Human rights in Syria

Syria
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The situation for human rights in Syria is considered exceptionally poor among international observers.[1][2] A state of emergency was in effect from 1963 until April 2011, giving security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention.[2]

From 1973–2012, Syria was a single-party state. The authorities have been accused of harassing and imprisoning human rights activists and other critics of the government.[3] Freedom of expression, association, and assembly are strictly controlled.[2][3] Women and ethnic minorities face discrimination.[2][3] According to Human Rights Watch, President Bashar al-Assad failed to improve Syria’s human rights record in the first 10 years of his rule,[4] and Syria's human rights situation remained among the worst in the world.[5] According to Amnesty International, the government may be guilty of crimes against humanity based on "witness accounts of deaths in custody, torture and arbitrary detention," during the crackdown against the 2011 uprising.[6]

History

French rule (1920–1946)

Three Syrian rebels hanged in Marjeh Square during Syrian Revolt of 1925-1927

From the early 1920s until 1946, Syria and Lebanon were under the control of a French Mandate, officially ratified by the League of Nations on 29 September 1923.[7] Human rights concerns during this period included the colonialist treatment of the Druze within their autonomous state in the southern portion of the mandate, as prisoners and peasants there were often used for forced labor.[8]

During the Great Syrian Revolt, French military forces sieged much of Damascus and the countryside,[9] killing at least 6,000 rebels and displacing over 100,000 civilians. Authorities would publicly display mutilated corpses in central squares within Damascus and villages throughout Syria as a means of intimidating opponents of the government.[10] In 1926, the Damascus military court executed 355 Syrians without any legal representation.[11] Hundreds of Syrians were sentenced to death in absentia, prison terms of various lengths, and life imprisonment with hard labor.

Additionally, it was during this period that Syrian Women's Rights groups began to assert themselves, led by individuals like Naziq al-Abid.

Ba'athist Rule

In 1982, President Hafez al-Assad responded to an insurrection led by the Muslim Brotherhood in the city of Hama by sending a paramilitary force to indiscriminately kill between 10,000 and 55,000 civilians including children, women, and the elderly during what became known as the Hama massacre.[12][13]

Amnesty International reports that women have been subject to discrimination and gender-based violence.[2]

For several years, the "watchdog organization" Freedom House has rated political rights in Syria as "7" — the "least free" rating on its scale of 1 to 7 — and given Syria a rating of "Not Free."[14]

According to the 2008 report on human rights by the U.S. State Department, the Syrian government's "respect for human rights worsened". Members of the security forces arrested and detained individuals without providing just cause, often held prisoners in "lengthy pretrial and incommunicado detention", and "tortured and physically abused prisoners and detainees". The government imposed significant restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association, amid an atmosphere of government corruption.[15] According to Arab Press Network, "despite a generally repressive political climate", there were "signs of positive change," during the 2007 elections.[16] According to a 2008 report by Reporters without Borders, "Journalists have to tightly censor themselves for fear of being thrown into Adra Prison."[17]

In 2009 Syria was included in Freedom House's "Worst of the Worst" section and given a rating of 7 for Political Rights: and 6 for Civil Liberties.[18] According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2009 Syria’s poor human rights situation had "deteriorated further". Authorities arrested political and human rights activists, censored websites, detained bloggers, and imposed travel bans. Syria’s multiple security agencies continue to detain people without arrest warrants. No political parties were licensed and emergency rule, imposed in 1963, remained in effect.[1]

Judicial process

Syria has a long history of arbitrary arrest, unfair trials and prolonged detention of suspects. Thousands of political prisoners remain in detention, with many belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood and the Communist Party.[3] Since June 2000, more than 700 long-term political prisoners have been freed by President al-Asad, though an estimated 4,000 are reportedly still imprisoned.[3] Information regarding those detained in relation to political or security-related charges is not divulged by the authorities.[3] The government has not acknowledged responsibility for around 17,000 Lebanese citizens and Palestinians who "disappeared" in Lebanon in the 1980s and early 1990s and are thought to be imprisoned in Syria.[3] In 2009, hundreds of people were arrested and imprisoned for political reasons. Military Police were reported to have killed at least 17 detainees.[2] Human rights activists are continually targeted and imprisoned by the government.[2][3][19]

Political prisoners

Demonstration in Montreal in solidarity with the people of Syria. The sign reads: "Stop torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners in Syria!"

