Syria: Escalating Assault on Rebel-Held District | WPN World People News

The Syrian government is indiscriminately attacking the al-Waer neighborhood in Homs, the last neighborhood of the city still in the hands of rebels, with devastating consequences for the civilian population.

Government shelling on the area has intensified since the breakdown of talks between the warring parties in early October 2014. Since October 2013, the government has restricted the ability of al-Waer residents to leave the area and has limited, and at times completely blocked, deliveries of humanitarian assistance to the estimated 70,000-100,000 civilians still there. Most recently, on December 16, 2014, an attack left a reported 36 dead including at least 33 civilians.

“While attention has moved on from Homs, tens of thousands of civilians are suffering and others dying in al-Waer,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “The Syrian government should not be allowed to use its unlawful siege tactics at such a high price for the civilian population.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed six residents of al-Waer, five of them currently in the neighborhood. Residents said that government attacks on the neighborhood intensified starting October 4, after negotiations broke down. The interviewees described the persistent shelling of residential areas, which they said had had no apparent military targets in the vicinity, from nearby government held territory.

On October 1, two bombs exploded outside an elementary school in Akrama, a predominately Alawite neighborhood in Homs, killing dozens, mostly children, media reports said. Akrama, identified by numerous rebel groups as a loyalist, pro-government neighborhood, has been subject to repeated car bombings. The army and pro-government forces have intensified their attacks on al-Waer since then.

The Violations Documentation Center, a local monitoring group, has identified 91 civilians and one combatant killed in al-Waer since October 2014. According to a member of the al-Waer Media Center, which is collecting information on fatalities in the neighborhood, the number of civilians killed in government attacks is much higher, with at least 150 civilians killed in al-Waer in October alone.

The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, visited Homs on November 10, and met with representatives from al-Waer.

Human Rights Watch repeated its call to the UN Security Council to take further action, since the Syrian government and rebel groups have not complied with Security Council Resolution 2139 of February 22, 2014, demanding that the parties to the conflict cease indiscriminate attacks and unlawful restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Security Council action could include referring Syria to the International Criminal Court and imposing an arms embargo on groups, including the government, committing systematic and widespread human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said.

Governments allied with the Syrian government – including Russia and Iran, which media reports indicate played a key role in negotiating a local cease fire on May 2 for Old Homs – should use their influence with the Syrian government to cease the unlawful attacks and restrictions on al-Waer.

Al-Waer, a densely populated neighborhood on the outskirts of Homs, became the last rebel-controlled area in the city when rebels in Old Homs withdrew in May following a UN-brokered agreement there. Since 2011, the neighborhood had served as a refuge for many Homs families fleeing the fighting in other parts of Homs and more recently had received families and fighters that left Old Homs after the local deal there. Negotiations between the government and armed groups in al-Waer have been ongoing but broke down in early October 2014.

The government and pro-government militias have used improvised weapons including airdropped barrel bombs in the December 16 strikes and crudely manufactured rockets containing cylinders of explosives as warheads, called istuwanat in Arabic.

Describing the terror induced by these rockets, one resident, Maha (all names have been changed to protect witnesses), a Syrian from Homs who lived in al-Waer from June 2012 until July 2014, said: “Once a cylinder full of explosive is fired, if you see it you have 30 seconds to run away. It has a distinct, terrible sound... They can destroy a complete building.”

A video published on YouTube shows the remnants of one such improvised rocket that stuck al-Waer. Like factory-produced unguided artillery rockets, these weapons cannot be accurately or predictably targeted and are prone to being indiscriminate when used in populated areas. The improvised nature of these rockets degrades the performance and reliability of the weapons and exacerbates the potential of indiscriminate impact.

In describing the December 16 attacks, a member of the Media Center told Human Rights Watch that the neighborhood was shelled from around 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., during which the 36 people were killed in an estimated 18 aerial attacks using aircraft and helicopters. He said that barrel bombs were used in the neighborhood for the first time along with mortars, shilka – a four-barrel antiaircraft cannon mounted on an armored vehicle – and sniper fire targeting most areas of the neighborhood including main thoroughfares such as Fardous Street. In addition to those killed, many civilians were wounded.

Talal, a 27-year-old former school teacher who is running a field hospital in al-Waer, told Human Rights Watch that one of the first aerial attacks on December 16 hit a school that was in session, in the late morning, as children were getting ready to leave. He said the situation in al-Waer was calm before the strikes began.

Several videos published on YouTube showed the aftermath of the attack, including a completely destroyed building, the wounded, and some of those killed, including children. An image was also published of a mass grave where the dead were purportedly buried.

In addition to striking al-Waer indiscriminately, witnesses also told Human Rights Watch that government forces have been regularly restricting their access to food, oil and diesel for heating, and life saving assistance and have limited the ability of many residents to flee the neighborhood, with only students and government employees allowed out. In some cases, those attempting to leave have been harassed, beaten, arbitrarily detained, and disappeared. Since October 2013 only two humanitarian aid deliveries were brought into al-Waer, once on June 28 and again on November 11, 2014.

Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict are obligated to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need. Starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited. All sides also need to take all feasible steps to evacuate the civilian population from the vicinity of military objects.

“As attacks on al-Waer intensify and restrictions tighten, what was once a refuge for residents, particularly Sunnis fleeing violence in other parts of Homs, has become a prison,” Houry said. “The people of al-Waer need more than the words of a UN resolution, they need to see the UN put it into action.”

Source: Human Rights Watch