89th month of coalition operations | ISIS leader’s death tops the events while major reinforcement arrive in coalition military bases after Ghuwayran attack
Completing the 89th 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 89th month of International Coalition operations in Syria, 130 trucks and vehicles affiliated to the Coalition, carrying military and logistical supplies, crossed into Syria from Kurdistan Region of Iraq in three batches, on the 31st of January, 18th and 20th of February, where they headed to the Coalition’s military bases in Al-Hasakah and Deir Ezzor in north-east Syria region.
In the past month, SOHR activists also documented the participation of the International Coalition in four joint security campaign with SDF, including raids and airdrops. These campaigns resulted in the arrest of 13 people in Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah provinces.
Meanwhile, the blazing events of Guwayran prison in Hasakah lasted until January 29, where the International Coalition offered considerable participation in foiling the attack, which manifested in aerial bombardment on ISIS members, killing 140 ISIS members in the period from the 20th to 29th of January.
On February 18, an officer of the International Coalition informed SOHR that Coalition Forces brought in military reinforcement to their bases in north and north-east Syria, especially the bases in Deir Ezzor, in light of Ghuwayran security operation, where the forces boosted their bases with members and military equipment. This came while the Coalition and the SDF were conducting joint military exercises in west Deir Ezzor desert
The most notable event during the 89th month of the International Coalition’s military operation in Syria was the killing of ISIS leader “Abdullah Qardash”, also known as “Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Quraysh”, the successor of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in a “security operation” on February 3.
According to SOHR sources, the results and the conditions of the operation raised many questions, while only the US team who carried out the operation owned the complete answers.
Stories varied about the circumstances of the death of the children and women and the identity of the survivors. However, only the death of Qardash is a piece of confirmed information.
It was confirmed that at least 12 people inside the building that housed Qardash were killed, as well as a member of Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) who was in a nearby area and shot dead by the security forces participating in the operation, after he had been spotted with a gun in his hand.
SOHR sources confirmed that the 12 killed people inside the building were: four children, three women, a girl, two men, and two others whose dismembered bodies were not identified whether they were adults or children. Meanwhile, one of several reports about the identity of the dead people stated that two of the murdered women were wives of Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Quraysh. However, a woman who was living on the ground floor of the building confirmed that Qardash had only one wife.
On the other hand, other sources said that Qardash’s two sons and his foreign sister and her daughter who were living on the second floor were also killed, while Qardash and another man believed to be his escort, who was also killed in the operation, lived on the first floor, amid reports suggested that this man was Qardash’s brother-in-law and he had frequented to the house. Moreover, the sources also stated that two more unidentified children were killed, as well as the presence of two other bodies whose identities remained unknown and it is not known yet if they were children or adualts.
Other stories suggested that, nobody could confirm if Qardash’s sister blew herself or was targeted directly by the Coalition Forces and then her body was torn apart. Also, remains of Qardash’s body were found in the building.
Till now, no one could confirm the exact circumstances of the death of the 12 people, whether they were killed in explosions or shot directly by the International Coalition forces, amid uncertain fate of other people who were in the building during the operation.
The correct version of the story could be only told by the Coalition forces that carried out the operation.
According to SOHR sources, Qardash lived in the targeted building for a short period, and he owned a small truck which he pretended that he used for working to conceal his real identity. While other sources said that Qardash told his neighbours that he was Turkimen and he had been displaced from Aleppo.
February 2022: another month passes and no investigation into alleged Coalition massacres
Despite SOHR repeated and “unheeded” appeals, International Coalition and SDF have not announced 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 calls and appeals to all relevant parties to disclose and 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 US Presidents had applied enough pressure on their 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.