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Syria – Researched and Compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland on 27 February 2012

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Syria – Researched and Compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland on 27 February 2012 Syria – Researched and compiled by the Refugee Documentation Centre of Ireland on 27 February 2012 Information on the anti-government uprising in Daraa, particularly prior to December 2011. Were Sunnis particularly targeted? Any reports of the opposition assisting fighters to leave the Daraa area? Is fighting continuing in that area? A report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation states: “Syrian tanks have moved into the flashpoint towns of Daraa and Douma, where witnesses say there are new casualties as troops fire indiscriminately around the town. Rights activists say at least 25 people have been killed and many more injured as thousands of Syrian troops swept into the towns on Monday (local time). Daraa, in the far south, is where the wave of anti-government protests in Syria began more than five weeks ago. Witnesses there report thousands of troops have begun attacking the town, killing and wounding an unknown number of people and leaving bodies lying in the streets.” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (25 April 2011) Syrian Arab Republic (the): More civilians shot dead in Syria crackdown) An alert from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) states: “Tank-backed Syrian Security forces have taken siege over the city of Daraa for the past ten days, preventing residents from leaving their homes and resulting in very difficult humanitarian conditions. Security forces cut electricity, landlines, and mobile coverage before undertaking its attack on the city; furthermore, they have taken out water reservoirs on the tops of building by firing live bullets at them. Lack of food, water, and children's milk are serious concerns for residents in Daraa. ‘The Syrian government is repeating the same actions and responses it undertook in 1982 during the Hama massacre. The government is collectively punishing Daraa and other cities that are protesting against Assad's regime.’ said Radwan Ziadeh, Director of DCHRS. Security forces continue their attack on the city, snipers have been stationed on the rooftops of high buildings and are targeting any moving persons, and units composed of four-army forces have been using anti-aircraft machine guns to target densely populated neighborhoods, such as Al-Mahata and Daraa Al-Balad in the city of Daraa. ‘Every single house around the Omari Mosque has been targeted’ said an eyewitness that DCHRS managed to talk with.” (International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) (4 May 2011) Daraa: Ten days of massacres An article from The Guardian states: “Rights activists described Wednesday's shootings in the southern city of Daraa as a massacre, claiming that more than 100 people may have been killed when troops fired on a mosque in the early hours and throughout the day. With protests called for after Friday prayers, Buthaina Shaaban, adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, announced that the government would consider ending Syria's emergency law and revise legislation for political parties and the media. Similar reform pledges have been announced in the past, and are unlikely to satisfy protesters. In Deraa, funeral- goers chanted ‘God, Syria, Freedom’ and ‘The blood of martyrs is not spilt in vain!’, Reuters news agency reported. Some reports said that up to 20,000 people attended, but this could not be verified. The city has been cordoned off.” (The Guardian (24 March 2011) Syrian people outraged over government shootings in Daraa) A Voice of America News report states: “Witnesses say authorities in Syria have arrested hundreds of people - many of them in the flashpoint city of Daraa - as troops backed armored vehicles roam the streets trying to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Residents in Daraa say Syrian security forces are detaining all males 15 and older in that southern city - the center of the six-week uprising. They say troops have systematically cut off neighborhoods while making sweeping arrests. Prominent lawyers and activists also are reported being targeted in Daraa.” (Voice of America News (1 May 2011) Syrian Troops Arrest Hundreds in Daraa) A report from the Egyptian English-language newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly states: “Eyewitnesses in Daraa report that security forces have burned down pharmacies to prevent residents from seeking medical treatment and doctors have been arrested when trying to help the wounded. Residents have stopped taking those injured in the protests to the government hospital in Daraa, under the control of the security forces, because patients are arrested as soon as they receive treatment. The security forces have bombed water tanks on the roofs of buildings, and, following the army's invasion of the city, Daraa has become a ghost town, with only the noise of automatic weapons fire and sporadic mortars breaking the silence. Eyewitnesses