إدلب 27/02/2017 : مشاهد قاسية جراء قصف طيران #الأسد / الروس على مدينة أر...

- Syrian doctor coins new term for children's extreme war-trauma

Syrian children are living through a dictator's internationally assisted, UN-approved genocide, while the world lauds the dictator and demonises his victims. 

'Syrian doctor coins new term for children's extreme war-trauma'

'Syria's children of war have experienced more trauma, physical and emotional pain, than any medical professionals have seen.
The oft-orphaned children, who have had members of their family blown apart by a regime barrel bomb or a Russian cruise missile or even a US airstrike, are suffering more than just post-traumatic stress.

These children are suffering from "Human devastation syndrome," Dr Mohammad K Hamza, a neuropsychologist with the Syrian-American Medical Society (SAMS), told ATTN on Friday.

Dr Hamza, who also chairs the mental health committee of SAMS, believes the destruction witnessed by Syrian children is beyond what any soldier at war can see.

"We have talked to so many children, and their devastation is above and beyond what even soldiers are able to see in the war," Dr Hamza said.

"They have seen dismantled human beings that used to be their parents, or their siblings. You get out of a family of five or six or 10 or whatever - you get one survivor, two survivors sometimes. A lot of them have physical impairments. Amputations. Severe injuries. And they’ve made it to the refugee camp somehow."

Dr Hamza told ATTN that the emotional and psychological problem does not stop there. The suffering of Syrian children continues as they endure poverty and exploitation of life in a refugee camp.'

تقرير: نظام #الأسد يتجاهل القرارات الأممية ويُجدد استخدام الأسلحة الكيميائية

أصدرت الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان تقريرها الثالث والعشرين فيما يخص استخدام الأسلحة الكيمائية في سوريا وطالبت فيه بمقاضاة مبدئية لمستخدمي الأسلحة الكيميائية في محاكم محلية ذات اختصاص

واستعرض التقرير إحصائية الهجمات الكيمائية التي نفذها النظام في ظلِّ قرارات مجلس الأمن والتي بلغت 33 هجمة قبل صدور القرار رقم 2118 في 27/ أيلول/ 2013 في حين بلغت 158 هجمة بعد القرار ذاته، ونفَّذ النظام 89 هجمة بالأسلحة الكيمائية بعد القرار رقم 2209 الصادر في 6/ آذار/ 2015، و33 هجمة بعد القرار رقم 2235 الصادر في 7/ آب/ 2015 والذي قرَّر إنشاء آلية تحقيق مشترك، كما بلغ عدد الهجمات الموثقة بعد إدانة لجنة التحقيق المشترك للنظام السوري، وتحديد مسؤوليته عن استخدام الأسلحة الكيميائية ما لايقل عن 20 هجمة.

وبحسب التقرير فإن تنظيم داعش ارتكب أربع خروقات لقرار مجلس الأمن رقم 2118، وفي الوقت ذاته للقرار رقم 2209 والقرار رقم 2235، جميعها في محافظة حلب.

ووفقاً للتقرير فقد تسببت الهجمات الكيمائية بعد القرار رقم 2118 في مقتل ما لا يقل عن 130 شخصاً قضوا جميعاً في هجمات نفذها النظام ، يتوزعون إلى 78 مدنياً بينهم 40 طفلاً، و13 سيدة، و45 من مقاتلي المعارضة المسلحة، و7 أسرى من قوات النظام كانوا في أحد سجون المعارضة. كما بلغ عدد المصابين ما لا يقل عن 2289 شخصاً يتوزعون إلى 2164 شخصاً على يد النظام ، و125 شخصاً على يد تنظيم داعش.

وتضمَّن التقرير توزُّع الهجمات التي نفَّذها النظام على المحافظات السورية حيث كانت محافظة إدلب الأكثر تعرضاً للأسلحة الكيميائية بـ 41 هجمة تلتها محافظة ريف دمشق بـ 33 هجمة، ثم محافظة حماة بـ 27 هجمة ومحافظة حلب بـ 24 هجمة ثمَّ محافظة دمشق بـ 22 هجمة، وكان نصيب محافظتي حمص ودرعا 4 هجمات لكل منهما، و3 هجمات في محافظة دير الزور، في حين أن جميع الهجمات التي نفَّذها تنظيم داعش كانت في محافظة حلب.

وأشار التقرير إلى أن مجلس الأمن أصدر ثلاثة قرارات رئيسة فيما يتعلق باستخدام الأسلحة الكيميائية في سوريا، وجميع تلك القرارات تُشير إلى فرض تدابير بموجب الفصل السابع في حال عدم الامتثال لها، وذلك في البند رقم 21 من القرار رقم 2118 الصادر في 27/ أيلول/ 2013، والبند رقم 7 من القرار رقم 2209 الصادر في 6/ آذار/ 2015، والبند رقم 15 من القرار رقم 2235 الصادر في 7/ آب/ 2015، إضافة إلى هذه القرارات فقد صادق النظام على معاهدة نزع الأسلحة الكيميائية في أيلول/ 2013، كما أكدت آلية التحقيق المشترك مسؤولية النظام عن عدة هجمات كيميائية، ومع كل هذا فقد فشل مجلس الأمن فشلاً ذريعاً في تنفيذ قراراته، ونجحَ النظام في إهانة معاهدة حظر الأسلحة الكيميائيةـ، وقرارات مجلس الأمن كافة.

وأضاف فضل عبد الغني مدير الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان: “في ظلِّ عدم رغبة مجلس الأمن بالتَّحرك، على الرغم من ثبوت استخدام النظام عشرات المرات للأسلحة الكيميائية، وبالتالي خرق القرارات الثلاثة، واتفاقية نزع الأسلحة الكيميائية، لابدَّ من اللجوء إلى وسائل بديلة، الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان تُطالب، عاجلاً، وعلى الأقل، بمقاضاة مبدئية لمستخدمي الأسلحة الكيميائية في محاكم محلية ذات اختصاص، على دول العالم أن تفتح محاكمها لمحاسبة مرتكبي مثل هكذا انتهاك مرعب”.