Among the scores of prisoners of conscience arrested in 2009, and hundreds political prisoners already in prison, some of the more prominent prisoners were:

Sednaya prison alone houses more than 600 political prisoners. The authorities have kept many for years behind bars, often well past their legal sentence. The estimated 17,000 prisoners who have disappeared over the years suggests that Syria may have hidden mass graves.[12]

In a 2006 report, Human Rights Watch reported on the continued detention of "thousands" of political prisoners in Syria, "many of them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and the Communist Party." According to the Syrian Human Rights Committee that there were 4,000 political prisoners held in Syrian jails in 2006.[21]

Freedom of religion

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion.[22] However, the Government restricts this right. While there is no official state religion, the Constitution requires that the president be Muslim and stipulates that Islamic jurisprudence, an expansion of Sharia Islamic law,[23] is a principal source of legislation. According to the U.S. Department of State's "International Religious Freedom Report 2007", the Constitution provides for freedom of faith and religious practice, provided that the religious rites do not disturb the public order. According to the report, the Syrian Government monitored the activities of all groups, including religious groups, discouraged proselytism, which it deemed a threat to relations among religious groups. The report said that the Government discriminated against the Jehovah's Witnesses and that there were occasional reports of minor tensions between religious groups, some attributable to economic rivalries rather than religious affiliation.[24] There is some concern among religious minorities that democratic reforms will result in oppression of religious minorities by Islamist movements that are now repressed.[25]

LGBT rights

Main article: LGBT rights in Syria

Article 520 of the penal code of 1949, prohibits having homosexual relations, i.e. "carnal relations against the order of nature", and provides for up to three-years imprisonment.[26]

In 2010 the Syrian police began a crackdown that led to the arrest of over 25 men. The men were charged with various crimes ranging from homosexual acts and illegal drug use, to encouraging homosexual behavior and organizing obscene parties.[27]

Freedom of movement

Syrians can not leave the country without an "exit visa" granted by the authorities.[12][28]

Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides for the human right of Freedom of Movement as such “(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return to his country.”[29]

Despite this universal human right travel within Syria is discouraged, by the government and the rebels, and Extremist groups and the government have imposed restrictions on the freedom of movement on the people of Syria. Bans have been said to have increased significantly since 2006, though exact statistics are hard to come by as secret security agencies are commonly the ones issuing the bans.

The Syrian Constitution, in Article 38(3), allows freedom of movement “within the territories of the state unless restricted by a judicial decision or by the implementation of laws of public health and safety.”[30] From 2011 to 2015, the last four years of the Syrian war, the freedom of movement has been most widely restricted in certain areas and on certain individuals. Restrictions vary between regions, partly because of continuous fighting in certain areas. In rebel held areas there are severe restrictions on the movement of government supporters (or people thought to be government supporters). Foreign diplomats are unable to visit a majority of Syria, and are often not allowed outside of Damascus (Syrian capital).

In the areas of Jindires in Afrin, and Ras al Ayn, curfews where executed in 2012 and 2013 extremist groups put in place a curfew of 5pm, after which nobody could be seen in public. Then in December 2014 a travel ban was announced on Syrian men aged 18 to 42 (military age). The memorandum supposedly states that all Syrian males must have special permission to leave the country, obtained from army officials.[31]

An example of an individual travel ban is Louay Hussein, president of an opposition group in Syria (Building the Syrian State, or the BSS party), was unable to attend peace talks in Moscow in April 2015 because the regime refused to rid of his lifelong travel ban, however on the 26th April 2015 Hussein managed to evade his ban and flee to Spain.[32] Also Syrian human rights defenders are having their movement restrained by being held in arbitrary arrest. The human rights defenders Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani, and Hussein Gharir were arrested in February 2012 for ‘publicizing terrorist acts’. The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly called for their release.[33]

Al-Furat University in the city of Deir ez-Zor has been facing movement restrictions by ISIS recently. In January 2015 circulars were issued to ISIS checkpoints in the area to scrutinize all university students passing. To encourage students to abandon their studies and join the ranks of ISIS, the rebels have been restricting the students from travelling between regime areas and ISIS held areas, preventing many students from entering or exiting the university grounds.[34]

Further from this there are certain restrictions on movement placed on Women, for example Syrian law now allows males to place restrictions on certain female relatives. Women over the age of 18 are entitled to travel outside of Syria, however a woman’s husband may file a request for his wife to be banned from leaving the country. From July 2013, in certain villages in Syria (namely Mosul, Raqqu and Deir el-Zour), ISIS no longer allow women to appear in public alone, they must be accompanied by a male relative/guardian known as a mahram.[35] Security checkpoints in civilian areas set up by the government and by ISIS have allowed them to monitor these restrictions. With the males of Syria often being involved in the fighting, no matter which side, this is leaving many Syrian women at home alone with the children, stranded and unable to leave to purchase food and supplies. Further, women in Tel Abyad and Idlib city have been banned from driving by ISIS and Jabhat al-Nursa.

