Rami Abdul Rahman, AKA Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

The bodies of at least 67 Syrian civilians, many summarily killed by the Islamic State group, have been discovered in a central town in Syria retaken from IS by government troops over the weekend, the Syrian government and activists said Monday.

At least 67 civilians found dead in Syria town taken from IS
https://www.mail.com/news/world/8029364-67-civilians-dead-syria-town-taken.html#.7518-stage-hero1-3

A senior Syrian official described the attack as a “shocking massacre,” saying the search and documentation of those killed in the town of Qaryatayn, in Homs province, is still under way. The news of the gruesome find began to emerge first late on Sunday. The number of bodies was likely to climb.

Some were shot in the street as IS militants retreated from the town, gunned down because they were suspected of working with the governments, according to activists. At least 35 of the casualties were found shot and their bodies dumped in a shaft.

The apparent revenge killings underscore the Islamic State group’s ability to inflict heavy losses in Syria even while its militants are on the retreat in north and eastern Syria, days after having been defeated in Raqqa, the group’s one-time “capital” of its self-proclaimed caliphate. They also raise the specter of more revenge killings by the group while it fights to hang on to its last strongholds in Syria.

An Associated Press video, filmed as Syrian government troops recaptured Qaryatayn, showed several bodies in the streets of the town. In the video, a town resident says IS “monsters” killed more than a 100 people, including soldiers and civilians.

“These are people who don’t know God, they don’t know anything. They killed children and women with knives, they beat women, broke their arms,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing for his own safety.

Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs province, told The Associated Press on Monday that most of the bodies were of townspeople who were government employees or were affiliated with Syria’s ruling Baath party.

He said the killings went on for the three weeks that IS was in town and “terrorized” its residents, adding that at least 13 residents remain missing while six bodies have not been identified. “It is a shocking massacre,” he said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the killings of at least 128 people killed in Qaryatayn during the last days of IS control of the town. On Saturday, Syrian troops and allied militias regained control of the town, which was held by IS for three weeks. The government-run Syrian Central Military Media at the time said the Syrian army and its allies restored security and stability to Qaryatayn after clearing the town of IS fighters.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, sad that what happened in the town was a “massacre.” The activist-run Palmyra Coordination Committee published the names of 67 civilians confirmed killed and also said the number was likely to rise. It said at least 35 were found shot and dumped into a deep shaft.

The activist-run group said other bodies were also found in the town streets — apparently of people shot by pro-government forces and suspected of working with IS.

The Observatory also said it documented at least 12 killed at the hands of pro-government troops after they regained control of the town.

IS militants first seized Qaryatayn in August 2015, and relied on the strategically located town to defend another of their bastions, the historic city of Palmyra. At the time, thousands of the town’s Christian residents fled, fearing the extremist group’s brutality.

With Russian backing, Syrian troops regained control of the town in April 2016. But IS, facing major setbacks around Syria and Iraq, launched a new attack on the town in late September and recaptured it.

At the time, Russia accused the United States, which is battling the Islamic State group, of looking the other way and allowing IS to attack Qaryatayn. Most of the IS militants who were involved in attacks on the town were local residents. Pro-government media blamed the loss of Qaryatayn for the second time on what it described as militant “sleeper cells.”
 
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are plundering the refugees' possessions in a camp in Southern Hasaka, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Tuesday, adding that the SDF has also blocked transfer of sick refugees to the regional medical centers.

SDF Plundering Refugees' Properties, Preventing Medical Treatment in Northeastern Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960802001426

The SOHR reported that the refugees are living in a very hard and boring condition in al-Saad camp near Lake al-Basel in Southern Hasaka established by Asayesh (the Kurdish Security Organization) forces and the SDF.

It added that the refugees face shortage of food as the camp's staffs do not distribute food packages that are sent to the camp under the supervision of the Syrian Red Crescent, adding that the aid packages, however, are being sold in high prices by those who are managing the camp.

In the meantime, the SOHR added that the SDF has blocked exit of refugees from the camp for Hasaka city unless the refugees find a guarantor to sponsor them and pay $500 for each family.

The SOHR further said that 10 civilians, including 3 children, have lost their lives as the Asayesh forces prevented them from leaving the camp for Hasaka hospital to be treated there.

