Rami Abdul Rahman, AKA Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the Brazilian police for its excessive use of force against people while criticizing overcrowded prisons across the country which the rights group said have exposed inmates to violent gangs.

HRW slams police violence, prison abuse in Brazil
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/12/505939/Brazil-police-HRW-prison-violence

Thu Jan 12, 2017 - HRW said in its 2017 world report published on Thursday that police in Brazil torture and illegally kill thousands of people every year.

“Torture and extrajudicial killings by police contribute to a cycle of violence in Brazil, undermining public security and endangering the lives of police officers,” said HRW, adding that police officers killed at least 3,345 people in Brazil in 2015, a six percent rise from 2014 and a 52 percent surge from 2013.

“While some police killings result from legitimate use of force, others are extrajudicial executions,” said the rights group, warning that Brazilian citizens are becoming increasingly scared off from cooperating with police to help them catch criminals.

HRW also slammed Brazil’s inability to properly manage the prison population, saying “inhumane conditions in prisons and detention centers” were an “urgent problem.”

Citing official data from the Brazilian government, the New York-based group said that prison facilities were packed with 67 percent more inmates than they were designed to hold.

“Overcrowding and understaffing make it impossible for prison authorities to maintain control within many facilities, leaving detainees vulnerable to violence and gang activity," said the HRW report, adding, “Torture and mistreatment of detainees, including children, is an acute problem.”

A series of prison riots erupted in Brazil last week, which resulted in the deaths of around 100 inmates. Authorities blamed drug gangs for the massacres, which involved many inmates beheaded and dismembered.

President Michel Temer said after the riots that his government would build at least one new prison in each of Brazil's 26 states, a massive project which he said would cost the country around $250 million.


Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Bahrain stepped up its suppression of activists and those critical of the Manama regime’s conduct in 2016, in a move further deteriorating rights situation in the tiny Persian Gulf country.
Click to expand...

Bahrain intensified crackdown on activists, critics in 2016: HRW
http://presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/12/505942/Bahrain-HRW-Manama

Thu Jan 12, 2017 - In its 2017 world report released on Thursday, the New York-based rights organization accused Bahraini authorities of having prevented several activists from leaving the island and deporting six nationals after arbitrarily stripping them of their citizenship.

The HRW further stressed that the kingdom’s “orchestrated crackdown on the rights to free expression, assembly, and association” had further undermined the prospect of a political solution to the unrest in the country.

“The Bahraini authorities have had their foot on the throat of Bahraini civil society for years, but in 2016 they indicated their intent to cut off its air supply altogether,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at HRW.

He also underlined the need for a political reform in Bahrain with respect for basic rights, warning, however, that the kingdom is heading in the other direction.

Elsewhere in its report, the HRW highlighted the case of Bahrain’s dissolved opposition bloc, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which was forced to suspend its activities and had its funds confiscated in June 2016.

Sheikh Isa Qassim, Wefaq's spiritual leader, was stripped of his nationality over accusations that he used his position to serve foreign interests and promote sectarianism and violence. The prominent Shia cleric has denied the claims.

The HRW report also noted that based on Bahrain's official data, the Al Khalifah regime has made little progress in holding security forces accountable for the torture of those detained during the 2011 anti-regime protests

Bahrain, home to US Navy’s 5th Fleet, has been rocked by a wave of anti-regime demonstrations since mid-February 2011.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded or detained amid Manama’s ongoing crackdown on dissent and widespread discrimination against the country’s Shia majority
 
My apologies - I inserted information on the Human Rights Watch (HRW) by mistake.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Syrian warplanes strike near Damascus during fragile truce
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-ceasefire-idUKKBN14L0ZI?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Sun Jan 1, 2017 -
Syrian government warplanes resumed their bombardment of a rebel-held valley near Damascus on Sunday after nearly 24 hours with no air raids, a rebel official and monitors said, during the third day of a fragile ceasefire.

The truce deal, brokered by Russia and Turkey which back opposing sides in the conflict and welcomed unanimously by the United Nations Security Council, has been repeatedly violated since it began, with warring sides trading the blame.

Rebels on Saturday warned they would abandon the truce if the government side continued to violate it, asking the Russians, who support President Bashar al-Assad, to rein in army and militia attacks in the valley by 8:00 p.m.

Bombardments ceased before that time - although some clashes continued - but began again late on Sunday.

