April, 12 2016, 08:45am EDT
Syria: Indiscriminate Attacks Ongoing Despite "Cessation of Hostilities"
New Civilian Deaths Show Stronger Measures Needed
NEW YORK
Civilians are dying in Syria in new indiscriminate attacks despite the "cessation of hostilities" that began on February 26, 2016.
One of the deadliest was the government airstrike on the town of Deir al-Assafir on March 31, killing at least 31 civilians, including nine women and 12 children, local civil rights groups and rescue workers reported. Three witnesses told Human Rights Watch that there were no military targets nearby. On April 5, armed groups fired mortars, locally made rockets, and other artillery into Sheikh Maqsoud, an Aleppo neighborhood under the control of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, in likely indiscriminate attacks that killed at least 18 civilians including seven children and five women, and wounded 68, according to the local Sheikh Maqsoud council. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the death toll.
"A decrease in casualty numbers brought a much needed respite for Syrians, but many civilians are still dying in unlawful attacks," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. "Key countries pushing for negotiations in Syria - notably the U.S. and Russia - need to press the warring parties in Syria to end unlawful attacks."
Negotiations between the Syrian warring parties are set to resume on April 13, but renewed fighting in recent days threatens to derail the "cessation of hostilities."
The United States and Russia, as co-chairs of the Syria Ceasefire Task Force, which was set up in February to monitor indiscriminate attacks, need to adopt robust measures to deter further indiscriminate attacks or use of weapons with indiscriminate effects.
Members of the local civil defense groups and rescue teams in Eastern Ghouta, where the March 31 attack took place, told Human Rights Watch that a Syrian plane struck a school and a hospital. Yasir Doghmosh, head of Civil Defense for Eastern Ghouta, said he rushed to the scene and "saw women and children running everywhere in a panic. We saw pieces of bodies on the street and people stuck underneath the rubble."
Human Rights Watch reviewed video of the aftermath of the attack, which shows members of rescue teams trying to save women and children from rubble and destroyed buildings. The sounds of planes circling overhead is audible, as well as the sounds of explosions as rescue workers were doing their work. The video also showed images of young children in school uniform and backpacks escaping from a school. Human Rights Watch received a list of 31 names of the dead from the local Civil Defense group.
A local media activist, Adam al-Shami, who was in Deir al-Assafir at the time of attack, told Human Rights Watch that the Civil Defense building, a civilian building, in the town was destroyed as well as a hospital and a school. The local Civil Defense group said that 14 bombs were dropped on the town. The videos showed damaged buildings but did not indicate if they were the hospital or the school that were hit. Doghmosh and al-Shami denied that there were any military targets nearby. The Syrian government did not issue any statements about this attack.
"The bombing happened in completely civilian areas in the Ashira neighborhood," al-Shami said. "One member of the Syrian Civil Defense died in the attack."
"In Aleppo, opposition armed groups fired locally made rockets, grad, and mortars," said Emad Dawud, a local council member, in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. Local activists said that the armed groups began their attacks following clashes with the Kurdish militia over the control of a key thoroughfare.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the armed groups also struck the neighborhood with 23 rockets on March 6, killing nine civilians including four children. On March 19, four civilians, including two children, died when rockets were fired into Sheikh Maqsoud from the al-Halk neighborhood, which armed groups control. Human Rights Watch reviewed video posted on March 7 showing rebels from the Thuwar al-Sham brigade preparing locally made cylindrical rockets in preparation for a launch into Sheikh Maqsoud.
A local journalist in Sheikh Maqsoud, Pervin Roj, said on April 8 that the heavy shelling that began on April 5 had not stopped. She said that the hospital was overrun with dead and injured.
"There are still people under the rubble that the rescue teams cannot reach," Roj said.
Video of the aftermath of the April 5 attacks showed victims being treated for difficulty in breathing. Photos of the aftermath showed children buried under destroyed buildings and others bloodied and covered with blankets after being lifted from the rubble.
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC), a major opposition umbrella organization, issued a statement condemning the attacks on April 5. On April 7, the official spokesperson for Jaysh al-Islam, a militant group, issued a statement that "during confrontations [with the Kurdish militia], a local commander in Jaysh al-Islam used weapons that are not authorized to be used in these types of confrontations, which is considered a violation of the group's internal rules, and he was referred to the military judicial system of the army [Jaysh al-Islam]."
The International Syria Support Group, a group of countries that have been leading the drive for a ceasefire in Syria, negotiated the cessation of hostilities. Syrian and Russian forces agreed to a ceasefire on airstrikes except on locations controlled by militant groups like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. However, while the number of civilian deaths has decreased in the past month, indiscriminate attacks against civilian areas have continued, according to local human rights groups and Syrian civil defense, a group of search and rescue volunteer workers.
The US and Russia, as co-chairs of the Syria Ceasefire Task Force, set up a monitoring system with a hotline for Syrian individuals or groups to report violations of the ceasefire by phone, email or text.
The special task force should strengthen its reporting mechanism particularly for strikes that kill civilians, and publicly report on violations of the laws of war, and adopt measures to sanction and deter such violations, Human Rights Watch said.