The SOHR's reports said that the al-Saad camp's refugees have staged demonstrations against the awful conditions in the camp, but have been dispersed by the SDF's shooting in the air.

Reports said earlier today that several ISIL commanders gave up war and moved to SDF-controlled regions following a recent deal with the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US-led coalition over Eastern Deir Ezzur.

Local sources said on Tuesday that three ISIL commanders have left Southeastern Deir Ezzur for SDF-held regions along with their family members.

The sources further said that Mohammad Ahmad al-Sayed, a security commander of ISIL nom de guerre Hamadi Abu al-Mothana, field commander of ISIL Amir Ahmad al-Sayed and ISIL's Mufti (religious leader) Ahmad al-Kamari nom de guerre Abu Abdullah have escaped towards the SDF-held regions along with their family members.
 
The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) said in a new report that the ISIL terrorist group has executed 128 civilians in the town of al-Quaryatayn in Southwestern Homs during their 20 day-long control over the town.

ISIL Executes over 120 Civilians in Quaryatayn in Central Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960802000453

The SOHR said that at least 128 people had been killed by ISIL fighters in the three weeks before their withdrawal from the town in Homs province on Friday.

The civilians were killed on accusations of collaborating with the Syrian government, activists said.

Mohammed al-Homsi, a member of the Palmyra Coordination Committee, told al-Jazeera that a list containing the names of at least 90 people who were confirmed dead would be released soon.

"It is taking us a while because we want to double check the names of the people who were killed," al-Homsi said.

"Most of the casualties were men, but there are some children among them."

Also, local reports said on Monday that the Syrian army men found the bodies of 45 civilians in al-Quaryatayn after the pro-government forces recaptured the town on Saturday, the sources said, adding that ISIL had executed the civilians in 20 days of control over the town on charges of betrayal and spying for the Syrian government.

Other reports said that the victims were those locals that had returned to the town after its liberation by the army men in April 2016.

The reports further said that some of the civilians were executed in a massacre a couple of days ago and some others were killed several weeks ago, adding that the death toll will rise up since bodies of a number of the dead are scattered across and outside the town.

The army troops imposed full control over al-Quaryatayn on Saturday, inflicting major losses on ISIL terrorists.

The army men engaged in a tough battle with ISIL and prevailed over their defense lines around the town of al-Quaryatayn, pushing the terrorists back from the entire neighborhoods in the town.

A number of ISIL terrorists were killed and many others were captured by the army men.
 
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is asking civilians in Raqqa city to pay some amounts of money if they intend to enter their own residential units, an Arab media outlet reported on Monday.

SDF Blackmailing Civilians for Entering Own Houses in Northeastern Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960829001253

The Arabic-language al-Manar news reported that the SDF is receiving $200 up to $500 each person to allow civilians to enter their houses in Raqqa city.

Al-Manar added that the SDF in blackmailing the civilians under the pretext of carrying out cleansing operation to defuse bombs or landmines in the city's residential areas.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported last month that the SDF was plundering the refugees' possessions in a camp in Southern Hasaka, adding that the SDF also blocked transfer of sick refugees to the regional medical centers.

The SOHR reported that the refugees were living in a very hard and boring condition in al-Saad camp near Lake al-Basel in Southern Hasaka established by Asayesh (the Kurdish Security Organization) forces and the SDF.

It added that the refugees face shortage of food as the camp's staffs did not distribute food packages that were sent to the camp under the supervision of the Syrian Red Crescent, adding that the aid packages, however, were being sold in high prices by those who were managing the camp.

In the meantime, the SOHR added that the SDF blocked exit of refugees from the camp for Hasaka city unless the refugees find a guarantor to sponsor them and pay $500 for each family.

The SOHR further said that 10 civilians, including 3 children, lost their lives as the Asayesh forces prevented them from leaving the camp for Hasaka hospital to be treated there.

The SOHR's reports said that the al-Saad camp's refugees staged demonstrations against the awful conditions in the camp, but were dispersed by the SDF's shooting in the air.
 
The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Wednesday that a fresh round of tensions has erupted between the Syrian Army troops and the Kurdish fighters in Hasaka city after the two sides started arresting forces of each other.