It was not immediately clear if the rebels would abandon the truce as a result. Like previous Syria ceasefire deals it has been shaky from the start with repeated outbreaks of violence in some areas, but has largely held elsewhere.

The raids hit areas of Wadi Barada, where government forces and their allies launched an operation more than a week ago, a spokesman for the Jaish al-Nasr rebel group and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There was a "fierce attack and attempt by Assad and Shi'ite militias to raid Wadi Barada" from nearby hills, the rebel spokesman, Mohammed Rasheed, said. State media and the Observatory said hundreds of people had left Wadi Barada in the past day for government-controlled areas nearby.

Earlier on Sunday government warplanes carried out several air strikes in the southern Aleppo countryside, the Observatory and rebel officials said.

Government forces also advanced overnight against rebels in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, seizing 10 farms, the Observatory said.

A second rebel official suggested that low-level clashes on the ground would not necessarily derail the truce, but that air strikes were a "clear violation".

Russia's defense ministry has accused the insurgents in turn of violating the ceasefire numerous times.

A military news outlet run by Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of Assad, said the Syrian army had been targeting militants from the former Nusra Front both in southern Aleppo province and in Wadi Barada.

The army has said the group, previously al Qaeda's Syria branch, is not included in the ceasefire deal but rebels say it is - just one point of friction and confusion in the deal which could lead to its collapse.

The latest truce agreement is the first not to involve the United States or the United Nations - a reflection of Moscow's growing diplomatic influence after a long campaign of Russian air strikes helped Assad recapture the northern city of Aleppo last month.

That victory has greatly strengthened the president's position as the warring sides prepare for peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana this month.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR.)

US-led airstrikes have killed over 800 civilians in Syria
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-led-airstrikes-killed-800-civilians-syria/

24/01/2017 - The US-led air coalition has killed over 800 civilians in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR.) The SOHR reported that more than 300 of the killed civilians were women and children.

Almost 7,000 members of terrorist organizations in Syria, such as ISIS, have been killed by the US-led coalition, in 28 months of operations.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) disclosed on Friday that several civilians were killed and wounded in the US-led coalition air raids in the Western countryside of Raqqa.

Several Civilians Killed, Wounded in US-Led Coalition Airstrikes in Northeastern Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951108000694

Fri Jan 27, 2017 - Three civilians were killed and several more were wounded in the coalition air attacks on an oil refinery in the village of Hanideh,
SOHR said.

In the meantime, seven civilians were killed and six others were wounded in the attacks of the Turkish army's artillery units in the town of al-Bab in Eastern Aleppo.

Local sources said earlier this month that at least 4 civilians, including a woman, were killed and 8 more were wounded in the US-led coalition air raids on a village West of Raqqa city in Northeastern Syria.

The sources said that the civilians were killed and wounded in the coalition fighter jets' heavy bombardment on al-Khatounieh village.

The sources added that casualties were on the rise due to the serious injuries the civilians had sustained in the attacks, adding that some of the wounded were in critical conditions.
 
Ten civilians, including a child, have been killed in Turkish airstrikes and shelling in and around a Syrian town held by the ISIL terrorists, a monitor said Friday.

Turkish Armed Forces' Fire Kills 10 Civilians in Northern Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951108000553

Fri Jan 27, 2017 - The bombardment hit the Northern town of al-Bab and the nearby area of Tadif, both held by ISIL, on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights the Lebanese Naharnet news agency reported.

Turkish forces regularly carry out air strikes in support of a ground operation it launched in Syria last August targeting both ISIL and Kurdish fighters.

ISIL is not included in a fragile nationwide ceasefire in force since December 30 that led to peace negotiations jointly organized by Turkey, Russia and Iran in Kazakhstan this week.

Ankara has backed rebel groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.

Moscow and Tehran have supported the government.
 
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Friday that airstrikes by the US-led coalition has destroyed the water supply system in the ISIL's de facto capital of Raqqa.

US-Led Coalition Bombers Demolishing Syria's Infrastructures
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951116000589

Sat Feb 04, 2017 - According to the SOHR, the water supply was cut off in the city after the recent bombing of two bridges over the Euphrates River, while an aircraft, most likely from the US-led coalition, destroyed the bridges on Thursday.

The two bridges were the only ones that connected the Northern part with the South of the city.