وجاء في التقرير أن تقارير آلية التحقيق المشترك لم تتناول سوى 9 هجمات حصلت في عامي 2014 و2015 في محافظات حماة وحلب وإدلب وتم تحديد المسؤولية في 4 هجمات، ثلاثة هجمات نفذها النظام وهجمة واحدة نفذها تنظيم داعش في المقابل فقد وثق التقرير37 هجمة من قبل النظام وتنظيم داعش بعد القرار رقم 2235 الصادر في 7/ آب/ 2015، الذي انبثقت عنه تلك اللجنة.

استند التقرير إلى روايات ناجين، وشهود عيان، وبشكل خاص إلى روايات أطباء عالجوا المصابين، وعناصر من الدفاع المدني، إضافة إلى معاينة الصور والفيديوهات التي وردت للشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان من الناشطين المحليين المعتمدين لديها، وأظهرت بعض المقاطع مصابين يُعانون من صعوبة في التَّنفس كما أظهرت صور أخرى اسطوانات يُعتقد أنها مُحملة بالغازات السامة.

أكَّد التقرير أن قوات النظام انتهكت القانون الدولي الإنساني عبر استخدامها المتعمَّد والمتكرر للأسلحة الكيميائية، وهذا يُعتبر جريمة حرب، وإن استخدام غاز الكلور يُعتبر انتهاكاً لقرارات مجلس الأمن رقم 2118 و2209، و2235 جميعها، وللاتفاقية التي وقعتها حكومة النظام بتاريخ 14/ أيلول/ 2013، التي تقضي بعدم استخدام الغازات السامة وتدميرها، وطالب التقرير كافة الدول الأعضاء في هذه الاتفاقية، بإيجاد سبل لردع النظام

عن انتهاكه المتكرر لها، حيث أن جريمة القتل ترقى إلى جرائم ضد الإنسانية بحسب المادة السابعة من ميثاق روما الأساسي، فهي ومنذ آذار/ 2011 منهجية وواسعة النطاق أيضاً.

أوصى التقرير الاتحاد الأوروبي والولايات المتحدة الأمريكية بضرورة دعم الآلية الدولية المحايدة المنشأة بقرار الجمعية العامة رقم 71/248 الصادر في 21/ كانون الأول/ 2016 وفتح محاكم الدول المحلية التي لديها مبدأ الولاية القضائية العالمية، وملاحقة واحدة من أخطر جرائم الحرب في هذا العصر، وهي استخدام الأسلحة الكيميائية.

وحثَّ التقرير لجنة التحقيق الدولية على المباشرة بالتحقيق في الحوادث التي تستطيع معالجتها، واتخاذ خطوات جادة تهدف إلى تسريع التحقيق في تحديد الجهة التي تستخدم هذه الأنواع من الأسلحة، وخاصة بعد توقيع حكومة النظام اتفاقية حظر الأسلحة الكيميائية.

وأكد التقرير على ضرورة قيام مجلس الأمن باتخاذ إجراءات فعلية عاجلة بعد تأكيد آلية التحقيق المشترك مسؤولية قوات النظام وتنظيم داعش عن هجمات محددة، وعليه تحمُّل مسؤولياته في حفظ الأمن والسلم الأهليين في سورية؛ لأن الانتهاكات التي قامت بها حكومة النظام تُشكل تهديداً صارخاً للأمن والسلم الدوليين، كما طالب التقرير مجلس الامن بالتوقف عن ممارسة لعبة المصالح السياسية على حساب دماء الشعب السوري إذ أن النظام مسمر في استخفافه الواضح بقرارات مجلس الأمن رقم 2118، و2209، 

- #Syria : A former prisoner tells her suffering story in #Assad prisons

Homs: Regime forces block UN aid entry to al Waer neighborhood

Syrian regime and allied militias blocked the entry of a UN-aid convoy delivering food rations and medicine to the besieged al-Waer neighborhood in central Homs city, residents said Sunday.

Abu Faisal, one of 60,000 people live in al-Waer, told Zaman al-Wasl that the regime snipers had targeted the convoy at the western gate of the neighborhood. One person reportedly wounded. Such an assault pushed the UN representative and Syrian Red Crescent to to delay aid delivery.

Regime warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes on al-Waer for two weeks that killed at least 30 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood in the western city of Homs, had for months been spared much of the intense violence raging elsewhere in the country, as the regime tried to conclude an agreement with insurgents there.

Bombardment of the district resumed earlier this month, rescue workers and the Observatory reported.

Pro-Syrian government media outlets have said strikes were in response to rebels firing at residential areas of regime-held Homs neighborhoods.

Damascus has tried to conclude a deal in al-Waer that would see rebel fighters and their families leave the district and the government take over. Under similar local agreements in other parts of western Syria, rebels have left with light weapons and headed mostly for Idlib province.

The opposition says such agreements are part of a regime strategy to forcibly displace populations from opposition-held areas after years of siege and bombardment.

In September some 120 rebel fighters and their families left al-Waer in agreement with the government, but there have been no further reports of insurgents leaving. The Observatory estimates several thousand rebels remain there. (With agencies)

- #إدلب 16/02/2017 : يا بابا شيلني ، شيلني يا بابا .. كلمات مؤثرة صرخ ب...

