UN Commission warns Syrian war is intensifying amid continuing patterns of war crimes and fear of large-scale regional conflict

GENEVA (10 September 2024) – Launching its latest report today, the UN Syria Commission of Inquiry warned that fighting has intensified along multiple frontlines of the Syrian conflict, with the region gripped by fear of a large-scale war.

“The deep-seated deadly dynamics are once again igniting new waves of hostilities. The recent direct fighting in northeast Syria around Deir-ez-Zor between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the one hand and Arab tribes, Government forces and Iran-backed militia on the other, evokes the deeply entrenched grievances among the population in this part of northeast Syria,” said Commission Chair Paulo Pinheiro.

Heightened regional tensions stemming from the conflict in Palestine have led to intensified Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian officials and Iranian-backed militias across Syria, causing civilian casualties on at least three occasions. The Commission continues to investigate such airstrikes, including Sunday’s strike in Hama province. In turn, Iranian affiliated groups have attacked US bases in east Syria more than 100 times since the start of the Gaza war, most recently last month, followed by US counter-attacks. Six foreign militaries remained active in Syria during the reporting period from 1 January to 30 June.

Intensified violence in northwest Syria killed, injured, and maimed civilians in unlawful attacks by Syrian Government forces, including through the use of cluster munitions in densely populated urban centres in the Idlib area. In the incidents investigated by the Commission, over 150 civilians, half of them women and children, were killed and injured – the vast majority in indiscriminate attacks by Government forces, which may amount to war crimes. Russian airstrikes again led to civilian casualties in Idlib.

Turkish forces conducted multiple operations against SDF military targets in northeast Syria. The Commission investigated Turkish airstrikes that last winter hit several medical buildings and destroyed turbines at a power plant in Swediyah, Hasakah, affecting access to water, fuel and other essential services for more than a million people, finding them to be unlawful. Airstrikes in May hit ambulances marked with protective emblems in violation of international humanitarian law.

Southern Syria remains plagued by violence and profound insecurity, including in areas retaken by the Government. The Commission launched a comprehensive investigation into a 7 April massacre in Daraa when ten civilians, including two children, were brutally executed by a pro-Government militia largely composed of so-called “reconciled” former rebels, chanting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) slogans. Most victims were executed with knives or point-blank gunshots in acts that may amount to the war crimes of murder and outrages on personal dignity.

“The events in Daraa bore the hallmarks of some of the most heinous atrocities committed during more than a decade of conflict in Syria. Government forces stationed just metres from the massacre failed to intervene and protect civilians, displaying how Syria is descending deeper into lawlessness,“ said Commissioner Hanny Megally. “Predatory security forces and factions use violence, detention and threats to extort money from civilians. You are liable to be arrested, tortured, raped, die in custody, or disappear in all areas of the country if you run afoul of authorities. “

The Commission has reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Government continued to commit acts of torture, including in some cases sexual and gender-based violence, and ill-treatment against persons in State custody, despite the order by the International Court of Justice in November last year to the Syrian State to cease torture.

Deaths in Syrian State custody were again documented. Syrian authorities continued to obstruct families’ efforts to find their arbitrarily detained relatives, with families forced to pay bribes in exchange for information about detainees’ whereabouts, or visits or releases.

The report documents cases in which Syrian authorities issued official notifications of deaths in their custody with ten-year delays – leaving families suffering in limbo for a full decade.

Cruel detention practices continued across Syria, again confirming continuing patterns of war crimes by all detaining actors, and in State custody, also crimes against humanity.

“We documented torture and executions of detainees held by Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) in the northwest. They and some SNA factions in the north are using several of the same brutal torture methods in their detention facilities as the Government. Nearly 30,000 children are still interned by SDF in Al Hawl and Rawj camps in appalling conditions, for their parents’ alleged affiliation to ISIL,“ Commissioner Lynn Welchman said.

“Shockingly, Yazidi women, girls and boys – survivors of the Yazidi genocide and other ISIL crimes – have been locked up alongside their persecutors in Al Hawl camp for now over five years,” Welchman said.

Ten years after ISIL’s brutal assault on Sinjar and the destruction of its Yazidi community in 2014, the Commission urges the self-administration and the States supporting it to immediately identify and release all Yazidis held in these camps and to support their pursuit of justice for the atrocities they survived.

The Commission warns that Syria is falling deeper into an alarming humanitarian crisis that threatens to spiral out of control. Only a quarter of this year’s humanitarian needs are funded, while needs are at their highest since the start of the conflict: 13 million Syrians face acute food insecurity and over 650,000 children show signs of stunting from severe malnutrition.

Fresh protests erupted across the country, fuelled by desperation amid the economic freefall, cuts in subsidies and local authorities’ predatory practices. The northwest saw unprecedented large demonstrations calling for the overthrow of HTS leader Al-Joulani, release of detainees and reforms. In Government-controlled Suwayda, weekly protests have now been going on for a year, despite documented incidents of security forces using violence and live fire against demonstrators.

“Syrians who bravely take to the streets to claim their rights should be heard, not repressed. Syria remains acutely unsafe,” Megally said. No Syrian refugee should be forced to return in the current circumstances.”

ENDS

Background: The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic was established on 22 August 2011 by the Human Rights Council through resolution S-17/1.The mandate of the Commission is to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law since March 2011 in the Syrian Arab Republic. The Human Rights Council also tasked the Commission with establishing the facts and circumstances that may amount to such violations and of the crimes perpetrated and, where possible, to identify those responsible with a view of ensuring that perpetrators of violations, including those that may constitute crimes against humanity, are held accountable. The Human Rights Council has repeatedly extended the Commission’s mandate since then, most recently until 31 March 2025.

Get more information on the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria.

For media requests, please contact: Johan Eriksson, UN Syria Commission of Inquiry Media Adviser, at +41 76 691 0411 / johan.eriksson@un.org; or Todd Pitman, Media Adviser, Investigative Mandates, at +41 76 691 17 61 / todd.pitman@un.org;  Pascal Sim, Human Rights Council Media Officer at +41 22 917 9763 / simp@un.org.