Media sources disclosed early January that the US-led coalition's bombers have been targeting Syria's infrastructures even those abandoned by ISIL terrorists.

In recent years, hundreds of civilians, including women and children, have been killed and many more were wounded in the attacks of the US-led coalition in Syria and Iraq, while the Amnesty International blasts Russia for civilian deaths in Aleppo.

The Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman said early this year that the US-led international coalition has been systematically bombing the Syrian infrastructure since 2012 and has not targeted ISIL-held oil facilities.

"Outgoing CIA head John Brennan is well aware of the fact that long before the start of the Russian campaign, the international coalition has been systematically destroying Syria's economic infrastructure to weaken the legitimate government as much as possible, heedless of burdens for civilians resulting in millions of refugees," Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

"Surprisingly, the coalition has not attacked oil facilities captured by ISIL, which allowed the terrorists to make tens of millions of dollars per month through illicit oil trade and recruit mercenaries from all over the world," Konashenkov added.

"Sooner or later one will be held accountable for it. That is why Brennan's attempt to cushion the blow will hardly help. John Brennan is well aware of the real results of Russia's actions in Syria," he stressed.

Moscow's statement came after CIA chief John Brennan accused Moscow of using "scorched-earth" policy in Syria.

A senior politician had also blasted the wrong reports given out by different US and world bodies on the number of the civilian victims of the US airstrikes on Syria, disclosing that Washington's air assaults on his country have claimed the lives of over 5,000 civilians since 2014.

"The recent accusation leveled by Amnesty International against the US-led coalition for its reckless attitude towards civilian lives in its operations since the second half of 2014 is right, but this report mentions wrong figures for the relevant death toll," Mohammad Khalaf Qandil said late October.

He added that the number of the civilian casualties of the US-led airstrikes in the last two years is by no means any less than 5,000.

The senior politician also slammed the Amnesty International for its long delay in releasing the report, saying that the report has just been released while the US has been committing crimes in Syria and killing large groups of civilians so freely and without any international backlash for several years now.

"These air raids have surely inflicted heavy losses on the Syrian army which is fighting the terrorists in Syria," Qandil lamented.

Qandil's remarks came after the Amnesty International reported that the US airstrikes in Syria have claimed the lives of 300 to 1,000 civilians.

Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar Jafari had also called for halting the attacks launched by the US-led international coalition on the Syrian infrastructure and the country's oil and gas facilities, which have amounted to the destruction of the Syrian nation's assets.

Jafari clarified in two letters directed to the Chiefs of UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council that the aggression which has recently targeted the oil and gas fields in the Provinces of Deir Ezzur, Raqqa and Hasaka caused huge material damages and an almost complete demolition of some facilities.

He said that the aggression of the “international coalition” along with the unilateral coercive measures imposed by some states on the Syrian people is responsible for the deterioration of the difficult circumstances which undergo in Syria.

He added that Syria keeps its right of demanding the US-led international coalition to pay compensations due to the targeting of its infrastructure, according to the international law.
 
Warplanes strike Syrian town hit by chemical attack
_https://www.yahoo.com/news/press-agency-trump-spoke-phone-saudi-king-salman-082550089.html

Warplanes on Saturday struck the Syrian town where a chemical attack had killed scores of people earlier this week, as Turkey warned that a retaliatory U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base would only be "cosmetic" if greater efforts are not made to remove President Bashar Assad from power.

The airstrikes on the opposition-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, where 87 people were killed in the chemical attack earlier this week, killed a woman and wounded her son, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective.

Elsewhere in Syria, U.S.-led airstrikes killed at least 21 people, including a woman and her six children who were fleeing on a boat across the Euphrates River near the Islamic State group's self-styled capital, Raqqa, the target of a major offensive by U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces, activists said.

An airstrike on a rebel-held town in the northern Idlib province killed at least 18 people, including women and children, according to the Observatory and Ariha Today, an activist group. It was not immediately clear who carried out the strike.

Near the central city of Homs, a bomb exploded aboard a bus carrying workers, killing a woman and wounding more than 20, according to state TV and the Observatory.

The chemical attack prompted the U.S. to launch nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian air base early Friday, which killed nine people and marked the first time Washington has directly targeted Syrian government forces since the war began in 2011.

The move was welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its main backers, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but harshly condemned by Russia and Iran, who back Assad and said striking his forces would complicate the struggle against extremist groups.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the U.S. strike should be the start of a renewed effort to end the civil war, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced half of Syria's population.

"If this intervention is limited only to an air base, if it does not continue and if we don't remove the regime from heading Syria, then this would remain a cosmetic intervention," he said.

He said the best outcome would be a peace agreement that leads to a transitional government accepted by all Syrians, followed by elections in which all Syrians, including those living abroad, could vote for new leadership. For that to happen, he said, "this oppressive Assad needs to go."

Iran, which has provided crucial military and political support to Assad, meanwhile called for a fact-finding mission to determine what caused the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. State television quoted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as saying the committee should be impartial and "must not be headed by Americans."

Rouhani said "neutral countries should come and assess to make it clear where the chemical weapons came from."

Syria's government has denied carrying out any chemical attack, and Russia's Defense Ministry said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons arsenal and munitions factory.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson canceled a planned trip to Russia because of fast-moving events in Syria. Johnson said the situation in Syria has changed "fundamentally" following the chemical attack and the U.S. response.

Johnson condemned Russia's continued defense of Assad "even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians."

He had planned to travel to Russia Monday on a trip intended to start a fresh dialogue with Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meanwhile plans to meet with G-7 foreign ministers in Europe next week before going on to Moscow. Johnson said Tillerson will be able to give a "clear and coordinated message to the Russians."

In Damascus, dozens of Syrian students gathered outside the offices of the United Nations to protest the U.S. missile attack, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."

University student Ashraf Fadel said he came to denounce "the unjust American aggression against Syria." He added that the United Nations was "created to support America instead of serving the wronged people."

In a separate development, activists opposed to the Islamic State group said a U.S.-led coalition airstrike hit a boat carrying civilians fleeing across the Euphrates River. The groups Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently and Sound and Picture said the attack killed a woman and her six children. The attack occurred in the Shuaib al-Zeker area, near where U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have been battling IS under the cover of coalition airstrikes.

Activists and state media said a separate airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition on the northern IS-held village of Hneida killed at least 14 civilians, including children. The Observatory said 15 people, including four children, were killed in the airstrike. The Sound and Picture group said the airstrike hit an internet cafe, killing 14 people.

In Saudi Arabia, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken by telephone with King Salman about the U.S. missile strike on Syria.

The news agency reported that during the Friday phone call, the Saudi monarch congratulated Trump for his "courageous decision."

Saudi Arabia said the missile launch was the right response to "the crimes of this regime to its people in light of the failure of the international community to stop it."

The kingdom is among the most vehement opponents of Assad and supports Sunni rebel groups fighting to oust him. The Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia are in a power struggle for regional dominance with Iran's Shiite government.
___

Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria contributed to this report.
 
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Reports: US troops deploy along Syria-Turkish border
_http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-28-13-49-00

April 28, 2017 - BEIRUT (AP) -- U.S. armored vehicles are deploying in areas in northern Syria along the tense border with Turkey, a few days after a Turkish airstrike that killed 20 U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, a Syrian war monitor and Kurdish activists said Friday.

Footage posted by Syrian activists online showed a convoy of U.S. armored vehicles driving on a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, a few hundred meters from the Turkish border. Clashes in the area were reported between Turkish and Kurdish forces Wednesday a day after the Turkish airstrike which also destroyed a Kurdish command headquarters.

The Turkish airstrikes, which also wounded 18 members of the U.S.-backed People's Protection Units, or YPG, in Syria were criticized by both the U.S. and Russia. The YPG is a close U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group but is seen by Ankara as a terrorist group because of its ties to Turkey's Kurdish rebels.

Further clashes between Turkish and Kurdish forces in Syria could potentially undermine the U.S.-led war on the Islamic State group.

A senior Kurdish official, Ilham Ahmad told The Associated Press that American forces began carrying out patrols along the border Thursday along with reconnaissance flights in the area. She said the deployment was in principle temporary, but may become more permanent.

A Kurdish activist in the area, Mustafa Bali, said the deployment is ongoing, adding that it stretches from the Iraqi border to areas past Darbasiyah in the largely Kurdish part of eastern Syria.

The U.S. role has now become more like a buffer force between us and the Turks on all front lines," he said. He said U.S. forces will also deploy as a separation force in areas where the Turkish-backed Syrian fighting forces and the Kurdish forces meet.

