Introduction:
‘Insight’ organization recorded human rights violations in Syria in July of 2024, amid the on-going conflict in the country and the absence of accountability and equity.
To prepare this report, ‘Insight’ 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 gathered the data from early July to early August, and it took the team a week to verify the data.
We believe that the number of victims is greater than the statistics revealed in this report. However, it shows the violations of killing and injury committed by parties to the conflict and extrajudicial detention, which also threatens the victims to be subjected to torture and enforced disappearance.
The report also shows other violations that cause more tragedies, like property seizure and deliberate burning of woods and fields, in addition to monitoring ISIS act.
During July, the casualties monitored by ‘Insight’, numbered at least 204 people on Syrian territory. 109 people were killed and 95 were injured.
Civilian victims:
89 Syrian civilians became victims of the conflict and violations in the country, amidst continuous indiscriminate attacks, the absence of accountability, and impunity. 52 were killed and 37 were injured.
Causes of Civilian Casualties
Although contact lines between the parties’ areas of influence were relatively calm, clashes broke out and parties to the conflict conducted military and security operations and imprisoned, tortured and assaulted innocent people.
Rearrangement of the data showed that direct targeting with weapons caused the highest number of casualties.
Dara ‘a, in south of Syria, had the biggest number of civilians killed in July 2024, followed by Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor, due to several armed groups that belong to parties to the conflict or the presence of different and adjacent areas of control in these areas.
Military victims:
According to ‘Insight’, in July of 2024, 115 military personnel were victims of the conflict. 57 were killed and 58 were injured.
Military personnel were killed and injured of shooting or IEDs, the mutual shelling between the parties to the conflict, the explosion of war remnants and mines, as well as those killed and injured in ISIS attacks.
Turkey’s shelling
In July 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 6 civilian casualties: 1 child was killed and 5 injured, including one child.
In July of 2024, the Turkish army shelled 46 sites in north Syria, all were in residential areas, except for one was government forces’ site.
These attacks were carried out by artillery shelling, which means a decline in drone attacks, that is believed to be temporary.
ISIS
In comparison to June, ISIS attacks in July of 2024 increased by 37%. ISIS members carried out at least 11 attacks against militaries and civilians.
The total number of casualties caused by ISIS attacks was 27, of which 20 were killed. 13 were government forces’ members, 5 were members of pro-Iranian groups and 2 were members of Syrian Democratic Forces, and 7 military of pro-Iranian groups.
ISIS attacks in July were in Deir ez zor (6 attacks) and Homs (5 attacks).
On the other hand, the SDF along with the Global Coalition launched 10 security operations, in which 29 people were arrested accused of belonging to ISIS.
Arbitrary Detention:
Insight recorded the arbitrary detention of 141 civilians during July. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham perpetrated the highest rate of arbitrary detentions, with 48% of all detentions.HTS detained 67 civilians, on charges of opposing policies and practices of HTS or Turkey, and participating in protests against both of them.
The SDF arrested 29 people accused of belonging to ISIS.
Turkish-backed ‘National Army’ factions detained 23 civilians, on charges of dealing with the former Autonomous Administration in Afrin, attempting to cross the Syrian-Turkish border by irregular means, or participating in protests against the Turkish government.
Turkish intelligence detained 17 civilians, including 1 child, on Syrian territory accused of insulting the Turkish flag, participating in protests against Turkey, or accused of setting ‘Newroz’, even after three months of ‘Newroz’ date.
Insight monitored arbitrary detentions by the government. 5 civilians were detained, including 1 woman, without knowing the charges.
Notable Events
- Hundreds of fires broke out in the areas of Afrin, Idlib, Hama and the Syrian coast in general. The fires wiped forests and private property, including thousands of fruitful and forestry trees.
Activists, government officials and human rights organizations have made calls and statements that these fires are artificial or systematic with the aim of trading in wood and coal, or cause damages to certain areas.
- Protests have escalated in northwest Syria following repeated statements by Turkish officials about normalization with the Syrian government, which coincided with racist incidents against Syrian refugees in Turkey, as well as the forced deportation of many refugees.
- The Syrian government held elections of the ‘Syrian People’s Assembly’ in mid-July, with low participation (38.16%), without impartial control over voting and counting.
Among the lists of winners of the membership of the ‘People’s Assembly’ were the names of military personnel and leaders of groups involved in the Syrian conflict and violations committed against Syrians over the past 13 years.
- On July 17th, the Syrian President issued a decree on the rights of disabled persons and the obligations of public and private authorities towards them.
The decree prescribes penalties on people who abuse disabled persons, prevent them from their rights, imprison them, or exploit them, as well as other cases.
- Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria issued a general amnesty for crimes committed by Syrians before July 17th, 2024, classified under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2021 and General Penal Code No. 2 of 2023.
Relying on the amnesty issued, the authorities of Northeast Syria, released hundreds of detainees through tribal mediation in their areas of control.
- 82 Syrian families – 346 individuals – left al-Hawl camp, in Northeast Syria, towards their home areas in Deir ez-Zor and countryside in the east of the country on July 28th, 2024.
- Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), that belong to SDF, announced the survive of two Yazidi women and a child, who are from Shangal/Sanjar in Iraq. They stated that they had been found in June, two in al-Hawl camp and the other near the Syrian-Iraqi border.
