Deteriorating Security Conditions in Al-Hol Camp Necessitate Repatriation Programs

A spate of recent murders at Al-Hol Camp in Northeast Syria raises safety and security questions concerning its nearly 70,000 residents. Sixteen murders were committed between August 1 and October 11, 2020 of whom nearly two-thirds were Iraqis. The growing security risks display the need for states to implement repatriation programs. The camp’s administration has […]

The SNA in Nagorno-Karabakh: Turkey is subsidizing its interventions with Syrian lives

Hundreds of Syrian lives and the enforcement of international humanitarian law (IHL) in the spiraling Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict have been put at risk by Turkish security companies and government officials, who are dispatching paid fighters from northwestern Syria to active military fronts in Nagorno-Karabakh. Many of these approximately 1,000 fighters belong to Turkish-backed militias that comprise […]

Turkey continues to deport Syrians to Idlib, violating international law

According to an SJAC source, Turkish authorities have deported more than 16,000 Syrians to Idlib this year, including more than 1,900 people in September. Although these numbers suggest a decrease from 2019 when the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing near Antakya recorded over 63,000 deportations, they are particularly concerning because a number of the deportations violate […]

Inside the Raslan Trial: A botched in-court identification and multiple accounts of torture

TRIAL OF ANWAR RASLAN and EYAD AL GHARIB Higher Regional Court – Koblenz, Germany Trial Monitoring Report 7 Hearing Dates: July 29, 30, & 31, 2020 Full pdf of the report found here. CAUTION: Some testimony includes descriptions of torture. Summaries/Highlights:[1] Trial Day 19 – July 29, 2020 P7, a 30-year-old man, testified about his […]

COI Report Right on Turkey, but Sanctions Should Remain

On 15 September 2020, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI) issued its 21st report on the situation in Syria (English and Arabic). The report was released on 15 September under the heading “No clean hands – behind the frontlines and the headlines, armed actors continue to subject […]

The “Beatles” on Trial: Obtaining justice for victims of foreign ISIS fighters

It is increasingly likely that two ISIS fighters, involved in the killing of several Americans, will be brought to trial in a courtroom in Virginia. The development comes as Attorney General William Barr sent a letter to the United Kingdom home secretary assuring her that the United States would not seek or enforce the death […]

PRESS RELEASE: New campaign reveals mass graves continue to be discovered in northeast Syria

Five mass graves found this year alone with many more expected to be uncovered  Twenty-eight mass graves have been discovered since the territorial defeat of ISIS in northeast Syria three years ago, report local First Responders who continue to exhume new graves in the search for thousands of missing people. Fifty-seven former detention centres where […]

Syria Sanctions: a deeper look at the Caesar Act designations

The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, often referred to simply as the Caesar Act, officially entered into force on June 17, 2020. The law, which provides the American government with a legal basis to impose sanctions not only on Syrian government entities, but also on third-party individuals and entities providing direct or indirect assistance to […]