"As fighting resumes in parts of Syria, key backers of the Syria negotiations should ensure that protection of civilians remains a key priority by strengthening the monitoring mechanism and sending a strong signal to any warring party that continues to target civilians or use indiscriminate attacks," Houry said.
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
LATEST NEWS
Just 22 House Dems Oppose Bill That Bars UNRWA Funding While Giving Billions to Israel
"Our elected leaders are funding Palestinian death," said one advocacy group.
Mar 22, 2024
The House of Representatives on Friday approved a sprawling government spending package that prohibits U.S. funding for the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency for at least a year and hands Israel billions of dollars in unconditional military assistance, even as the country massacres and starves Gaza civilians.
The 1,012-page legislation passed in a 286-134 vote, with 112 Republicans and just 22 Democrats opposing the bill. All but one of the bill's Democratic opponents are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the CPC, said in a statement after voting against the measure that she is "very concerned that this package continues funding for the Netanyahu government with no conditions, while at the same time prohibiting funding" for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
"For decades, UNRWA has played a unique and integral role in supporting the welfare and survival of Palestinians in several countries," said Jayapal. "Humanitarian aid in the region is already severely restricted. Implementing a prohibition on UNRWA funding is irresponsible and unacceptable. As the largest contributor of funding to Israel, we should use our funding leverage to demand that humanitarian aid enter Gaza and that we have a lasting cease-fire and a return of all hostages."
In a
social media post ahead of Friday's vote, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced his intention to "vote no on this bill that bans aid to children in Gaza who are dying of hunger."
"Forget the politics and procedural jargon," Khanna wrote. "This is a test of first principles. The America I believe in must never be indifferent to the man-made starvation of children."
The legislation now heads to the Senate, which must pass the bill by Friday night to avert a partial government shutdown.
"Instead of banning funding for UNRWA, the U.S. should restore its aid to Gaza and halt weapons transfers to the Israeli military. No more money for massacre."
If passed and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the measure would bar the U.S. from resuming funding for UNRWA until at least March 25, 2025. The Biden administration and other Western governments suspended donations to UNRWA in January after Israel accused a dozen of the agency's 13,000 Gaza employees of taking part in the October 7 Hamas-led attack—allegations it has not substantiated.
While Canada, Finland, and other countries have since resumed funding for UNRWA, the U.S. has kept its contributions frozen as famine spreads rapidly in Gaza. The territory's entire population is facing "high levels of acute food insecurity," according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
By including such a provision in must-pass government funding legislation, Congress is "further deepening U.S. complicity in Israel's starvation of Palestinian children," said Josh Ruebner, an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University and the former policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
While barring U.S. funding for the primary humanitarian relief agency in Gaza, the measure includes $3.8 billion in military support for Israel, whose forces have used
U.S.-made weaponry to commit atrocities against civilians in the Palestinian enclave.
As Security Policy Reform Institute co-founder Stephen Semler pointed out, the bill also prohibits U.S. funding for the United Nations commission that is investigating potential war crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.
The House just passed a bill that cements genocide as official US policy. The legislation gives Israel $3.8 billion in weapons, sanctions UNRWA as Palestinians starve, and defunds a UN investigation into Israel's violations of international law.
All but 22 Democrats voted for it pic.twitter.com/8q9xaMVeJI
— Stephen Semler (@stephensemler) March 22, 2024
IfNotNow, an American Jewish group that campaigns for Palestinian rights, said in response to Friday's vote that "our elected leaders are funding Palestinian death."
"It's unsurprising that the GOP is working to ban funding for UNRWA while the Israeli military massacres and starves Palestinians in Gaza with U.S. financial and diplomatic backing," the group said. "It's unconscionable that so many Democrats are joining them."
"Instead of banning funding for UNRWA, the U.S. should restore its aid to Gaza and halt weapons transfers to the Israeli military," IfNotNow added. "No more money for massacre."
Keep ReadingShow Less
US Pariah Status Grows as Finland Resumes UNRWA Funding
"Collectively punishing millions of Palestinians over allegations concerning a few individuals is never acceptable," said one campaigner. "Other E.U. member states must follow."
Mar 22, 2024
As the United States doubled down on banning funds for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Finland said Friday that it would resume contributions to the lifesaving organization in an implicit rebuke of unsubstantiated Israeli claims—reportedly extracted via torture—that staff members were involved in the October 7 attacks.
Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio announced during a press conference that the country's €5 million ($5.4 million) annual contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) would be reinstated, with 10% of the funding reserved for "risk management."
"Improving UNRWA's risk management, i.e. starting to prevent abuses and close supervision, gives us sufficient guarantees at this stage from the perspective of risk management that support can continue," said Tavio. "As a result, UNRWA's support for this year will proceed."
"In the future, UNRWA will also require annual bilateral discussions with Finland on how to improve the efficiency of risk management," the minister added. "It is of paramount importance to ensure that our money does not end up benefiting terrorism."
