On Wednesday, the Syrian Air Force struck the Aleppo-area town of Azaz [Ezzaz or Azzaz or Izaz], very near the border with Turkey, killing over 40 people, and causing widescale damage to a civilian area, as this photo shows:
This photo was posted on Twitter here by @NMSyria.
Despite the proximity to the border, the only reported Turkish response was to take in the wounded for medical treatment. Some of the seriously wounded later died in Turkey, compounding confusion about numbers of mortalities.
Voice of America [VOA] reporter Scott Bobb, in the town yesterday for an interview with “a local rebel commander”, was present and apparently taken by surprise at the time of the attack. He reported that “Azaz [Ezzaz] has been in rebel control for weeks and was not a government target until Wednesday…’This town had been held by the FSA for some time. It was fairly stable and many of the refugees had returned. Locals say it was the first bombing they have experienced”… His report is posted here.
Bobb also reported that “The citizens are panicking. Many have just jumped into whatever vehicle they have – cars, tractors, motorcycles – and headed away from the town with the fear that this may be the beginning of an offensive … I have seen dozens of people fleeing, often families, sometimes three or four on a motorcycle. I saw one family of about six on a farm tractor crossing through a rural road, an olive tree field, and others have come through in ambulances, pickup trucks, civilian vehicles, cars”…
But there were many who didn’t flee immediately, including those who were helping to search through the rubble of destroyed buildings, looking for survivors or for bodies, as this photo, also posted on Twitter here by @NMSyria, shows:
- UPDATE: Human Rights Watch [HRW] has compiled a report during a visit two hours after the attacks by a Syrian fighter jet on Wednesday, and is now saying that 40 people were killed, and more than 100 were wounded. HRW said that: “at least two bombs destroyed an entire block of houses in the al-Hara al-Kablie neighborhood of Azaz, in Syria’s northern Aleppo province … Azaz residents told Human Rights Watch that, at around 3 p.m., they saw a fighter jet drop at least two bombs on the residential area. Within seconds, dozens of houses in an area of approximately 70-by-70 meters – more than half a football field – were flattened. Houses on the surrounding streets were significantly damaged, with collapsed walls and ceilings. On the streets around the bombed area, windows were broken and some walls had collapsed. Two opposition Free Syrian Army facilities in the vicinity of the attack might have been targets of the Syrian aircraft, Human Rights Watch said. One was the headquarters of the local Free Syrian Army brigade, in the former building of the Baath party, two streets away from the block that was hit. The other was a detention facility where the Free Syrian Army held ‘security detainees’ – government military personnel and members of pro-government shabeeha militia. Neither of these facilities was damaged in the attack … The exact number of victims is difficult to verify. Most of the wounded were transported to hospitals across the nearby Turkish border”. This report is posted here.
Other reports, on Twitter, claimed that one or more “vacuum” bombs had been dropped in the government aerial attack on Azaz on Wednesday.
In the aftermath, Syria’s membership in the Organization of the Islamic Conference [OIC] was suspended overnight, as it had been months earlier in the Arab League.
And, a two-person committee appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva issued its latest report, on developments from 15 February to 20 July. This latest report is the first since the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] made a determination [it is apparently up to the ICRC to do this] that the conflict in Syria had reached the level of civil war.
The UN HRC-appointed committee is composed of human rights expert Paulo Pinheiro of Brazil and Karen Abu Zayd of the U.S., has not been permitted to enter Syria, and is working from compiled reports and visits to neighboring countries in the region, as well as by interviews conducted over the phone and by Skype.
Their latest report said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the documented instances reported to them show “widespread or systematic attack against predominantly civilian population”. And, the UN HRC report said, the commission concluded that the scale of the attacks on a predominantly civilian population showed they were “conducted pursuant to State policy”.
The report said that “both parties to the conflict perpetrated unlawful killings” but Government forces + their allied Shabbiha did more, and worse, and that they found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Government forces + Shabbiha did not protect right to live, and had committed the war crime of murder.
It said that “During the reporting period, the security situation deteriorated significantly, with armed violence increasing in intensity and spreading to new areas. Active hostilities increased between Government forces (and pro-Government militia) and anti-Government armed groups. Sporadic clashes between the armed actors evolved into continuous combat, involving more brutal tactics and new military capabilities on both sides … The Government increasingly deployed its troops and heavy equipment in operations against areas perceived to be supporting opposition groups. All army divisions and security services engaged in military operations … Government forces directed their main efforts towards the control of major cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama …Anti-Government armed groups engaged with the Government forces through direct clashes, ambushes and raids. While investigations did not confirm the use of more sophisticated weaponry by anti-Government armed groups, their access to and capacity to effectively use available weapons improved. They appeared to have access to increased funding and logistical support. The commission noted the increased and effective use of improvised explosive devices against the convoys, patrols and facilities of Government forces. They were also used to target members of military and security forces and Government officials”.