Tension Intensifies between Gov't Troops, Kurds in Northeastern Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960929001470

The SOHR reported that the army and the Kurds have put their forces on alert in Hasaka city, adding that tension erupted after the Kurds arrested three army soldiers in the Northern entrance of Hasaka city and the army arrested two Kurds in the Central part of the city.

Local sources said that over 100 army men have arrived at an army base out of the city to reinvigorate government forces' positions in Hasaka.

A Kurdish media outlet reported in November that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) approached the Syrian Army troops' positions near the border with Iraq, intensifying the possibility of direct confrontation with the pro-government forces in Deir Ezzur province.

The Kurdish-language Hawar news reported that the SDF advanced 40 km Eastward from the al-Tanak oilfield and reached Deir Ezzur's border with Iraq.

The Hawar news added that the SDF deployed at a distance only 9 km away from the army-controlled town of Albu Kamal, intensifying the possibility of direct confrontation between the SDF and the army men that are advancing in Albu Kamal's countryside after they captured the town a couple of days ago.
 
The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Wednesday that a fresh round of tensions has erupted between the Syrian Army troops and the Kurdish fighters in Hasaka city after the two sides started arresting forces of each other.

Tension Intensifies between Gov't Troops, Kurds in Northeastern Syria
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960929001470

The SOHR reported that the army and the Kurds have put their forces on alert in Hasaka city, adding that tension erupted after the Kurds arrested three army soldiers in the Northern entrance of Hasaka city and the army arrested two Kurds in the Central part of the city.

Local sources said that over 100 army men have arrived at an army base out of the city to reinvigorate government forces' positions in Hasaka.

A Kurdish media outlet reported in November that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) approached the Syrian Army troops' positions near the border with Iraq, intensifying the possibility of direct confrontation with the pro-government forces in Deir Ezzur province.

The Kurdish-language Hawar news reported that the SDF advanced 40 km Eastward from the al-Tanak oilfield and reached Deir Ezzur's border with Iraq.

The Hawar news added that the SDF deployed at a distance only 9 km away from the army-controlled town of Albu Kamal, intensifying the possibility of direct confrontation between the SDF and the army men that are advancing in Albu Kamal's countryside after they captured the town a couple of days ago.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the death of dozens of Syrians over the past 24 hours as a result of the violent battles between regime forces and opposition groups in Idlib.

Syria’s Assad kills 7 children in 24 hours in Idlib Friday December 29, 2017
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-syrias-assad-kills-7-children-in-24-hours-in-idlib/

The AFP quoted statements issued by by the SOHR Director, Rami Abdul Rahman, in which he said 66 people were killed in the battles, including 19 civilians.

Abdul Rahman noted that the regime and Russia’s raids led to the death of seven children.

Violent battles have been occurring since Monday between regime forces and opposition groups in the border area between the Idlib and Hama provinces. These came after a widespread attack launched by the regime in an attempt to regain control over Idlib’s eastern suburbs.

The regime was able to regain control of a number of villages and towns in the province yesterday.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that the Syrian air force has dropped an estimated 70,000 barrel bombs on its own citizens since July 2012. The organization revealed the details in its report “The Ruthless Bombing”.

Syrian regime has used 70,000 barrel bombs since 2012, says rights group December 30, 2017
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171230-syrian-regime-has-used-70000-barrel-bombs-since-2012-says-rights-group/

The use of barrel bombs, said the Observatory, is a manifestation of “one of the most appalling ways in which the international community has blatantly let down the Syrian people.” The barrel bombs, it suggested, “have been forgotten almost completely in the last year” with no condemnations of the repeated use of this “barbaric” weapon.

The rights group questioned the possibility of accepting a regime that drops such bombs on its own citizens. “It does this without agreeing to any form of political agreements, except those which rehabilitate it in the eyes of the world, and only gives some ceremonial positions to its opponents.”

According to the Chairman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: The repeated use of this arbitrary, indiscriminate weapon against residential communities is a message to the Syrian people that protecting civilians and international law are mere illusions, and that you have to submit and accept the regime that is killing you.

Fadel Abdul Ghany called upon the UN Security Council “to take decisive action against the Syrian regime’s use of arbitrary weapon on this large, widespread scale.” He also called on the UN special envoy to Syria “to play a more effectual role in putting an end to the winter of barrel bombs in Syria.”