"يا بابا شيلني".. صرخة طفل قطع الأسد رجليه بموافقة "العالم"

لم يكن الطفل السوري عبد الباسط (88 أعوام) يعلم أنه سيدخل عالم الشهرة من أوجع أبوابها وأبشع صورها بعد كلماته الأخيرة التي يستغيث فيها، طالباً من أبيه أن يحمله بعد أن خارت قوى والده من هول ما رأى في باقي عائلته التي سقطت بين شهيد وجريح إثر غارة بالبراميل المتفجرة استهدفت مكان نزوحهم في بلدة الهبيط بريف إدلب الجنوبي.
 الطفل عبد الباسط بن طعان الصطوف كان قد نزح مع عائلته من قرية "زور الحيصة" الواقعة على نهر العاصي جنوب مدينة اللطامنة بريف حماة الشمالي، بعد أن دمرها نظام الأسد وحليفه الروسي، إلا أن طائرات الأسد وطياريه تبعوهم إلى حيث نزحوا، حيث استشهدت مريم والدة عبد الباسط وشقيقته ربا البالغة من العمر ٣ أعوام، ووردت انباء غير مؤكدة عن استشهاد زوج أخته.
 وبينما يبقى عبد الباسط يتأرجح ما بين الحياة والموت في أحد المشافي، تغزو كلمته الأخيرة العالم أجمع "يا بابا شيلني" وكأنه يقول لهذا العالم المتخاذل، لم أعد أثق بكم وبوعودكم وبمماطلاتكم وتسويفاتكم، ولم يبق لي في هذه الدنيا إلا أبي، وكأنه يوجه فيها رسالة إلى السوريين بأن لا تتكلوا على أحد ولا تثقوا بأحد، ولا تسلموا رقابكم لأحد، فأنا عندما وقعت مبتور الأطراف كنت أتحدى العالم برجولتي وشجاعتي على حداثة سني، ولم أناشد دولاً ومجتمعات، إنما ناشدت والدي وشريكي في محنتي بأن احملني وأسعفني واصبر على مصابك، وكذلك أنتم ليس لكم إلا أنفسكم أيها السوريون .
 هذا المشهد ومثله مئات المشاهد منها ما ظهر ومنها ما لم تره عدسات التصوير يحدث يومياً في سوريا من إجرام آلة القتل التي يستخدمها نظام الأسد وحلفاؤه من إيراني ولبناني وروسي، جمعوا فيه كل ملل الإجرام على قتل الطفولة البريئة في وطن أثخنته جراح الغدر والحرب الظالمة.

Opposition captures hills in Damascus countryside’s Beit Jin

Opposition fighting groups ‎attacked Assad terrorists and their allied ‎foreign sectarian militias on Tuesday, ‎taking control of some strategic ‎points on the outskirts of Beit Jin ‎in Damascus western ‎countryside. ‎

‎Opposition fighters captured the ‎hill of al-Zehre al-Aswad and the ‎hill Eshara near the Assad ‎regime-besieged town of Beit Jinn. ‎This progress came following a ‎sudden swift offensive on Assad ‎military locations. The offensive ‎resulted in killing at least 30 terrorists ‎and in seizing ammunition and ‎guns, according to Orient News ‎correspondent. ‎

Assad took control of ‎al-Zehrah hill and al-‎Eshara hill after locals were forced ‎to reach a ’reconciliation deal’ ‎with Assad terrorists to avoid their ‎barrel bombs and deadly ‎airstrikes and to release their ‎detainees from Assad detention centers. Assad terrorists did not ‎meet promises they made to locals, which was the spark ‎of the offensive launched by ‎opposition.   ‎

- #Syria : Eyewitnesses recount horror of #Assad executions ..

A recent report by Amnesty International revealed that as many as 13,000 people were hanged in five years at the Syrian government's notorious Saydnaya prison near Damascus, shedding light on the atrocities committed by the regime of President Bashar #Assad. Titled "Human Slaughterhouse: Mass hanging and extermination at Saydnaya prison," Amnesty's damning report is based on interviews with 84 witnesses, including guards, detainees, and judges. It found that at least once a week between 2011 and 2015, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells for arbitrary trials, beaten, then hanged "in the middle of the night and in total secrecy". Most of the victims were civilians believed to be opposed to Assad's government. Amnesty said the practices amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, but were likely still taking place. The New Arab has spoken to several survivors who lived to tell of the atrocities and tragedies they witnessed. Abu Bushra One survivor, who chose to be referred to as Abu Bushra to conceal his identity, was imprisoned in Saydnaya for nearly two years, in the period between 2009 and 2011. He was handed over by Jordanian authorities for allegedly working with opposition groups, before being sentenced by a military court, without the presence of a lawyer, as sentences were usually pre-determined. "[Executions] were not carried out in front of us, but we would know when they happened from the movement in the prison," he said. "By nightfall, people dressed as civilians would arrive in big cars. I could see them from the windows. They would stay all night until the early hours of morning to oversee the executions." The worst thing, Abu Bushra said, was the psychological torture, as well as the poor conditions, such as the lack of sun exposure or fresh air. On physical torture, he said the prisoners were regularly beaten by canes so large and heavy that the guards could hardly carry them. " By nightfall, people dressed as civilians would arrive in big cars. I could see them from the windows. They would stay all night until the early hours of morning to oversee the executions. " - Abu Bushra "The worst thing I experienced was when one of my friends had a stroke and died in front of us, and no doctor showed up. Similar things happened on a regular basis in this prison," he added. Commenting on the report, Abu Bushra said it did not add anything new. "I am not optimistic that [the report] will bring any change," he said. "These systematic executions conducted by the regime were already known and nothing has been done to stop them so far." Abu Bushra believes that what happens inside the prison is a smaller version of what Syria is witnessing today. "All those who were made to be extremists inside the prison were released by the regime at the beginning of the revolution to create their own groups, and the regime did not target them because it could predict their actions." Abdul Rahman Another survivor, 26-year-old Abdul Rahman, left Saydnaya in 2013, after a year in detention. He was one of the prisoners of the revolution, and was tried in a military court - despite not serving in the army - and charged with plotting against the regime. "My trial lasted nearly three minutes, and there were two others with me," he said. "Three military men asked if we would confess to the charges, then they made us sign the papers and took us away, without having a lawyer and without even informing us of the verdict."

- #Assad Dismisses Report on Mass Hangings in #Syria as ‘Fake News’

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has denounced as “fake news” a report by human rights watchdog Amnesty International highlighting depraved atrocities his regime allegedly authorized, including “mass hangings” and torture of prisoners.
Syria carried out mass hangings at military prison - Amnesty report

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However, Amnesty International is not the only organization that has decried Assad for human rights violations and war crimes.