It is a message of reassurance for the Kurds and almost a "warning message" to the Turks, he said.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, did not dispute that U.S. troops are operating with elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along the Turkish border, but he would not get into specifics. The SDF is a Kurdish-dominated alliance fighting IS that includes Arab fighters.

"We have U.S. forces that are there throughout the entirety of northern Syria that operate with our Syrian Democratic Force partners," Davis said. "The border is among the areas where they operate." He said the U.S. wants the SDF to focus on liberating the IS-held town of Tabqa and the extremist group's de facto capital, Raqqa, "and not be drawn into conflicts elsewhere."

Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, , said the deployment seems limited and is aimed to "prevent fighting" between the two sides.

The U.S. has recently shifted from working quietly behind the scenes in Syria's conflict toward overt displays of U.S. force in an attempt to shape the fight.

Last month, about 200 Marines rolled into northern Syria backed with howitzers, significantly widening America's footprint in a highly toxic battlefield. The Marines' deployment came days after another intervention, when dozens of army troops drove outside the town of Manbij, riding Stryker armored vehicles, following an earlier conflagration of fighting between Syrian Kurdish troops and Turkish troops. The U.S. deployment in Manbij intentionally put Americans in the middle of that rivalry, hoping to cool it down.

The SDF retook Manbij from IS control, and Turkey - with its troops nearby - said it won't allow the town to be under Kurdish control, threatening to move on it. The American presence appears intended to reassure Ankara the Kurds don't hold the town.

But the new deployment puts U.S. troops directly along the border with Turkey, another flashpoint, and immerses Washington into that increasingly hot fight.

Separately, the chief of the international chemical weapons watchdog said on Friday that he has a team of experts ready and willing to travel to the site of this month's deadly nerve gas incident in Syria if their safety can be assured.

"We are willing to go to Khan Sheikhoun and we have undertaken some actions," Ahmet Uzumcu of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told a small group of reporters in The Hague.

Syrian ally Russia has called for an international investigation into the April 4 attack that killed nearly 90 people. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week expressed regret that the OPCW turned down the Syrian government's offers to visit the site of the attack and investigate. Russia has rejected Western accusations that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government was behind the attack.

Uzumcu said that the area of the town of Khan Sheikhoun where the incident happened is controlled by opposition rebels, adding that the watchdog experts will "need to strike some deals with them," such as a temporary ceasefire, to assure the team's safety before it can deploy.

The OPCW has been extremely cautious about sending investigators to Syria since a team of its experts came under attack there in 2014. Uzumcu said the organization is in daily contact with U.N. authorities over the security situation in Syria.

The Syrian president has categorically rejected accusations that his forces were behind the attack.

Uzumcu is not yet calling the April 4 incident a chemical weapons attack, but he has said that tests by his organization have established beyond doubt that sarin or a similar toxin was used.

Other nations, however, have already labelled it an attack and blamed the Syrian government.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said earlier this week that the attack "bears the signature" of Assad's government and shows it was responsible.

Uzumcu said his organization is not yet in a position to confirm the French findings.

The OPCW's team is already gathering evidence from victims and survivors and testing samples outside Syria. Uzumcu said he expects an initial report to be issued in about 10 days. The initial OPCW investigation will not apportion blame - that is left to a separate investigative mechanism made up of OPCW and U.N. experts.
 
According to the Al Mayadeen satellite television channel, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) has sent a delegation to Turkey to discuss the possible Turkish intervention to the Syrian province of Idlib.

Delegation Of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham Visits Trukey – Media
https://southfront.org/delegation-of-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-visits-trukey-media/

Furthermore, to unconfirmed reports, HTS demanded from Ahrar al-Sham to withdraw completely from the western countryside of Idlib during the next 48 hours. It appears that HTS fears that the Turkish military may use the Ahar al-Sham-controlled area as a foothold for an attack against HTS in the western countryside of Idlib.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), sheikhs in Idlib during the Friday prayers speech warned against the alleged Turkish intervention. They also described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a “punk”. They also said that the Turkish strategy is an occupation project aimed at reviving the Ottoman Caliphate and that the Syrians should confront this Turkish effort.

Meanwhile, another group of Sheikhs in Turkey and Syria began work on a statement that included a “fatwa” that allows and welcomes the Turkish military operation in Idlib.

It’s worth to remember that HTS issued a statement declaring its intention to fight any Turkish forces entering Syria and any party that cooperates with it.
 
