Smuggled Photos are ‘Damning Evidence’ of Crimes Against Humanity in Syria
A collection of nearly 28,000 photographs of people who reportedly died in government detention centers across Syria presents “damning evidence” of crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch has said.
The rights group released its conclusion Wednesday of a nine-month investigation into the infamous collection of photographs smuggled out of Syria by a military defector codenamed Caesar, AFP reports.
The Caesar files contain pictures of the bodies of some 6,000 Syrian detainees who allegedly died in government detention centers or military hospitals in Syria. Nearly all of the bodies bear marks of torture or starvation.
“We have meticulously verified dozens of stories, and we are confident the Caesar photographs present authentic – and damning – evidence of crimes against humanity in Syria,” said Nadim Houry, HRW’s deputy Middle East director.
“These photographs show peoples’ children, their husbands, their beloved family members and friends that they spend months or years searching for,” Houry said.
Out of the thousands of nameless victims, HRW has identified 27 individuals after piecing together accounts from friends, families and detainees.
Government Forces Clash with Kurds
Troops loyal to Bashar al-Assad engaged Kurdish forces in a firefight on Wednesday in a rare clash between the two sides, which have been collaborating in the fight against Islamic extremists in Syria.
Tensions erupted late Tuesday when an allegedly pro-government fighter shot at Kurdish traffic police in the city of Qamishli, according to the Syrian Kurdish internal security service, AFP reports.
Members of the Asayish, the Kurdish security services, arrested the shooter along with nine other pro-government militants.
But when members of the National Defense Forces, a pro-Assad militia, arrested two Asayish Wednesday morning, “a clash took place between the two sides,” according to a statement released by the Asayish.
The Syrian government and Kurdish authorities share control of the city of Qamishli, in Hassakeh province, and government troops and Kurdish fighters have long been coordinating on security in the province, where ISIS has tried to advance.
Tensions have risen recently between the two sides over the Syrian government’s program of military conscription.
“Recently, the Syrian government’s authoritarian practices towards unarmed citizens have increased … under the pretense of recruitment and military conscription,” according to the Asayish statement.
U.N. Won’t Investigate Foreign Airstrikes in Syria
A team of United Nations war crimes investigators will not look into airstrikes conducted by foreign militaries in Syria, the group’s chairman said Wednesday, Reuters reports.
“It is not our mandate to investigate the behavior of powers involved in the crisis in Syria,” said Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria.
Pinheiro’s statement comes amid rising concern that some nations conducting military strikes in Syria may have violated the laws of war.
“There is no possibility that we will investigate the American airstrikes or French or British or Russian,” said Pinheiro.
As foreign powers step up their airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, observers have cited cases in which foreign attacks have disproportionately hit civilians and civil infrastructure.
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Top image: Comrades carry Ilias Mahmoud al-Taweel, a member of Syrian Civil Defence, or White Helmets, during his funeral in Douma, in the suburbs of Damascus, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015. Taweel died while rescuing victims of the shelling of the city. (Feras Domy via AP)