Introduction
‘Insight’ recorded human rights violations against civilians in Syria in August of 2024, amid the on-going conflict and the absence of remedy and accountability.
To prepare this report, Insight’s monitoring team consulted open sources, contacted field sources, activists and legal experts, collected data on individual violations, and consulted reports and appeals from other local organizations.
The team started data gathering from August 1st until September 1st, and verified the data while preparing the report.
The number of victims, that we believe is greater than the statistics revealed in this report, shows the violations of killing and injury by all the parties to the conflict, the extrajudicial arrest that subject some victims to torture and enforced disappearance, and monitoring ISIS action.
Civilian Victims
211 Syrian civilians became victims of the conflict and violations in the country, amidst continuous indiscriminate attacks, the absence of accountability, and impunity. 73 were killed and 138 were injured.
Causes of Civilian Casualties
In August, clashes broke out, the parties to the conflict conducted military and security operations, they shelled from inside Syrian territory and imprisoned, tortured and assaulted innocent people. Turkey and Israel also targeted Syria’s areas, from outside the border, resulting in deaths and injuries.
Most civilian casualties occurred by means of direct targeting with weapons followed by military clashes and explosions.
In August of 2024, Deir ez zor was one of the areas with highest number of civilian casualties, followed by Daraa then Aleppo, as there were new attacks, and the spread of many armed groups that belong to the conflicting parties in the same area.
Israeli Shelling
In August of 2024, Israel targeted 15 Syrian government sites and other sites of factions affiliated with Hezbollah, with 17 airstrikes.
The targeted sites were: 10 sites in Homs, 4 in Hama, and 1 in Damascus. They were security checkpoints, weapons and machines warehouses and fuel stores.
The Israeli shelling resulted in 7 civilian casualties.
Turkish shelling
In August of 2024, Turkish forces violated human rights and international humanitarian law in Syria through indiscriminate attacks on northeast Syria and attacks on asylum seekers.
The Turkish forces caused the killing of 4 civilians, including 1 child, and the injury of 37 civilians, including 4 women and 1 child.
The Turkish army shelled 64 sites in north Syria, of which 58 were residential areas, and targeted 2 vehicles on the main roads.
Among the Turkish strikes, 11 attacks were by drone and others by artillery.
ISIS
In August of 2024, ISIS members carried out at least 10 attacks, of which 6 were against civilians, as they targeted the houses of two oil investors, and 4 tanks for oil transport.
ISIS attacks in August were 7 in Deir ez zor, 2 in Homs and 1 in Hasakah.
15 security operations were carried out against ISIS. SDF forces launched 13 operations, of which 4 were mutual with Global Coalition to Fight ISIS, one operation by the government forces with Russian support, and the Turkish forces arrested one of ISIS leaders.
Arbitrary Detention
Insight recorded the arbitrary detention of 198 civilians in August, which indicates increasing of the detention by 40% compared to last July.
51% of the detentions were by pro-Turkish “Syrian National Army” factions. These factions detained 101 civilians, including 7 women and 8 children, accused of dealing with former Autonomous Administration in Afrin, Inability to pay the fines imposed by the factions, or attempting to cross into Turkey.
Pro-Turkish factions also launched two detaining campaigns after the two explosions in Afrin, and arrested a journalist in ‘al-Bab’ city in Aleppo countryside.
In Idlib, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham detained 29 civilians, including 7 women. The majority of the detainees were accused of threatening the civil peace because they had participated in protests demanding the release of detainees.
SDF and Autonomous Administration’s security authorities arrested 34 people, including 3 women, accused of belonging to ISIS or participating in Deir ez zor attacks.
Security agents of the Syrian government detained 31 civilians, on charges of opposing the government and dealing with other parties to the conflict.
Turkish forces detained 3 civilians with no clear charges.
Prominent incidents in August:
- Syrian government forces launched attacks on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Deir ez-Zor countryside, causing a conflict that lasted a week. The parties of which did not respect the principle of distinguishing between military objectives and civilian objects, killing at least 17 civilians (12 in the village of ‘Dahla’).
- Fires continued to burn in Afrin, Idlib and the Syrian coast in general, wiping entire forests and private property that included thousands of fruitful trees and forests.
- Armed men of the SNA factions blocked the opening of ‘Abu al-Zindin’ crossing with Syrian government-held area, following the decision to open the crossing issued by the Turkish supported local council of ‘al-Bab’ city.
- A 5.3 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale in Hama resulted in injuries without deaths.
- The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria released 1100 terrorism-related prisoners, continuing the implementation of the general amnesty it issued last July.
- Peaceful protests against the government’s policies continued in Suwayda one year after their launch.