Other countries have begun closing their borders to Syrian refugees. On October 7, 2013, Turkey built a two-meter wall on the Syrian border in the Nusaybin district where there was frequent fighting with the rebels. Then on March 9 Turkey closed a further two of its border crossings from Syria, Oncupinar and Cilvegozu, in response to the escalating violence and worries of a terrorist plot. Up until this date Turkey had accepted nearly 2 million Syrian refugees. Aid trucks are still welcome to cross the border, but it is strictly closed to individuals.[36]

The Syrian government continues its practice of issuing exit visas with strict requirements. They have also closed the Damascus airport frequently because of growing violence. Bans on travel are frequently used against human rights activists and their associates, often these people would not learn about their travel ban until they were prevented leaving the country. Usually no explanations are given for these travel restrictions. The government often bans members of the opposition and their families from travelling abroad, and they are targeted if they attempt to, causing opposition families to fear attempting to leave Syria for fear of being attacked at the airport or border crossing. Though this action is illegal under international law, Syrian courts have been known to decline to interfere in matters of national security.

Article 38(1) provides that “no citizen may be deported from the country, or prevented from returning to it”.[30] This, along with Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights creates a general legal right to travel internationally. As well as preventing citizens from leaving Syria, there have also been many instances of citizens being prevent from returning to Syria, whether they left illegally or not. A positive step in regards to this was taken on the 28th April 2015, when it was announced by Syrian authorities that citizens who had previously fled the war would be able to re-attain passports without a review by the intelligence service, or going though the Department of emigration and passports. These citizens had fled the country illegally and either not taken their passports, or lost them.[37]

Freedom of speech and the media

The number of news media has increased in the past decade, but the Ba'ath Party continues to maintain control of the press.[38] Journalists and bloggers have been arrested and tried.[4] In 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Syria number three in a list of the ten worst countries in which to be a blogger, given the arrests, harassment, and restrictions which online writers in Syria faced.[39]

Internet censorship in Syria is extensive. Syria bans websites for political reasons and arrests people accessing them. Internet cafes are required to record all the comments users post on chat forums.[40] Websites such as Wikipedia Arabic, YouTube and Facebook were blocked from 2008 to 2011.[41] Filtering and blocking was found to be pervasive in the political and Internet tools areas, and selective in the social and conflict/security areas by the OpenNet Initiative in August 2009.[42] Syria has been on Reporters Without Borders' Enemy of the Internet list since 2006 when the list was established.[43]

In addition to filtering a wide range of Web content, the Syrian government monitors Internet use very closely and has detained citizens "for expressing their opinions or reporting information online." Vague and broadly worded laws invite government abuse and have prompted Internet users to engage in self-censorship to avoid the state's ambiguous grounds for arrest.[42][44]

The Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression was closed by the government in September 2009. It was the country’s only NGO specializing in media issues, Internet access and media monitoring during election campaigns. It had operated without government approval, and had monitored violations of journalists’ rights and had taken up the cause of the ban on the dissemination of many newspapers and magazines.[38]

Human rights in Kurdish areas

Syria is home to 1.7 million Kurds who constitute 10% of the population, forming the largest non-Arab ethnic minority in the country.[2][3][4][4] They were denied citizenship until April 2011 (Decree 49).[2][3][45]

During the Syrian Civil War, PYD were accused of ethnic cleansing and war crimes against Arab and Turkmen communities. Several intentational sources have accused PYD for human rights abuses which have been taken place in areas under their control.[46] The allegations include kidnappings of suspected persons,[47] executions,[48] torture,[47][49][50] ethnic cleansing,[51] and expulsion.[47] However, YPG denied all the accusations and has said that the researchers are welcome to start investigations.