The use of such bombs, Abdul Ghany pointed out, hasn’t stopped, even when talks were being held in Geneva or when de-escalation agreements were reached.


Clashes between rebel fighters and government forces backed by Russian warplanes killed 66 people on the edge of Syria's northwestern Idlib province, a monitor said on Friday.

Fighting in northwestern Syria kills 66, says monitor Friday 29 December 2017
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fighting-northwestern-syria-kills-66-says-monitor-1792612980

Over 24 hours of fighting in an area straddling Idlib and Hama provinces, at least 19 civilians, including seven children, were killed by air strikes, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said 27 soldiers and members of allied paramilitary units were killed in the fighting as well as 20 anti-government combatants from Islamist rebel groups.

The fresh violence in the area appeared to signal the initial phase of a major government operation against Idlib, the only province in the country that has completely escaped government control.

An AFP correspondent near the fighting said aerial activity was intense and the entire area had been rocked by frequent air strikes.

Rebel leaders issued warnings through loudspeakers informing remaining civilians in the area that Friday prayers were cancelled and that all residents should stay at home.

Hundreds of civilians fled the scattering of villages in the area, creating queues of cars and pick-up trucks heading towards the city of Idlib loaded with bags and furniture.


"The air strikes haven't been that intense in months in this area," said Abdel Rahman, adding that the immediate goal of the latest regime push was to retake control of the southeast of the province.

The Islamic State group, which proclaimed a caliphate over swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014, has now lost almost all the land it once controlled.

But other factions opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad still control pockets scattered across Syria, the largest one being Idlib province, which borders Turkey.

Another is Eastern Ghouta, a small enclave east of the capital Damascus, which is controlled mostly by rebels from the Jaish al-Islam group and where around 400,000 residents still live.

Medical evacuation

The humanitarian situation there has deteriorated sharply in recent months and on Friday aid workers completed a series of medical evacuations of the most critical cases.

The last 13 in a group of 29 priority patients were evacuated overnight Thursday to Friday, a health official in Eastern Ghouta said.

They were deemed among the most pressing cases on a list of around 500 people the United Nations said last month could die without urgent treatment outside the enclave, which has been besieged for four years.

A crowd of residents gathered at night around the ambulances to see their relatives and neighbours one last time.

Red Crescent nurses attended to Marwa, a 26-year-old woman suffering from meningitis, who was being stretchered onboard and given respiratory assistance.

Among the patients who made it out were Fahed al-Kurdi, a 30-year-old man with cancer, and Zuheir Ghazzawi, a 10-year-old boy who also has cancer and had a leg amputated.

According to the Observatory, the patients were evacuated as part of a deal that saw the rebels who control Eastern Ghouta release hostages and prisoners.

There were also 29 of them, including workers who were detained earlier this year and pro-government fighters captured by rebels in the area, in some cases years ago.

The deal raised concern that sick civilians were being used as bargaining chips.

"If they exchange sick children for detainees that means children become bargaining chips in some tug of war," Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and currently a UN special envoy for humanitarian access in Syria, told the BBC.
 
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have transferred over 40 ISIL terrorists in Deir Ezzur to Hasaka province in Northeastern Syria, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Monday.

Syria: SDF Transfers More Terrorists from Deir Ezzur to Hasaka Mon Jan 01, 2018
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13961011000219

The SOHR said that over 40 ISIL terrorists - that had surrendered to the SDF in Southeastern Deir Ezzur - have been transferred to Hasaka via Northern Deir Ezzur.

A Turkish daily reported on Sunday that the US forces deployed in Syria transfer a large number of ISIL commanders and senior members to the safe areas and military bases controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the country.

The Turkish-language Sabah newspaper reported that the ISIL commanders and terrorists are transferred to the SDF bases to undergo advanced trainings to carry out terrorist acts.

It quoted the local sources as saying that the US helicopters, carrying the ISIL commanders, land in the SDF bases in Deir Ezzur and Hasaka mostly mid night.
 
