The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

84 months of International Coalition operations in Syria | 145 trucks enters northeast Syria and security campaigns with SDF arrests nearly 50 ISIS members

Completing the 84th 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.

In the 83rd month of International Coalition operations in Syria, 145 trucks and vehicles affiliated to the Coalition, carrying military and logistical supplies, crossed into Syria from Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where they headed to the Coalition’s military bases in north-east Syria region. These trucks entered Syria in four batches with 50 vehicles entered on August 26 and 30 others entered on Sept. 2 and another 30 vehicles entered on Sept 9 and the last included 35 vehicles on Sept. 12.

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.

In the past month, SOHR activists also documented the participation of the International Coalition in seven joint security campaign with SDF in Deir Ezzor and al-Hasakah, including raids and an airdrop. These campaigns resulted in the arrest of 49 people, including ISIS commanders, in Zoubyan, al-Ezbah, Abu Khashab, Mohaymydah in Deir Ezzor and al-Hasakah and al-Shadady and its countryside.

 

More tacks in the 84th month

On August 31, SOHR activists have reported that three rockets were fired from the regime-controlled town of Khsham on Koniko gas field, near the American base. Meanwhile, the International Coalition aircraft flew over the area after the rockets attack.

On Sept. 9, SOHR sources have reported that two rockets hit the outskirts of a US base in al-Shaddadi city in the southern countryside of al-Hasakah. However, no casualties have been reported. The rockets were fired from the desert, amid suggestions of being fired by ISIS cells in an attempt to inflict damage and casualties in the US base. Meanwhile, US forces stationed in the base were seen on high alert, amid combing operations in the region.

On Sept. 20, SOHR activists have reported that two leaders of a faction close to al-Qaeada group including a Tunisian were killed, in a drone attack by the International Coalition by targeting their Kia Rio car, on the road between Idlib-Binnish in east Idlib province.

 

Abducted by ISIS, continuous negligence without solution looming

30 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.

 

September 2021… another month passes without transparency

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.

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.

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.

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.