Amnesty Report Accuses Opposition Groups of War Crimes

A new report released Tuesday by the U.K.-based human rights group Amnesty International has accused five rebel groups of war crimes in northern Syria, including abduction, torture and summary executions of activists and minority groups.

The report stated the al-Qaida-backed al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, Nureddin Zinki, the Levant Front and the 16th Division had perpetrated war crimes and violated international humanitarian laws in the past four years, according to al-Jazeera.

“Many civilians live in constant fear of being abducted if they criticize the conduct of armed groups in power or fail to abide by the strict rules that some have imposed,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program director.

Amnesty interviewed about 70 individuals living or working in the opposition-held northern province of Idlib and the opposition-held parts of Aleppo.

“While some civilians in areas controlled by armed opposition groups may at first have welcomed an escape from brutal Syrian government rule, hopes that these armed groups would respect rights have faded as they have increasingly taken the law into their own hands and committed serious abuses,” said Luther.

Amnesty has called on international backers, including the U.S., to cease arms transfers to groups implicated in the abuse.

Israel Attacks Syrian Military Targets Near Golan Heights

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has attacked two Syrian military targets in the central Golan Heights, an Israeli military spokesperson told Agence France-Press on Monday.

The attack came as a response to stray fire from the Syrian military that hit and damaged a security fence on the demarcation line.

Israel has avoided direct involvement in the five-year conflict in Syria, but has previously responded to spill-over attacks from the conflict.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in April that Israel had attacked dozens of arms convoys in Syria intended for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group regarded as an enemy by Israel.

A large portion of the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights is occupied by Israel since seizing the area during the Six-Day War of 1967.

ISIS Takes Back Strategic Territory in Northern Syria

U.S.-backed forces have been pushed back by the so-called Islamic State in northern Syria, Associated Press reports.

According to Syrian activists and members of ISIS, the extremist group has won back territory it had lost near Manbij, a town of strategic importance located on the supply line between Turkey and ISIS’s self-declared capital, Raqqa. The Western-backed and Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had seized Manbij last month, but lost ground to ISIS on Monday after attempting a further advance into the extremist group’s strongholds to the north.

In a statement released by the ISIS-run Aamaq news agency, the group said its fighters had infiltrated villages and mountains near the town, and one ISIS member had detonated a car packed with explosives in a gathering of Kurds amid clashes in the northwestern part of Manbij.

Recommended Reads:

• The Washington Post: Brexit, Syria and Chaos in Our Interconnected World
• UNHCR: UNHCR and Partners Warn in Syria Report of Growing Poverty, Refugee Needs
• European Council on Foreign Relations: The War Next Door: Syria and the Erosion of Stability in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey
• Al-Jazeera: How the Disunity Among UN Agencies is Failing Syria
• The New York Times: After Attacks, Lebanese Christian Town Casts Wary Eye on Syrian Refugees