Russian, Syrian air strikes kill 17 civilians in east Ghouta, says NGO Saturday 6 January 2018
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/russia-and-syrian-airstrikes-kill-17-civilians-east-ghouta-says-ngo-512135151

Russian and Syrian warplanes killed at least 17 civilians in eastern Ghouta on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The deadliest airstrikes hit the Hammuriyeh district, leaving 12 civilians including two children, the UK-based war monitor said.

"Syrian and Russian planes continued on Saturday their intense strikes against eastern Ghouta, targeting more residential areas," the observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Two civilians were killed in the city of Madira, and three others in Erbine, according to the Observatory. 35 others were also wounded in eastern Ghouta.

East Ghouta is one of a few remaining rebel-held areas in Syria and has taken the brunt of daily air strikes from the Syrian government.

Located in the east of Damascus, the suburb has been besieged since 2013 by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

The 400,000 inhabitants of eastern Ghouta, suffering from acute shortages of food and medicine, live in very difficult conditions.

Triggered in 2011 by the repression of peaceful demonstrations, the conflict in Syria has become more complex with the involvement of foreign countries and militant groups, in an increasingly fragmented territory. It has killed more than 340,000 people and displaced millions.


About 18 people were killed by Russian strikes in the town of Misraba, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Suspected Russian jets kill dozens near Syrian capital, says monitor Thursday 4 January 2018
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/suspected-russian-jets-kills-dozens-near-syrian-capital-says-monitor-758017416

At least 23 civilians were killed on Wednesday in the Syrian opposition stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, most of them in Russian air raids, according to a monitor.

Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said three children and 11 women were among those killed.

Victims were taken to a hospital in Douma, where an AFP correspondent saw rescuers bringing in mostly women and children.

Medical staff tried to revive an infant who had been pulled from the rubble, but without success. A young girl among the victims received stitches for a serious injury to her face.

A medical source at the hospital told AFP that "among the wounded were two women in their 20s. One of them lost both eyes and the other lost one eye."

The war in Syria has killed more than 340,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since it began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Eastern Ghouta, a small enclave east of the capital Damascus, is controlled mostly by rebels from the Jaish al-Islam group.

Russia first launched bombing raids in 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's beleaguered forces. The strikes have helped Assad regain control over much of the war-ravaged country.

The observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.

The latest raids came after at least seven civilians, including five children, were killed on Tuesday by air strikes in northwestern Idlib province, the last outside government control, the observatory said.

Government and allied forces backed by Russian warplanes have been battling militant fighters and rebels for more than a week in an area straddling the boundary between Idlib and Hama provinces.

Government push on Idlib -
The Mi-24 military helicopter was flying to Hama, northwestern Syria, and there was no firing from the ground, agencies quoted the ministry as saying.

"Both pilots died in a hard landing 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the air base," the ministry said, adding that a technician had been injured and taken to another air base for emergency treatment.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu last month said the military had completed the partial withdrawal from Syria ordered by President Vladimir Putin, but Moscow would maintain a presence in the country, including three battalions and two bases.

Moscow acknowledged in recent months that its special forces are also active on the ground in the offensive against Islamic State militants.
 
BEIRUT: Ten children were among at least 24 civilians killed in air strikes and artillery fire Tuesday on a Syrian rebel enclave near Damascus, a monitor said, issuing a new toll.

Ten children among 24 dead in attacks on Syria’s Ghouta Tuesday 9 January 2018
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1222486/middle-east

Either regime or Russian aircraft were responsible for the raids, the most deadly of which killed 13 civilians including seven children in the Hammuriyeh district of rebel enclave Eastern Ghouta, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory, a UK-based war monitor, had previously put the number of civilians killed in the attacks on the area at 18.
 
Turkish strikes kill 8 civilians in Afrin region: Monitor, Kurds
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1230436/middle-east

Turkish air raids killed eight civilians on Sunday in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin, according to a war monitor and a spokesman for the Kurdish forces that control the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead, who included at least one child, were killed in air strikes on the village of Jalbara.

“Eight civilians were killed in missile strikes on a chicken farm where they were living,” said Birusk Hasakah, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin, blaming Turkish warplanes.
 
Syria government bombardment kills 16 civilians near Damascus: Monitor
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-government-bombardment-kills-16-civilians-near-damascus-monitor-78325714

A Syrian government bombardment killed 16 civilians on Saturday across the besieged opposition enclave of Eastern Ghouta, a monitor group said.