say that corpses are lying in the streets, it being impossible to move them because of snipers targeting anything that moves. Six weeks ago, the people of Daraa began protests against the Syrian regime, demanding the release of 17 children who had written graffiti on the walls of their school demanding the overthrow of the regime. The children were tortured by the security forces, which then used live ammunition against demonstrators demanding their release. Dozens were killed, and within days the protesters' demands had gone from demands that the children be released to a wide array of demands for freedom, democracy and political change in Syria.” (Al- Ahram Weekly (11 May 2011) Daraa under siege) A Human Rights Watch news report states: “In Daraa on the morning of March 25, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered for a funeral procession for protesters killed the previous day. The protest had been peaceful in the morning, but security forces fired live ammunition at protesters after they tried to destroy a statue of former president Hafez al-Assad in the square facing the governor's residence, two witnesses told Human Rights Watch. Video footage posted by anonymous sources on YouTube showed the protesters attempting to pull down the statue as well as a billboard photo of President Bashar al-Asad in a neighboring square. The sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. A Daraa resident told Human Rights Watch on March 26 that protests on March 25 had first been peaceful. When people in the crowd received information that security forces had shot and killed demonstrators in the nearby village of Sanamein, who were on their way to join the funeral procession in Daraa, they vented their anger by trying to destroy a statue of former president al-Asad, the father of the current president. The witness told Human Rights Watch: ‘The information about the killing of protesters who were coming to join us angered the crowd. And some people tried to destroy the statue of President Hafez al-Asad. At that point, security forces opened fire, and I ran away.’ Another Daraa resident told Human Rights Watch that 14 people had died in the subsequent shootings in Daraa, but Human Rights Watch was able to obtain the names of only two dead protesters: Muhammad Ayshat and Tarek Abu Aysh.” (Human Rights Watch (28 March 2011) Syria: Security Forces Fire on Protesters) A detailed Human Rights Watch report on events in Daraa, in a section titled “Crimes against Humanity and Other Violations in Daraa”, states: “It was in Daraa that the anti-government protests that have spread all over Syria since mid-March started. Initial protests were sparked by the detention and torture of 15 boys, ages 10 to 15, accused of painting graffiti slogans calling for the downfall of the regime. For days, the boys’ families pleaded for their release with the authorities and with General Atef Najeeb who was in charge of the local political security department in Daraa where the boys were held. Then the residents of Daraa took to the streets. On March 18, following the Friday prayer, several thousand protesters marched from al-Omari Mosque in Daraa calling for the release of the children and greater political freedom, and accusing government officials of corruption. According to multiple witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, security forces at first attempted to beat the protesters back with stones and batons. Later riot police were deployed with water cannons and teargas, and finally members of political security branch of the mukhabarat or security services showed up and opened fire on demonstrators using live ammunition. At least four protesters were killed that first day, and several dozen injured.” (Human Rights Watch (1 June 2011) “We’ve Never Seen Such Horror”: Crimes against Humanity by Syrian Security Forces, p.14) In a section titled “Systematic killings of protestors and bystanders” this report states: “Human Rights Watch’s research has established that since March 18, 2011 and to this writing Syrian security forces have committed systematic killings in Daraa governorate. They deliberately targeted protesters, who were in the vast majority of cases unarmed and posed no threat to the forces; rescuers who were trying to take the wounded and the bodies away; medical personnel trying to reach the wounded; and, during the siege, people who dared to go out of their houses or to enter the city with supplies. In some cases, they also shot bystanders, including women and children. While witness testimonies leave little doubt regarding the extent and systematic nature of abuses, the exact number of people killed and injured by Syrian security forces in Daraa is impossible to verify. The city remains largely cut off from the outside world and people who try to get information out face severe repercussions (see below). Thousands of families, according to local residents, have no information about their missing relatives and do not know whether relatives have been arrested or killed. Local activists have been maintaining lists of people killed during the protests throughout Syria.
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