This latest UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria report said that “Most unlawful killings occurred in the context of attacks against the strongholds of anti-Government armed groups”, and that in those operations, “Wounded or captured anti-Government fighters were executed. In some cases, family members of fighters, defectors and activists, as well as others who appeared to have been randomly selected, were also executed”.
The report said that the commission had heard evidence of “cases of killing by anti-Government fighters of captured Government soldiers, Shabbiha and informers who admitted taking part in military attacks” as well as “corroborated evidence of killing hors de combat soldiers and Shabbiha”. It said that: “In Al Qusayr, Bab Amr, Qaldiya and elsewhere, the commission noted that persons captured by anti-Government armed groups on occasion faced a quasi-judicial process prior to their execution. A consistent account of the trial process has not been forthcoming, nor has information on the extent of adherence to fair trial standards. Executing a prisoner without affording fundamental judicial guarantees is a war crime. The commission concluded that information on executions perpetrated by anti-Government armed groups — with or without a ‘trial’ — constituted reasonable grounds to believe that the war crimes of murder or of sentencing or execution without due process had been committed on several occasions”.
Also, the report found, “scores of civilians had been killed in nine explosions between March and July by unknown perpetrators”.
The report did note that “The Shabbiha were identified as perpetrators of many of the crimes described in the present report. Although the nature, composition and hierarchy of the Shabbiha remains unclear, credible information led to the conclusion that they acted in concert with Government forces”.
The report also said that “The commission remains of the view that the Government has failed in its legal obligation to investigate the murders in Al-Houla of 25 May 2012. On the basis of available evidence, the commission concluded that the elements of the war crime of murder have been met. The killing of multiple civilians, including women and children, was deliberate and connected to the ongoing armed conflict. There are reasonable grounds to believe that the perpetrators of the crime, at both the Abdulrazzak and Al-Sayed family locations, were Government forces and Shabbiha members. There are also reasonable grounds to believe that these acts were part of a series of attacks directed against civilians, and as such, formed part of the conclusion that crimes against humanity were perpetrated by the Government and Shabbiha”.
The report said that torture + other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment have been committed by Government forces + Shabbiha, and that children had been engaged in combat, were detained, held with adults, and tortured + raped. In fact, the report said, “there are reasonable grounds to believe rape has been perpetrated against men, women + children” [by Government forces + Shabbiha].
It also said that “Government forces + Shabbiha engaged in the destruction and burning of property during house searches”, and that there are “reasonable grounds to believe Government forces + Shabbiha committed war crime of pillage.”
The report noted that “In its previous reports, the commission did not apply international humanitarian law” — but that “during [this] reporting period, the commission of inquiry determined that the intensity and duration of the conflict, combined with the increased organizational capabilities of anti-Government armed groups, had met the legal threshold for a non-international armed conflict. The commission therefore applied both international humanitarian law and international human rights law in its assessment of the actions of the parties to the hostilities”.
While no names were named in the report, it said that “A confidential list of individuals and units believed to be responsible for crimes against humanity, breaches of international humanitarian law and gross human rights violations will be submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the close of the commission’s current mandate, in September 2012”.
This UN Human Rights Commission report on Syria is available by clicking on the first document listed on this webpage [there’s no direct link!], here.
UPDATE:
- The just-published Human Rights Watch report speaks about responsibility for the violations that it has said are now being committed:
“International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, applies to all Syrian government and armed opposition forces in Syria. The laws of war prohibit direct attacks on civilians. Homes, apartments, and other civilian structures are also to be protected from attack, unless they are being used for military purposes. Where there is doubt about whether a target is military or civilian, it must be presumed to be civilian.
“The laws of war also prohibit attacks that strike military targets and civilians indiscriminately, such as those that are not directed at a specific military target.Attacks are also prohibited that may be expected to cause incidental civilian loss that would be disproportionate to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the attack.
“Military commanders must choose the means of attack that can be directed at military targets and will minimize incidental harm to civilians. If the weapons used are so inaccurate that they cannot be directed at military targets without imposing a substantial risk of civilian harm, then they should not be deployed. Weapons, such as aerial bombs with a large blast radius may be considered indiscriminate when used in populated areas.
“The laws of war do not prohibit fighting in urban areas, although the presence of many civilians places greater obligations on all warring parties to take steps to minimize harm to civilians. All forces need to take constant care during military operations to spare the civilian population, and take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of civilian life and property. These precautions include doing everything feasible to verify that the objects of attack are military targets and not civilians or civilian objects, and giving ‘effective advance warning’ of attacks when circumstances permit.
“All forces must also avoid deploying near densely populated areas, and strive to remove civilians from the vicinity of their forces. At the same time, attacking forces are not relieved from their obligation to take into account the risk to civilians simply because they consider the defending forces responsible for locating military targets within populated areas.
“Governments have an obligation to investigate allegations of serious laws-of-war violations by their military forces. Those committed with criminal intent – deliberately or recklessly – are war crimes. Governments are obligated to identify and prosecute the individuals responsible for war crimes according to international fair-trial standards”.