Eastern Ghouta has been under government siege since 2013 and its estimated 400,000 inhabitants are suffering severe shortages of food and medicine.

On Saturday, a barrage of Syrian artillery fire hit a market in the main Eastern Ghouta town of Douma, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Nine people were killed, including a woman," the British-based war monitor said.

Another six civilians were killed in artillery fire on the towns of Hammuriyeh, Arbeen and al-Marj. Syrian air strikes killed a child in the town of Zamalka.

In the first 14 days of the year, more than 30 children were killed in Eastern Ghouta, a report by UNICEF found.

"It is shocking that only in the first 14 days of the year more than 30 children have been killed in escalating violence in East Ghouta, where an estimated 200,000 children have been trapped under siege since 2013," read a statement by UNICEF Representative in Syria, Fran Equiza.

"UNICEF received information from inside East Ghouta that people are taking shelter underground in fear for their lives. One particular heavy attack on residential buildings was so strong it reportedly injured 80 civilians including children and women. Medical personnel struggled to pull survivors out of the rubble."

Urgent treatment needed

The United Nations has said about 500 people are in critical condition inside Eastern Ghouta and need to be evacuated for urgent medical treatment.

Twenty-nine patients, mainly children, were allowed out in December to get treatment under a deal struck between the government and rebels, but several have already returned.

Eastern Ghouta was one of four "de-escalation zones" agreed under a deal last year between rebel backer Turkey and government allies Iran and Russia.

But the opposition stronghold remains the target of intense air strikes and a crippling government siege.

Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with protests against the government but has since evolved into a ferocious civil war.
 
The U.S. Coalition killed nearly 10,900 people in Syria over the course of 40 months, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed on Tuesday.

US Coalition killed nearly 10,900 people in 40 months: report 24/01/2018
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-coalition-killed-nearly-10900-people-40-months-report/

According to the SOHR report:

•2,815 Syrian civilian citizens, including 655 children under the age of eighteen, and 481 women over the age of eighteen were killed in the provinces of al-Hasakah, Al-Raqqah, Aleppo, Idlib and Deir Ezzor.
•58 people, including 6 children, a citizen woman and 19 unidentified persons were killed in targeting a call-for-Islam center in al-Jinah village in the western countryside of Aleppo.
•More than 64 people, including 12 children, were killed in bombings by Coalition warplanes on the al-Tokhar area in the northern countryside of Manbij
•64 civilians were killed in a massacre on the night of Thursday-Friday 30th/4 and 1st/5 of 2015 in the village of Bir Mahhalli near Sarrin town south of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) city.

The SOHR report also claimed that of 10,900 people killed in Syria, at least 7,396 members of the Islamic State (ISIS) were killed.

SOHR did not detail how they collected these numbers.


As the fifth day of Ankara's operation in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin is drawing to a close, fighting has already claimed dozens of civilian lives in Syria and left two people dead and many others injured on the Turkish territory.

Civilian Casualties in Both Syria, Turkey Amid Fifth Day of Afrin Op - Reports
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801241061035049-death-toll-afrin-killed/

Casualties on the Syrian Side

Civilian death toll in Syria's Afrin has climbed to 35 as Turkey's shell fire is mostly targeting settlements despite of the presence of people there, Afrin's health department official Angela Rasho said as quoted by Kurdish agency Hawar.

Over 100 people are currently receiving medical attention in Afrin's hospitals, she added.

Turkish presidential representative Ibrahim Kalin stated on Tuesday that Ankara's operation is directed only against terrorists, whereas securing civilian lives is the main priority of Turkey. Kalin also warned against false rumors and propaganda being spread about the operation.

Casualties in Turkey

Two civilians died in a hospital from the injuries after a missile fired from Afrin hit the mosque in the center of Turkey's Kilis located on the border with Syria, the DHA agency reported.

At least 8 people were wounded as a result of the missile attack on the mosque, whereas another rocket stroke a residential building injuring 5 people, according to the Afrin's governor.

Earlier, the Turkish media reported 15 civilians injured as a result of the shelling.

How Many People Died Since the Start of Operation?