Led by the United States, more than a dozen nations including Finland suspended UNRWA funding after Israeli officials accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini terminated nine of the 12 employees accused by Israel. However, Lazzarini later admitted to having no evidence to support their firing, calling the terminations an act of "reverse due process." An Israeli dossier cited by countries suspending UNRWA funding also contained no concrete evidence of staff involvement in the October 7 attacks.
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) earlier this week called Israeli claims that UNRWA is a Hamas proxy "flat-out lies."
UNRWA employees say they were tortured into making false confessions about involvement in Hamas and October 7. The staffers accuse Israeli interrogators of severely beating and waterboarding them, as well as threatening to harm their relatives.
The European Union and nations including Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia subsequently resumed funding for UNRWA, while other contributors including Saudi Arabia increased their donations.
"For the time being there is no alternative to UNRWA," Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Dan Jørgensen said earlier this week.
The United States, however, continues to withhold UNRWA contributions, as do other nations including Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. An agreement reached earlier this week between Congress and the White House as part of a $1.1 trillion militarized spending package extends the ban on UNRWA funding until next March.
On Friday, the House of Representatives voted 286-134 on a bill sanctioning UNRWA while giving Israel $3.8 billion in armed aid. The Biden administration is also seeking an additional $14.3 billion in armed assistance for Israel while repeatedly sidestepping Congress to expedite emergency weapons shipments.
UNRWA supports Palestinian refugees not only in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, but also in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. In Gaza, agency staff provide shelter, food, water, clothing, blankets, and other essential humanitarian assistance amid Israel's genocidal war and siege, which have killed and maimed more than 113,000 Palestinians while displacing around 90% of the embattled strip's 2.3 million people. With deadly starvation spreading rapidly in Gaza, the agency's work is more needed than ever.
It's perilous work. According to figures from the Aid Worker Security Database, at least 196 humanitarian workers—most of them UNRWA staffers in Gaza—have been killed in Palestine since last October. One in every 100 UNRWA workers in Gaza has been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets, the highest toll in United Nations history.
Keep ReadingShow Less
$3 Billion From Truth Social Merger Unlikely to Fix Trump's Money Trouble
The ex-president is facing potential asset seizure if he can't post a $454 million bond for a New York fraud case.
Mar 22, 2024
Digital World Acquisition Corp. shareholders on Friday approved a merger involving former U.S. President Donald Trump's social networking platform—but a multibillion-dollar windfall from the deal isn't expected to help him with the $454 million bond he needs to post for a New York fraud case by Monday.
Trump's deal with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) was announced back in 2021 and finally got approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission last month. Thanks to the merger, Trump Media & Technology Group—whose primary product is Truth Social—could be trading on the stock market under the ticker symbol DJT next week.
Digital World had a $42.81 closing stock price on Thursday and Trump is set to own nearly 79 million shares, which works out to over $3 billion. However, a Wall Street provision known as a "lock-up" agreement will block Trump—the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for the November election—from swiftly ditching that stock to cover his mounting legal costs.
As The Associated Pressdetailed before the merger vote:
Investors under the lock-up deal cannot sell, lend, donate, or encumber their shares for six months after the close of the deal. Legal experts say "encumber" is a powerful word that could prevent Trump from using the stock as collateral to raise cash before six months have elapsed.
There are a few exceptions, such as by transferring stock to immediate family members. But in such cases, the recipients would also have to agree to abide by the lock-up agreement.
Experts warn that Trump selling a bunch of his Truth Social shares after the six-month mark could prove problematic.
"It's simply trading on Trump's name," Kristi Marvin, founder of the research firm SPACInsider, toldPolitico. "People aren't buying this because they like the fundamentals—they're buying this because they like Trump."
As a result of the civil fraud case launched by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, Trump and his real estate company were hit with $355 million in fines last month. His adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, owe $4 million each, and longtime executive Allen Weisselberg was fined $1 million.
With interest, the former president owes $454 million and his sons owe $10 million. James gave Trump until March 25 to pay up. Attorneys for Trump, who is appealing, said in a Monday filing that it has been a "practical impossibility" for him to secure a bond. The attorney general is preparing to seize Trump's assets.
Trump's proceeds from the Truth Social merger could be "a ripe target for James to go after," MarketWatchnoted Thursday. Financial attorney Mark Zauderer told the outlet that "bank accounts and debts owed, [including] the proceeds of a company sale, are far more simple to freeze than, say, Trump's stake in an LLC that owns a building."
As of Friday, Forbesestimated Trump's net worth at $2.6 billion, much of which is tied up in real estate. Earlier this month, a New York Times analysis found that he has about $350 million in cash. Trump claimed on Truth Social early Friday that he has "almost" $500 million in cash.
On top of the fraud fine, a New York City jury in January awarded E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in a judgment against Trump for defaming the journalist after she accused him of raping her at a department store in the 1990s. Trump, who is also appealing this decision, posted a $91.6 million bond provided by an insurance company in early March.
Trump faces a pair of federal criminal cases—one for his handling of classified documents and another related to his attempt to overturn his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection. He has also been indicted in a criminal election interference case in Georgia and a hush money case in New York.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular