107 Civilians, Including 26 Children and 11 Women, Documented Killed in Syria in July 2020

ARK News… The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) announced in its monthly report released today that at least 107 civilians, including 26 children and 11 women, were documented killed in July 2020 at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria, in addition to documenting four massacres and 13 victims who died due to torture during the same period.

The report states that the Syrian regime bears the primary responsibility for the deaths of Syrian citizens due to the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the Syrian regime and its Russian ally have repeatedly been documented as having targeted, bombed and destroyed most medical facilities in Syria, and killed hundreds of medical personnel, according to the SNHR’s database, with dozens of these lifesaving medics being still classified as forcibly disappeared at the regime’s hands, noting that nearly 3,327 medical personnel are still detained or forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime.

As the report reveals, the beginning of 2020 was accompanied by a violent military operation led by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies against the areas outside its control in and around Idlib. The cities and residential neighborhoods in these areas were subjected to massive and indiscriminate bombardment, which resulted in dozens of deaths and the displacement of residents of entire cities. The first and second months of the year also saw a marked increase in the death toll.

The report notes that the recent months saw the reduction in the death toll compared to the first three months of the year, with the report attributing this to the Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreement entered into force, and to the COVID-19 pandemic which has spread extensively in most countries worldwide, including Syria, where the pandemic appears to have affected the capabilities of the Syrian regime’s army and affiliated Iranian militias, contributing to decreasing bombardment against civilians.

According to the report, the SNHR’s Victim Documentation team documented in July the deaths of 107 civilians, including 26 children and 11 women (adult female). This figure is broken down according to the perpetrators in each case, with 21 of them are civilians, including four children, killed at the hands of Syrian Regime forces, while seven civilians, including four children and two women, were killed at the hands of the Armed Opposition/ the Syrian National Army, and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham killed two civilians.

According to the report, the SNHR’s working team documented at least 31 individuals who died due to torture in July 2020; 10 of these victims died at the hands of Syrian Regime forces, one at the hands of the Armed Opposition/ the Syrian National Army, and two at the hands of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The report stresses that the Syrian government has violated international humanitarian law and customary law, and all UN Security Council resolutions, particularly resolution 2139, resolution 2042, and resolution 2254, all without any accountability.

The report calls on the Security Council to take additional steps following its adoption of Resolution 2254, and stresses the importance of referring the Syrian case to the International Criminal Court, adding that all those who are responsible should be held accountable including the Russian regime whose involvement in war crimes has been repeatedly proven.

The report also calls on the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria to condemn the perpetrators of crimes and massacres and those who were primarily responsible for dooming the de-escalation agreements to failure, to re-sequence the peace process so that it can resume its natural course despite Russia’s attempts to divert and distort it, empowering the Constitutional Committee prior to the establishment of a transitional governing body.

Lastly, the report stresses the need for humanitarian organizations to develop urgent operational plans to secure decent shelter for internally displaced persons.

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