Since the civil war started in Syria, governments, the United Nations, NGOs, and the media have condemned Assad’s record on freedom and human rights.

The recently issued Amnesty International report — rebuked by Assad as “fake news” in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News — highlights “the Syrian government’s calculated campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison.”

According to the report, “Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five years, as many as 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the government, were hanged in secret at Saydnaya.”

Titled “Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison,” the report notes that Assad has been “deliberately inflicting inhuman conditions on detainees at Saydnaya Prison through repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care.”

“The report documents how these extermination policies have killed massive numbers of detainees,” it adds.

Amnesty International accuses the Assad regime of extrajudicial executions and “sadistic” torture and inhuman treatment at the Saydnaya Prison.

In total, more than 30,000 have died in prisons across Syria as a result of the inhumane conditions and torture since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, reports the human rights watchdog group.

The report describes the Syrian government practices inside its prisons as war crimes and crimes against a humanity authorized at the highest level of the Assad regime.

Human rights violations and war crimes by the Assad regime have been a recurring theme in the Syrian civil war.

In October 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein referred to the siege and bombing of Aleppo by Russia and Iran-backed Syrian forces as “crimes of historic proportions” and described the besieged city as a “slaughterhouse.”

The U.N. human rights chief urged the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Syrian government.

In the city of Aleppo alone, the Syrian government reportedly committed various human rights violations, including civilian casualties, interference with the delivery of humanitarian aid, and interference with efforts to evacuate civilians from the city.

Aleppo had been at the epicenter of the Syrian conflict until it fell into the hands of the Assad regime late last year,

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has documented thousands of arbitrary arrests cases in the course of the ongoing war in Syria, including 11,953 in 2015 and 10,047 last year.

“SNHR possesses lists of more than 117,000 detainees, including children and women, [and] it should be noted that we estimate that the actual number of detainees [has] exceeded 215,000; 99% of them are being detained mainly by Syrian regime forces,” notes the human rights group.

Moreover, the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against its enemies and civilians in violation of international law and U.N. resolutions.

In November 2016, activists accused Assad of dropping chlorine-filled barrel bombs in a district in Aleppo, reported Sky News.

An investigation by the U.N. and an international chemical weapons watchdog revealed at the time that the Syrian regime had dropped chlorine bombs in at least three attacks over the past two years.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses a network of ground sources to monitor the Syrian conflict, has also documented abuses by the Syrian government throughout the ongoing civil war.

In July 2015, the Observatory reported “more than 1,000 children” had been killed “in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government in the ongoing civil war,” adding that the “4,879 civilians in total” had “died in aerial bombardments by [regime] warplanes and helicopters.”

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other human rights advocates have accused dictator Assad of violations since the Syrian war started in 2011.

Various human rights organizations and press freedom groups have also documented the Assad regime’s execution of many journalists throughout the war. Syria is considered one of the top most dangerous countries for media personnel.

- PKK/PYD accused of ethnic cleansing in northern #Syria :

Syrian offshoots of the terrorist PKK group, including the PYD and its armed wing the YPG, have been accused by academics, journalists and human rights groups of carrying out ethnic cleansing of local Arabs and razing their homes in northern Syria.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Kawa Azizi, a board member of Syria’s Kurdish National Council, said the PKK/PYD "kidnaps, imprisons, tortures, and kills people in the region" in the Syrian Kurdish region known as Rojava.

The PKK has been designated a terrorist organization also by the U.S., and the EU. Turkey considers the YPG and PYD as terror organizations too since they are offshoots of the PKK terror group.

More than 1,200 people, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK resumed its decades-old armed campaign in Turkey in July 2015. 

About ties between Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad and terror group Daesh, Azizi said during the country’s six-year civil war," Assad never fired a single bullet at Daesh terrorists.

"That shows the relationship between Assad and Daesh, proving that Assad founded Daesh and is using it for his benefit. They don’t even get into clashes by mistake or bomb each other.”

He said Assad got the upper hand in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Lazkiya, Tartus and some other Syrian districts "because of Daesh”.

"Assad left the Kurdish-populated regions to the PYD in his name. And all the other regions to Daesh. The opposition only holds Idlib for now," he added.

PKK/PYD 'war crimes'

In an article published Tuesday, weekly U.S. magazine The Nation claimed that starting in 2013, the YPG terror group evicted thousands of Arabs from their homes at gunpoint, and afterward blew up, torched or bulldozed their homes and villages.

The article "Have the Syrian Kurds Committed War Crimes?" -- based on a six-month investigation and interviews with nearly 80 individuals by writer Roy Gutman -- undermines the YPG’s claims to be leading "a democratic, open society" in the region.

As it continues to support the group in the field, the U.S. has said it considers the PKK/PYD terror group as "reliable partner" on the ground in Syria -- not a terrorist group -- but Gutman’s research tells a different story.

The article says that beginning in early 2014, Daesh forces in Rojava "unexpectedly" showed up with weapons, seizing territories and handing them over to the YPG terror group without a fight. This showed a “surprising pattern of seeming collaboration” between the YPG, Daesh, and the Assad regime, wrote Gutman.

"Afterward the YPG expelled the Arab residents," he wrote.

According to the article, the hostility between the YPG and Daesh terror groups "was feigned," with the YPG deserting locals who tried to defend their homes when Daesh attacked. The threats and fleeing residents paved the way for Kurds to flock to Turkey.

In the article, a defector from the PKK terror group identified as Mohar was asked if there is a YPG separate from the PKK.

"What’s the difference?" between the two, he was quoted as replying.

Although YPG representatives interviewed denied that any residents had been expelled, the article said, "Destruction and expulsions from villages took place after the YPG captured them from ISIS [Daesh] without a fight”.

Mohar also said the YPG gets orders from the PKK, and that it is the terrorist group’s ruling council and PKK terror group commanders make the decision to burn villages.

Massacres

A report published in January 2016 by the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces in 2012, forces of the PKK/PYD have committed significant human rights violations in northern and northeastern Syria -- including "ethnic cleansing massacres".

According to the report, the PKK/PYD has sought to ethnically cleanse majority-Arab towns under its control.

Three massacres that took place in the Al-Hasakah governorate, for example, resulted in the death of 91 civilians, including 17 children and seven women, the report said.

The first massacre was committed on Nov. 21, 2013, in the town of Al-Aghbiesh, where six people -- including one child -- were killed. The second, committed three months later in the town of Tal Brak, resulted in 43 civilian deaths, including one child and four women. A third massacre took place on Sep. 13, 2014, when 42 people -- including 15 children and three women -- were killed in the towns of Al-Hajiya and Tal Khalil, it says.

Amnesty International released a report in October 2015 leveling similar accusations against the YPG concerning non-Kurdish inhabitants in areas under PKK/PYD control in northern Syria.

The report said that some YPG actions amount to war crimes and that non-Kurdish -- mostly Turkmen and Arab -- inhabitants of villages in the de facto autonomous Kurdish administration were forced out of their homes.

Future forced evacuations 'not surprising'

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Serhat Erkmen, a Middle East specialist at central Anatolia’s Ahi Evran University, said the forced evacuations of Arab residents committed by the PKK/PYD and YPG in Syria's north "have been proven by previous reports”.

"The forced migrations were done before in Tal Abyad, Manbij, and Ras al-Ayn by the YPG and PYD, who tried to justify their cause by saying they are at war with Daesh," Erkmen said.

"After these reports, it would not be surprising if the forced migrations continued," said Erkmen.

- إعادة إعمار #سوريا من الصفر تتطلّب ترليون دولار.. والصين في حالة انتظار

تُبيّن جميع الإشارات الصادرة عن البيت الأبيض أن الرئيس الأمريكي الجديد على أتم الاستعداد ليولي أمر الصراع في سوريا كاملاً إلى نظيره الروسي فلاديمير بوتين، الذي سيتمتّع بمطلق الحرية للتوصل إلى مرحلة نهائية تروق له ما دام سيقضي على تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية (ISIS)، ويعمل على تمكين الأكراد السوريين، ويطرد إيران وحزب الله من ساحة المعركة السورية.

لكن، حتى وإن فعل ذلك، سيواجه بوتين مشكلة جوهرية كبرى، وهي جمع الأموال لعملية إعادة إعمار سوريا عند انتهاء الحرب، فالبلاد في حالة فوضى وتحتاج إلى ما يقدر بنحو مليار دولار أمريكي لاستعادة سوريا وإعادة إعمارها، وهو مبلغ من الواضح أنه لا يملكه، لا سيما بعد مغامرته في سوريا التي كلفت الخزينة الروسية ما لا يقل عن ثلاثة ملايين دولار يومياً منذ عام 2015.

هذا ولن تُقدِم دول الخليج الغنية بالنفط على دفع أي مبلغ لإعادة الإعمار في حال بقاء بشار الأسد في السلطة، ولن تفعل إيران كذلك، التي تكافح في الأصل اقتصادياً وتعمل على درء مواجهة محتملة مع دونالد ترامب.

لكن يبدو أن الصين جاهزة وقادرة على دفع نصيب الأسد من عملية إعادة الإعمار _ هذا في حال أُعطيت الحوافز الاقتصادية المناسبة_ إلى جانب دول أخرى في إطار منظمة البركس (BRICS)، وهي تجمعٌ مؤلفٌ من خمسة اقتصادات ناشئة وقوية وهي (البرازيل والهند وشمال أفريقيا بالإضافة إلى روسيا والصين بالطبع).

وتضم هذه المجموعة 20 عضواً يتميزون باقتصادات سريعة النمو، مشكلة ما يزيد عن 3.6 مليار شخص _ أي أكثر من نصف سكان العالم _ مع مجموع ناتج إجمالي محلي (GDP) يصل إلى 16.6 ترليون دولار أمريكي، وهذا يساوي حوالي 22% من الناتج الإجمالي المحلي في العالم.

ويرى بوتين في هؤلاء ثروة، كما يأمل في مساعدتهم على الاستفادة من أموالهم عن طريق استثمارها في عملية إعادة البناء في سوريا، وذلك مكافأة لهم على الوقوف إلى جانبه ورفض اتباع أساليب مختلفة في التعامل مع دمشق منذ اندلاع الصراع الحالي عام 2011.

وقد بدأ البعض منهم بالفعل بالتعامل مع السوريين تجارياً، متبعين بذلك نهج الرئيس الروسي. على سبيل المثال، قررت الهند الصيف الماضي بدء مشروع محطة توليد كهرباء بتكلفة 320 مليون دولار أمريكي، بإشراف من شركة (BHEL) المحدودة، كما قررت إقامة مصنع للصلب في مدينة حماة القديمة على نهر العاصي.

ومن جانبها، ما تزال الصين ملتزمة بإيمانها الراسخ في الحل السلمي للصراع السوري، مصرة على أن إسقاط الأنظمة عن طريق التدخل الأجنبي أصبح شيئاً من الماضي، فيما يعكس الموقف الذي اتخذته عام 1999، خلال عمليات القصف التي شنها حلف شمال الأطلسي في كوسوفو وحرب حلف الناتو عام 2011 في ليبيا.

وكانت الصين قد استخدمت بالفعل حق النقض “الفيتو” في مجلس الأمن مرتين، لإحباط القرارات التي تدعمها كل من فرنسا والسعودية ضد دمشق.

وفي شهر أغسطس/ آب الماضي، قام وفد صيني بزيارة دمشق، برئاسة الأدميرال “جوان يوفي”، رئيس مكتب التعاون العسكري الدولي تحت إشراف اللجنة العسكرية المركزية التي أشرفت على القوات المسلحة التي بلغ قوامها 2.3 مليون شخص.

وقد نشرت “غلوبال تايمز”، في يومية الشعب الرائدة والتابعة للحزب الشيوعي، مقالاً ذكرت فيه أن الصين أرسلت مستشارين متخصصين وطواقم عسكرية إلى سوريا، ليقوموا بتزويد الجيش السوري ببنادق القناصة وقاذفات الصواريخ.

كما أن الصينيين قلقون للغاية من العدد المتزايد لمسلمي الإيغور الصينيين المسلحين الذين يقاتلون إلى جانب الثوار السوريين في الشمال السوري، ويودون التأكد من أن حلفاءهم في دمشق مجهزون تجهيزاً جيداً عندما يتعلق الأمر بالقضاء على المسلحين.

وقد عاد أحد هؤلاء المسلحين، وهو مقاتل تلقى تعليمه في تركيا، عاد من حلب إلى تشينانغ  في شمال غرب الصين ليُلقى القبض عليه بينما كان يخطط لسلسلة من الهجمات الإرهابية. ووفقاً للمصادر، لم تدرك الصين مدى مشاركة الإيغور في القتال في سوريا سوى بعد إرسالها عميلاً مزدوجاً إلى المناطق التي يسيطر عليها تنظيم الدولة، والذي أبلغ السلطات في بكين أن ما لا يقل عن 300 من الإيغور يقاتلون في سوريا، ولذلك، تجد أن الصين تعتزم القضاء عليهم أو تسليمهم للوطن لخضوعهم لمحاكمات بوصفهم مجرمي حروب.

وكانت دمشق قد قدمت دعماً استخباراتياً قيماً للحكومة الصينية، بالإضافة إلى الكثير من الوثائق عن المقاتلين في سوريا وعن مواقعهم.

كما أن العلاقات الثنائية بين البلدين ليست جديدة وتعود إلى عام 1956،  عندما كانت سوريا، إلى جانب مصر، أول دولة عربية تعترف بجمهورية الصين الشعبية وترسل سفيراً إلى بكين.

في عام 1988،قامت الصين ببيع صواريخ من طراز M-9 إلى سوريا، لتبدأ بعد ذلك عام 1996 ببيع التكنولوجيا العسكرية أيضاً. وفي عام 2004، كان الأسد أول رئيس سوري يقوم بزيارة دولية إلى بكين.  وفي بداية الحرب السورية، احتلت الصين مرتبة الشريك الأكبر لسوريا، قبل روسيا، بصادرات بلغت قيمتها 2.4 مليار دولار أمريكي في وسائل الاتصال والمعدات الالكترونية والمعدات الثقيلة.

وقد استثمرت الصين بكثافة في مجال النفط في سوريا، مع امتلاك شركة النفط الوطنية التي تملكها الدولة الصينية للأسهم في اثنتين من أكبر شركات النفط في سوريا عاملتين في حقل حيان. وما تزال الصفقة التي تبلغ قيمتها مليارات الدولارات لاستكشاف حقول نفط أخرى وتطويرها قائمة، إلا أنها متوقفة حالياُ لأن جميع الحقول في أيدي تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية.

علاوة على ذلك، لم تغلق السفارة الصينية التي تقع على مرمى حجر من نظيرتها الأمريكية، أبوابها منذ اندلاع الصراع القائم. وما تزال تعمل على مستوى السفراء، مع إمكانية الوصول إلى الاتفاقات الاقتصادية. كما أن الفرص في حصولها على حصة كبيرة من عملية إعادة الإعمار عالية.

حمص 10/02/2017 : شاهد لحظة القصف بصواريخ أرض_أرض على حي الوعر في حمص

- #Syria: Secret campaign of mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya Prison :

A chilling new report by Amnesty International exposes the Syrian government’s calculated campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison. Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five years, as many as 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the government, were hanged in secret at Saydnaya.

Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, Syria also shows that the government is deliberately inflicting inhuman conditions on detainees at Saydnaya Prison through repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. The report documents how these extermination policies have killed massive numbers of detainees.

These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government.

- #Syria : 13,000 Secretly Hanged by #Assad In Saydnaya Military Prison, Says #Amnesty

“The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population,” said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s regional office in Beirut.

“We demand that the Syrian authorities immediately cease extrajudicial executions and torture and inhuman treatment at Saydnaya Prison and in all other government prisons across Syria. Russia and Iran, the government’s closest allies, must press for an end to these murderous detention policies.

“The upcoming Syria peace talks in Geneva cannot ignore these findings. Ending these atrocities in Syrian government prisons must be put on the agenda. The UN must immediately carry out an independent investigation into the crimes being committed at Saydnaya and demand access for independent monitors to all places of detention.”

The report reveals a routine of mass extrajudicial executions by hanging inside Saydnaya prison that was in place between 2011 and 2015. Every week – and often twice a week – victims were hanged in groups of up to 50 people, in the middle of the night and in total secrecy. There are strong reasons to believe that this routine is still ongoing today. Large numbers of detainees have also been killed as a result of the authorities’ extermination policies, which include repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. In addition, detainees at Saydnaya Prison are forced to obey a set of sadistic and dehumanizing rules.

 The findings of the report are based on an intensive investigation, which was carried out over the course of one year, from December 2015 to December 2016. It involved first-hand interviews with 84 witnesses that included former Saydnaya guards and officials, detainees, judges and lawyers, as well as national and international experts on detention in Syria.

A previous report published in August 2016, for which Amnesty International partnered with a team of specialists at Forensic Architecture, University of Goldsmiths to create a virtual 3D reconstruction of Saydnaya prison, estimated that more than 17,000 people have died in prisons across Syria as a result of the inhuman conditions and torture since the Syrian crisis began in 2011. This figure does not include the estimated 13,000 additional deaths as a result of the extrajudicial executions exposed in this report.

The role of the Military Field Court

Not one of the detainees condemned to hang at Saydnaya Prison is given anything that resembles an actual trial. Before they are hanged, victims undergo a perfunctory, one or two-minute procedure at a so-called Military Field Court. These proceedings are so summary and arbitrary that they cannot be considered to constitute a judicial process. Testimonies from former government officials, guards, judges and detainees helped Amnesty International shape a detailed picture of the farcical procedures that lead up to the hangings.

One former judge from a Syrian military court told Amnesty International the “court” operates outside the rules of the Syrian legal system. “The judge will ask the name of the detainee and whether he committed the crime. Whether the answer is yes or no, he will be convicted… This court has no relation with the rule of law. This is not a court,” he said.

The convictions issued by this so-called court are based on false confessions extracted from detainees under torture. Detainees are not allowed access to a lawyer or given an opportunity to defend themselves – most have been subjected to enforced disappearance, held in secret and cut off from the outside world. Those who are condemned to death do not find out about their sentences until minutes before they are hanged.

Mass hangings

Hangings at Saydnaya are carried out once or twice a week, usually on Monday and Wednesday, in the middle of the night. Those whose names are called out were told they would be transferred to civilian prisons in Syria. Instead, they are moved to a cell in the basement of the prison and beaten severely. They are then transported to another prison building on the grounds of Saydnaya, where they are hanged. Throughout this process, they remain blindfolded. They do not know when or how they will die until the noose was placed around their necks.

“They kept them [hanging] there for 10 to 15 minutes. Some didn’t die because they are light. For the young ones, their weight wouldn’t kill them. The officers’ assistants would pull them down and break their necks,” said a former judge who witnessed the hangings.

Detainees held in the building in the floors above the “execution room” reported that they sometimes heard the sounds of these hangings.

“If you put your ears on the floor, you could hear the sound of a kind of gurgling. This would last around 10 minutes… We were sleeping on top of the sound of people choking to death. This was normal for me then,” said “Hamid”, a former military officer arrested in 2011.

We were sleeping on top of the sound of people choking to death

"Hamid" a former prisoner at Saydnaya 

As many as 50 people can be hanged in one night. Their bodies are taken away by the truckload to be secretly buried in mass graves. Their families are given no information about their fate.

Policy of extermination

Survivors of Saydnaya also provided spine-chilling and shocking testimonies about life inside the prison. They evoke a world carefully designed to humiliate, degrade, sicken, starve and ultimately kill those trapped inside.

These harrowing accounts have led Amnesty International to conclude that the suffering and appalling conditions at Saydnaya have been deliberately inflicted on detainees as a policy of extermination.

Many of the prisoners said they were raped or in some cases forced to rape other prisoners. Torture and beatings are used as a regular form of punishment and degradation, often leading to life-long damage, disability or even death. The cell floors are covered with blood and puss from prisoners’ wounds. The bodies of dead detainees are collected by the prison guards each morning, around 9am.

“Every day there would be two or three dead people in our wing… I remember the guard would ask how many we had. He would say, ‘Room number one – how many? Room number two – how many?’ and on and on... There was one time that… the guards came to us, room by room, and beat us on the head, chest and neck. Thirteen people from our wing died that day,” said “Nader”, a former Saydnaya detainee.

Food and water are regularly cut off. When food is delivered, it is often scattered over the cell floors by the guards, where it mixes with blood and dirt. The very few who leave Saydnaya often do so weighing half the body weight they had when they arrived.

The cold blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners, along with the carefully crafted and systematic programmes of psychological and physical torture that are in place inside Saydnaya Prison cannot be allowed to continue

Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research in Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Regional Office

Saydnaya also has its own set of “special rules”. Prisoners are not allowed to make any sounds, speak or even whisper. They are forced to assume certain positions when the guards come into the cells and merely looking at the guards is punishable by death.

The international community, notably the UN Security Council, must take immediate and urgent action, to put an end to this suffering.

“A firm decision must be made by the UN Security Council. It cannot turn a blind eye to these horrible crimes and must pass a resolution demanding that the Syrian government opens up its prisons for international monitors. The UN Human Rights Council must immediately demand an independent investigation into these grave violations of international law,” said Lynn Maalouf.

“The cold blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners, along with the carefully crafted and systematic programmes of psychological and physical torture that are in place inside Saydnaya Prison cannot be allowed to continue. Those responsible for these heinous crimes must be brought to justice.”

- Source : #Amnesty

https://youtu.be/DLpy-TSIhv8- #Syria : 13,000 Secretly Hanged by #Assad In Saydnaya Military Prison, Says #Amnesty

ريف دمشق 07/02/2017 : لحظة إسعاف الجرحى من قبل الدفاع المدني في عربين ج...

'Syrian grand mufti 'given power to approve thousands of executions''

There's a non-surprise. The same Grand Mufti who threatened terror attacks against the West approves mass-killings at home too.

'Syria's grand mufti, who toured Europe last year and addressed Irish MPs, has been exposed as one of three men who signed execution orders for thousands of political prisoners in a Syrian jail, a human rights investigation has said.

According to a report by #Amnesty_International, Ahmed Badreddin #Hassoun was deputised by President Bashar #Assad to approve the execution of up to 13,000 inmates in Saydnaya prisoner over the last five years.

Hassoun, the highest Islamic authority in #Syria, addressed the Irish parliament's foreign affairs committee last year after he was allowed entry into Ireland as part of a religious delegation urging the EU to reduce sanctions imposed on the Syrian government. 

His entry to Ireland came as a surprise after the mufti had previously said that he would "train suicide bombers" to launch attacks in Europe and US if the west launch air strikes on "Syria and Lebanon".

Hassoun has been a staunch supporter of the Syrian government since the start of the civil war and has been pictured on numerous occasions with #Assad.

During his visit to #Ireland, #Hassoun denied that Russia was involved in perpetrating atrocities against civilian targets during its intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Hassoun became the Grand Mufti of #Syria in 2005 after the death of Ahmed Kuftaro in 2004.

The Grand Mufti is regarded as the most senior appointed Sunni Muslim representative in Syria and involves issuing religious edicts on behalf of the Syrian government.'

 | #Insaan_Rights_Watch

- 13,000 Secretly Hanged by #Assad In Saydnaya Military Prison, Says #Amnesty

- #Amnesty_International report published today has exposed the “cold-blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners” in a Syrian government jail where an estimated 13,000 people have been hanged in the past five years, and where mass hangings of up to 50 people at a time occur every week, sometimes twice a week.