There are conflicting reports on the civilian casualties as neither of sides has released information about fatalities, thus it is difficult to gauge the exact death toll.

The UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday expressed deep concern over Turkey's ongoing operation, saying the offensive has already forced about 6,000 of people leave their homes and claimed lives of civilians, though he did not clarify how many people died.

According to the estimates from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Turkish airstrikes have left at least 24 civilians dead, however, Turkey asserts it targets only combatants.

Ankara's Olive Branch Operation

Turkey began a military intervention in the Afrin region, dubbed Olive Branch Operation, on Saturday by shelling Kurdish positions surrounding the Syrian city, with the ground offensive starting the next day. According to Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag, the only aim of Ankara in Afrin is to eliminate terrorists from the area.
 
At least 21 people, including children, suffered breathing difficulties Monday, a monitor said, in a suspected Syrian regime chemical attack on a besieged rebel enclave near Damascus.

Syria regime accused of chemical attack in rebel enclave, US warns Russia Monday 22 January 2018
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1231271/middle-east

United Nations inspectors have accused President Bashar Assad’s regime of being behind multiple deadly poison gas attacks during the country’s devastating seven year war.

Monday’s attack targeted the city of Douma in the rebel-held region of Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“After regime forces fired rockets into the western part of the city of Douma, white smoke spread, causing 21 cases of suffocation,” it said.

An AFP correspondent at a hospital in the city saw people carrying babies wrapped in blankets, breathing through oxygen masks, some of them screaming.
Young girls and men sat on hospital beds, tears in their eyes, unable to stop coughing.

A doctor at the hospital who gave his first name as Bassil said patients were suffering “respiratory irritation, breathing difficulties, coughing and reddening of the eyes.” “We noticed that they smelled like bleach, or chlorine, and we stripped them of their clothes,” he said.

Six children and six women were among those affected, the Observatory said.

“Residents and medical sources talk of chlorine gas,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that his group — which relies on a network of sources inside Syria could not confirm those reports.

Meanwhile, the United States sternly criticized Russia’s failure to rein in its Syrian ally Bashar Assad on Monday after the reports of a new regime chemical weapons strike emerged.

Washington is not yet in a position to confirm the latest report, but officials noted that Russia has hamstrung UN efforts to probe previous allegations of regime atrocities. “Civilians are being killed and it is not acceptable,” Steve Goldstein, US assistant secretary of state for public affairs, told reporters in Washington.

Asked whether the United States would raise the issue at the UN Security Council, Goldstein said: “We’ll see tomorrow.”

“Russia had failed to rid Syria of chemical weapons, and they’ve been blocking chemical weapons organizations. Enough is enough,” he warned.

The United States has urged Russia to compel Assad to take a United Nations-brokered peace process in Geneva and Vienna seriously and come to the table.

But Moscow — along with Iran and Turkey — has been running a parallel peace initiative under its own auspices out of Astana and Sochi, and the eight-year-old civil war continues.

In 2013 the previous US administration, under president Barack Obama, balked at striking Syria over its alleged chemical arms use, choosing to work with Moscow on a disarmament plan.

But US military action in Syria has otherwise been focused on defeating Daesh — and thus-far ineffective diplomatic efforts to end the civil war.

On January 13, a similar attack targeted the outskirts of Douma and the Observatory reported seven cases of suffocation.

Days later, Human Rights Watch head Kenneth Roth accused the Syrian regime of using chlorine gas during the siege of Eastern Ghouta.

Besieged since 2013 by regime forces, the rebel stronghold’s 400,000 inhabitants are already experiencing a crushing humanitarian crisis and severe shortages of food and medicine.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations blamed the Syrian air force for an April 2017 sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun which left scores dead.

The attack triggered an unprecedented American missile strike on the air base it is believed Syrian forces used to carry out the attack.

The regime is also accused of using chlorine gas in three areas of northern Syria in 2014 and 2015.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for efforts to punish officials responsible for chemical attacks in Syria.

Syrian state TV said Monday that rebel mortar fire had killed nine people in two neighborhoods of Damascus.

Syria’s nearly seven-year war, which began as the regime brutally crushed anti-government protests, has claimed more than 340,000 lives, forced millions to flee their homes and left the country in ruins.
 
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