The past month saw the highest civilian death toll in US-led coalition air raids since they began, says war monitor.

US-led attacks in Syria 'kill 472 civilians in a month'
_http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/led-strikes-syria-kill-472-civilians-month-170623191702940.html

June 23, 2017 - At least 472 civilians, including 137 children, have been killed during the past month of US-led coalition air raids in Syria, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Friday the period between May 23 and June 23 saw the highest civilian death toll in coalition raids for a single month since they began on September 23, 2014.

The UK-based monitor said the deaths were mainly in the provinces of Deir Az Zor and Raqqa. The city of Raqqa is the self-declared capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Syria.

The SOHR's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the fatalities included 222 civilians in Deir Az Zor, in eastern Syria, and 250 others in the northeastern governorate of Raqqa.

"This is the highest civilian death toll in the US alliance air strikes since they [the coalition] began bombing in the country on September 23, 2014," Abdel-Rahman said.

The latest toll brought the number of civilian deaths from the US-led air raids in Syria to 1,953, he said.

The US-led coalition told the AFP news agency in a statement that its forces "work diligently and deliberately to be precise" in their air raids.

"Our goal is always for zero civilian casualties," the statement said.

In its most recent report on civilian casualties, released on June 2, the coalition said it had "unintentionally killed" 484 civilians in both Iraq and Syria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted as an unarmed uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. It has since escalated into a full-on armed conflict between government forces and rebel groups.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claims to have “confirmed evidence” that ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead.

ISIS caliph confirmed dead by SOHR
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-isis-caliph-confirmed-dead-sohr/

According to the UK-based, pro-opposition Syrian War monitoring group, they have been able to confirm the death of the al-Baghdadi via sources based in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor who have contact with the top ISIS leadership.

The actual cause of the ISIS caliph’s death or when it occurred remains unknown. However, the source quoted by the SOHR said that it happened somewhere near the Iraqi border.

In the three years since al-Baghdadi declared the Islamic State caliphate in June 2014, there have been more than a dozen official claims that he has either been killed or severely wounded.

Speculation regarding al-Baghdadi’s death was once against ignited in late-May of this year after the Russian Aerospace Forces (RuAF) conducted a number of precision airstrikes in the area of Raqqa city. According to Interfax Media, the ISIS caliph was among the 300 fighters and thirty commanders that the RuAF claimed to have killed in the attack.

As of the present time, US, Kurdish and Iraqi sources cannot corroborate the SOHR’s statement on the death of al-Baghdadi.

On the other hand, official Russian, Syrian and Iranian media sources have all claimed – well prior to the SOHR’s statement – that the ISIS caliph’s death was a matter of fact. Whilst Russian and Syrian media sources claimed the RuAF airstrike in Raqqa to be the cause of al-Baghdadi’s death, the official Iranian line was just that they were sure he was dead.
 
Ninety civilians, including a number of women and children, were killed and tens of others were inured in the US-led coalition air raids in the ISIL-held city of Raqqa in the last five days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday.

Ninety Civilians Killed in US Air Raids in Northeastern Syria in Five Days
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960529000629

SOHR reported that ninety civilians, including thirty women and children, were killed in the coalition air attack on ISIL-held Raqqa from August 14 up to 19.

SOHR further added that the death toll is on the rise due to the critical conditions of some of the inured.

Relevant reports said on Saturday that residential areas in the neighborhoods of Ferdows, al-Badou, al-Thakan, al-Rashid and al-Hana came under heavy attack by the US fighter jets and SDF's artillery units, leaving 8 civilians, including children and women, dead and 12 more wounded.

The coalitions air and artillery attacks also hit the streets of al-Basel, al-Kanisah and Tal Abyadh in Raqqa and part of the train station near the city, leaving 16 civilians dead and 7 more wounded.

In the meantime, a six-member family was killed in the collation attacks.
 
BEIRUT — Airstrikes have targeted rural Aleppo in northern Syria Sunday for the first time in months since a cease-fire took hold in the province, killing one, activists and a war monitoring group said.

