of the throat, depending on the nature of the charge. The source also indicated that they carry out executions of people accused of charges of espionage for the US-led Global Coalition, Syrian government or the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as well as cursing God or committing adultery. Usually, the charges are fake and the security apparatus detains such persons for criticizing or opposing the HTS.

Arrests

The arrests and enforced disappearance remain one of the most prominent practices of the Syrian war that is ongoing for 12 years.

The number of people who were arbitrarily arrested by HTS reached 630, including 62 women, 21 children, and 4 activists. 20 individuals of non-Syrian nationalities were among the detainees, in addition to the arrest of 19 members of Turkish-backed SNA factions.

Most of them were arrested on charges related to collaborating with the US-led Global Coalition, the Syrian government, or the SDF. They claim to arrest them under the pretext of incitement, unlike the SNA factions that seek to collect money and then release them.

Detainees in HTS prisons face an unknown fate that leads them to death under torture or execution. Relatives of the detainees constantly protest and object the arrest campaigns carried out by the HTS, demanding to disclose the their fate and release them, which prompt the security apparatuses to arrest more people.

The continuation of these violations by the various conflicting forces put the lives of Syrians at risk. The Syrian people’s human rights are universal rights and should not be violated or neglected, or their perpetrators be unpunished.

Therefore, the international community and the concerned parties must make every possible effort to end the conflict in Syria, stop the violations that strip Syrians of their rights, and work with the local authorities to reduce arrests and enforced disappearances throughout Syria.