The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

80 months of International Coalition operations in Syria | Over 30 people arrested in eight security campaign with SDF, and 125 trucks enter NE Syria

Completing the 80th consecutive month of military operations against the “Islamic State” in Syria, the International Coalition continues sending in military reinforcement to SDF-held areas, carrying out raids, arrests and various security operations in several areas controlled by SDF. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in turn, tracked and monitored all operations and movement of the International Coalition during the last month.

 

 

Escalating reinforcement and security campaigns

 

The International Coalition continued to send reinforcement to its bases in north-east Syria region in May, and despite the relative subsiding in reinforcement in April, nearly 125 trucks and vehicles affiliated to the International Coalition, carrying military and logistical supplies, crossed into Syria from Kurdistan Region of Iraq in the 80th month of its military operations in the country. These trucks entered Syria in four batches, two bathes on May 5, one batch on May 9, and the last one entered Syria on May 13.

 

International Coalition Forces ran several patrols in different areas in north-east Syria region, mostly were concentrated in al-Hasakah countryside, near the Syria-Turkey border.

 

On May 17, “Al-Shabiba al-Thawriyah” (The Revolutionary Youth) and the Young Women’s Union in north and east Syria conducted a march in response to the international actors’ indifferent regarding the attacks launched by Turkey on the areas of Zab, Haftanin and Avashin in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the mountains of Turkey. Meanwhile, the access of US patrol of four vehicles coincided with the arrival of protesters in the village of Jal Agha in the countryside of al-Hasakah, as the protestors pelted the US patrol with stones and water bottles, without causing any damage.

 

In the past month, SOHR activists also documented the participation of the International Coalition in nine joint security campaign with SDF in Deir Ezzor and al-Hasakah, including raids and airdrops. These campaigns resulted in the arrest of 32 people in al-Shuhayl, al-Hawaij, Wadi al-Ajij, al-Suwar, al-Busayrah, al-Zar and other areas in the two provinces for “belonging to and collaborating with ISIS”.

 

While on 24 April, International Coalition Forces and Syria Democratic Forces conducted military training with live ammunition nearby al-Omar oil field in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor in east Euphrates region.

 

 

Abductees forgotten by Coalition and SDF

 

26 months have passed since the International Coalition’s official declaration of the elimination of Islamic State as a dominating force over east of the Euphrates River. Despite all the developments that took place over the past month, the Coalition and SDF’s silence continues regarding ISIS abductees. No details on the fate of thousands of abductees are provided; and no information about the results of the interrogations of ISIS member is available, as thousands are held by SDF and the Coalition, east of the Euphrates.

 

Concerns about the abductees’ lives and fate are growing, including the fate of father Paulo Dall’Oglio, Bishop John Ibrahim, Paul Yaziji, Abdullah al-Khalil, a British journalist, Sky News journalist, and other journalists, and hundreds of abductees from Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) and Afrin and other people from Deir Ezzor.

 

Although the International Coalition announced the defeat of ISIS in March 2019, SOHR has repeatedly pointed out that ISIS has been eliminated only as a controlling power in Syria, as ISIS is still alive and able to launch military operations and commit heinous crimes throughout Syria. SOHR reports attacks by ISIS cells on a daily basis in areas where International Coalition Forces are located in north-east Syria region. It is worth noting that ISIS is widely prevalent and has escalated its operations since mid-July 2018.

 

As daily fatalities are recorded and updated regularly, the number of people who were killed in areas within the four provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Al-Raqqah and Al-Hasakah, in addition to the SDF-held area of Manbij in the north-east of Aleppo rose to 754 fighters, civilians, oil workers, and officials in service parties.

 

The Syrian Observatory documented the assassination of 262 civilians including 18 children and 13 women by armed cells in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, al-Hasakah countryside, al-Raqqah city and countryside, and Manbij area. In addition, 487 SDF fighters, including local leaders, were assassinated in the same areas.

 

Also, four members of International Coalition were killed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Human also documented tens of injuries due to these assassinations.

 

 

May 2021… another month passes and no investigation into alleged Coalition massacres

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights renew its appeals to all international actors, International Coalition and SDF to announce the results of interrogations with ISIS detainees and what happened to the thousands of abductees. The Syrian Observatory had previously called upon the international community to investigate reports regarding the killing of 200 ISIS operatives and their families, women and children, in a massacre committed by the Coalition’s jets by bombing al-Baghouz camp on March 21, 2019.

 

According to SOHR sources, 200 bodies were buried at dawn on that particular day, without information as to whether the International Coalition was aware of the presence of children and women from ISIS families inside the camp or not.

 

However, all these appeals remain unanswered. Therefore, SOHR renews its appeals to all relevant parties to announce the whole facts and hold accountable those responsible for the massacres and violations over the past five years during which the Coalition were actively involved in the Syrian crisis.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while providing adequate monitoring of Coalition operations in Syria, stresses once more that it would have been possible to avoid the heavy losses of Syrian civilian lives if the International Coalition had not ignored SOHR’s calls to spare and protect civilians from its military operations, where the presence of Islamic State militants or other jihadist groups in a civilian area does not in any way justify the blank and discriminate bombardment of area and the loss of civilian lives.

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also stresses that the negative impact of Turkish military intervention on civilians could have been avoided, if the US President had applied enough pressure on his Turkish counterpart to stop a new humanitarian crisis, displacing thousands and killing and injuring hundreds.

 

On the other hand, we at SOHR would like to remind the world that the oil and gas resources, controlled by the International Coalition, belong only to the Syrian people. Therefore, all the concerned parties are obliged under international laws and norms to preserve these resources and ensure that they will not be stolen or seized in any way; these resources do not belong to the “regime”, “Iran” or any other party; they belong only to the people of Syria, who have been suffering the brutalities of an ongoing war for over nine years. SOHR also warns of repercussions of exploiting these sources, seizing them or depriving the Syrians of their rights in resources.