The mass hangings have taken place at Saydnaya military prison near #Damascus between 2011 and 2015 - and there are clear indications that the mass hangings are ongoing.

Most of those hanged were civilians believed to have been opposed to the government, with the killings taking place in great secrecy in the middle of the night. The executions take place after one- or two-minute lawyer-less “trials” using “confessions” extracted through torture.

Survivors of Saydnaya have also provided spine-chilling and shocking testimonies about life inside the prison. They evoke a world carefully designed to humiliate, degrade, sicken, starve and ultimately kill those trapped inside. These harrowing accounts (see below) have led Amnesty to conclude that the suffering and appalling conditions at Saydnaya have been deliberately inflicted on detainees as a policy of "extermination".

Amnesty’s 48-page report - Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, Syria - shows that on top of these extrajudicial executions the Syrian authorities are deliberately inflicting brutally inhuman conditions on Saydnaya detainees, with systematic torture, deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. The very few detainees who eventually leave Saydnaya often do so weighing half their body weight compared to the time of their arrival. Amnesty considers these practices to be part of a policy of deliberate “extermination”, with massive numbers killed as a result. Meanwhile, all detainees at Saydnaya Prison are forced to obey a set of sadistic rules, including absolute silence even when being tortured.

These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government.

Following a year of research involving first-hand interviews with 84 witnesses (including former detainees, guards and officials), Amnesty has been able to establish that the Sadnaya hangings follow a set procedure. Carried out in the middle of night and often twice a week, usually on Mondays and Wednesdays, those whose names are called out are told they’re to be transferred to civilian prisons in Syria. Instead, they’re moved to a cell in the basement of the prison and severely beaten over the course of two to three hours (the intensity of the beatings is such that one former detainee described people "screaming like they had lost their minds"). The prisoners are then transported to another prison building (the “White Building”) on the grounds of Saydnaya, where they’re hanged in the basement. Throughout the process, they remain blindfolded. They are informed they have been sentenced to death only minutes before they're executed, and they do not know how they are about to die until a noose is placed around their necks.

A former judge who witnessed the hangings said: “They kept them [hanging] there for ten to 15 minutes. Some didn’t die because they are light. For the young ones, their weight wouldn’t kill them. The officers’ assistants would pull them down and break their necks”.

Detainees held in the building on the floors above the “execution room” have reported that they sometimes heard the sounds of the hangings. “Hamid”, a former military officer arrested in 2011, said: “If you put your ears on the floor, you could hear the sound of a kind of gurgling. This would last around ten minutes … We were sleeping on top of the sound of people choking to death. This was normal for me then.”

After execution, the prisoners’ bodies are taken away by the truckload to be secretly buried in mass graves. Their families are given no information about their fate.

Last August, another Amnesty report on Sadnaya estimated that more than 17,000 people have died in prisons across Syria as a result of inhuman conditions and torture since 2011. However, that figure does not include the estimated 13,000 additional deaths as a result of the extrajudicial executions exposed in this report.

Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s regional office in Beirut, said:

“The horrors depicted in this report reveal a hidden, monstrous campaign, authorised at the highest levels of the Syrian government, aimed at crushing any form of dissent within the Syrian population.

“The cold-blooded killing of thousands of defenceless prisoners, along with the carefully crafted and systematic programmes of psychological and physical torture that are in place inside Saydnaya Prison cannot be allowed to continue.

“Those responsible for these heinous crimes must be brought to justice. We demand that the Syrian authorities immediately cease extrajudicial executions and torture and inhuman treatment at Saydnaya Prison and in all other government prisons across Syria. Russia and Iran, the government’s closest allies, must press for an end to these murderous detention policies.

“The upcoming Syria peace talks in Geneva cannot ignore these findings. Ending these atrocities in Syrian government prisons must be put on the agenda. The UN must immediately carry out an independent investigation into the crimes being committed at Saydnaya and demand access for independent monitors to all places of detention.”

The role of the ‘Military Field Court’

Not one of the detainees condemned to hang at Saydnaya Prison is given anything that resembles an actual trial. Before they are hanged, victims are put through a perfunctory, one- or two-minute procedure at a so-called “Military Field Court”. These proceedings are so summary and arbitrary that they don’t even constitute a judicial process. The convictions issued by this so-called court are based on false confessions extracted from detainees under torture. Detainees are not allowed access to a lawyer or given an opportunity to defend themselves - most have been subjected to enforced disappearance, held in secret and cut off from the outside world. Those who are condemned to death do not find out about their sentences until minutes before they are hanged. One former judge from told Amnesty that the “court” operates outside the rules of the Syrian legal system:

“The judge will ask the name of the detainee and whether he committed the crime. Whether the answer is yes or no, he will be convicted … This court has no relation with the rule of law. This is not a court.”

Harrowing testimonies

Harrowing accounts point to policy of extermination Many former prisoners at Saydnaya said they were raped or in some cases forced to rape other prisoners. Torture and beatings are used as a regular form of punishment and degradation, often leading to life-long damage, disability or even death. The cell floors at the prison are covered with blood and puss from prisoners’ wounds. The bodies of dead detainees are collected by the prison guards each morning, around 9am. A former Saydnaya detainee “Nader” said:

“Every day there would be two or three dead people in our wing … I remember the guard would ask how many we had. He would say ‘Room number one - how many? Room number two - how many?’ and on and on ... There was one time that … the guards came to us, room by room, and beat us on the head, chest and neck. Thirteen people from our wing died that day.”

Meanwhile, food and water are regularly cut off for prisoners. When food is delivered, it is often scattered over the cell floors by the guards, where it mixes with blood and dirt. Saydnaya also has its own set of “special rules”. Prisoners are not allowed to make any sounds, speak or even whisper. They are forced to assume certain positions when the guards come into the cells and merely looking at the guards is punishable by death.

- Source: #Amnesty