Monitor: Airstrikes in Syria's Aleppo despite ceasefire September 24, 2017
https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/monitor-airstrikes-in-syria-s-aleppo-despite-ceasefire-1.489359#.WchOov6WwdU

Meanwhile, Syrian media reported that government and allied troops have seized Maadan, a town north of Deir el-Zour city and south of Raqqa, which has been scene to intense fighting with Islamic State militants. State TV al-Ikhbariya filmed from inside the town, showing plumes of black smoke rising into the sky. The TV reporter said the town, which links the militant group's two strongholds now under attack, served as a key station for IS oil transport and distribution.

The report hailed the capture of the town a day earlier as a major victory for the pro-government troops, saying they have now rid the western bank of the Euphrates river of the militant group and secured the road from Deir el-Zour to Aleppo.

Seizing Maadan comes amid a government offensive advancing on Deir el-Zour city. The capture of Maadan, 70 km (43 miles) west of Deir el-Zour, also brings the pro-Syrian forces closer to Raqqa city, where the U.S.-led coalition is backing a campaign against IS.

Elsewhere, warplanes continued Sunday to pound Syria's rural Idlib and Hama, where insurgents led by an al-Qaida-linked group began an offensive against government troops in the area. The Syrian Civil Defense said one person was killed in Aleppo bombing, which it said targeted a cow farm.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 40 insurgents were killed in airstrikes Saturday on a village in northern Idlib. Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Observatory, said the airstrikes targeted a base in Mardkih that belongs to Faylaq al-Sham, a fighting group that had agreed to the cease-fire. The group posted a video a day before the airstrike showing its fighters preparing a mortar attack on government areas north of Hirbnafsah in Hama.

The Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, said its rescuers came under attack Saturday from airstrikes as they were carrying out search and rescue operations in Mardikh. A video posted online by the group shows one of their volunteers injured in the attack.

A "de-escalation" deal reached in May has dramatically reduced the violence in most of Syria. Al-Qaida-linked militants launched an offensive earlier this week against government forces in northern Hama, prompting an intense Russia-backed aerial campaign against Hama and Idlib. Sunday's airstrikes in Aleppo appeared to have targeted Faylaq al-Sham bases in the province, according to Abdurrahman.

This photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows Civil Defense workers using machinery to search through the rubble after airstrikes hit in Khan Sheikhoun, in the northern province of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, Sept, 24, 2017. SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENSE WHITE HELMETS VIA AP
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Human Rights Watch said Saudi Arabia has permitted government-appointed scholars and clerics to incite hatred and discrimination against the country’s religious minorities, including Shiite Muslims.

HRW: Saudi Regime Allows Clerics to Preach Hatred against Minorities
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960704001482

In a 62-page report, entitled “‘They Are Not Our Brothers’: Hate Speech by Saudi Officials” and released on Tuesday, the HRW said Saudi clerics often refer to Shiites as rafidha or rawafidh, which mean rejectionists, and stigmatize their beliefs with impunity, presstv reported.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced on Friday that a large number of senior commanders of the ISIL terrorist group have fled the battlefield and escaped to Turkey.

Scores of ISIL Commanders Escape from Syria to Turkey
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960728000480

"According to documents and proofs, a number of Syrian and non-Syrian ISIL commanders have escaped to Turkey in recent days and weeks," the SOHR wrote on its website.

SOHR further added that ISIL commanders have been evacuated from battlefields in Raqqa and Deir Ezzur provinces to the regions that are under the control of the Euphrates Shield Operation in Northern and Northeastern Aleppo that border Turkey.

"ISIL commanders have paid $20,000 up to 30,000 dollars each to leave the provinces of Homs, Deir Ezzur and Raqqa for Turkey via the regions that are under the control of Ankara-backed militants," the SOHR said, adding that the human traffickers have moved the ISIL commanders to the borders with Turkey via checkpoints in Northeastern Aleppo, handing them over to Turkish traffickers.

Hundreds of ISIL members, including the local commanders of the group, have escaped to Hasaka province, SOHR said, adding that some of these commanders have been hidden in Hasaka and some of them have moved to Turkey.

The SOHR said that according to documents, ISIL's members and commanders that left Eastern Homs to the regions that are under the control of the Euphrates Shield Operation in Northeastern Aleppo have been taken to Turkey by human traffickers.

Local sources said that Khaled Ali'owi nom de guerre Abu al-Walid Hosseiniyeh and Samir al-Dayeri, two notorious commanders of the ISIL, escaped from the Eastern countryside of Deir Ezzur city as the army men were rolling on the terrorists' positions.
 
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