Human Rights Watch who was permitted to visit in early 2014, reported "arbitrary arrests, due process violations, and failed to address unsolved killings and disappearances" and made recommendations for government improvement.[47] However, Fred Abrahams, special advisor to HRW who visited Rojava and drafted the report, noted that the PYD has taken solid steps to addressing the problems and has been receptive to criticism. He notes that they are currently in the process of political transitioning from the Syrian government, training a new police force and creating a new legal system.[52] Arbitrary long term detainment followed by unfair trials lasting minutes with no lawyers for the defendants were reported.[53]

Legally women have equal rights and there are quotas for their political representation.[54] There is affirmative action to give power to minority groups and ethnicities as a guiding principle. There has also been multiple reports of teenage fighters serving in the YPG military. After criticism from Human Rights Watch when the problem persisted, the YPG pledged publicly to demobilize all fighters under 18 within a month.[47] However the YPG has taken steps to prevent teenage volunteer fighters under the age of 18. Torture is allegedly a common practice of PYD militias against opponents and those who refuse forcible recruitment.[46][55]

Several reports have accused PYD militias of human right violations. In a story by Mother Jones, Amnesty International reports abuses including forced displacement, demolition of homes, and the seizure and destruction of property.[56]

"In some cases, entire villages have been demolished, apparently in retaliation for the perceived support of their Arab or Turkmen residents for the group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) or other non-state armed groups."

The leader of the PYD, Salih Muslim Muhammad, has said that "one day those Arabs who have been brought to the Kurdish areas will have to be expelled."[57] In spring 2015, YPG reportedly burnt Arab villages in Al Hasakah Province.[58][59][60] The YPG have been accused of ethnic cleansing against Arabs; which led to the fleeing of thousands and the destruction of several Arab villages[51] — a charge strongly denied by the Kurds.[61] A mission to PYD held areas revealed a wave of forced displacement and home demolitions amounting to war crimes carried out by the YPG, said Amnesty International.[62] In an interview by Society for Threatened Peoples with the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman said that all "ethnic cleansing" allegations against YPG were nonsense. He also explained that these allegations were propaganda of Turkish and Syrian National Congress origin, because of their hostility towards Kurds.[63]

On 13 October 2015, Amnesty international accused YPG of demolishing homes of village residents and forcing them out of areas under kurdish control.[62] According to Amnesty International, some displaced people said that the YPG has targeted their villages on the pretext of supporting ISIS; some villagers revealed the existence of a small minority that might have sympathized with the group.[62][64] The YPG also threatened the villagers with US coalition airstrikes if they failed to leave. The village of Husseiniya was completely razed to the ground leaving 14 out of 225 houses standing.[62] The YPG released a report denying the accusations made in the Amnesty International report, criticizing the methodology used and the validity of the testimonies given by interviewees.[65] Amnesty International has not responded to the YPG report. YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said: "Very simply, this is a false allegation."[66] and PYD leader Salih Muslim and YPG spokesman strictly denied the Amnesty International claims.[64]

The YPG and PYD have looted and confiscated the property of Assyrians and Armenians who had escaped their villages after they were attacked by ISIS, with the aim of repopulating Assyrian villages with Kurds.[67] Assyrians of the Khabur area in Al Hasaka province formed the Khabour Guard to defend their villages. After the Khabur Guard protested the looting by Kurdish YPG militia members who looted Assyrian villages after ISIS attacked them, the YPG assassinated the leader of the Khabur Guard David Jindo and attempted to kill Elyas Nasser.[68] YPG blamed the assassination on ISIS but Elyas Nasser, who survived, was able to expose the YPG’s involvement.[68][69] Since the assassination YPG forced the Khabour Guard to disarm. Subsequently, most Assyrian residents of the Khabour who had fled to Syrian Army controlled areas of Qamishli City could not return to their villages.[69][70][71]

The 2014 report by Human Rights Watch documented the alleged cases of "arbitrary arrests" and "unfair trials" that had occurred since the beginning of the revolution in 2012.[50] PYD and YPG officials claim that the few proven instances of misconduct are isolated incidents and not tolerated.[47] Several incidents allegedly involved assassination, and disappearing of political opponents of PYD militias occurred which the PYD denied but failed to conduct an investigation.[50] In one incident, the Asayiş, the security service of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), expelled two Yekîtî (rival Kurdish party) members from their homes in Rumaylan.[72] In January 2016, YPG militias conducted a surprise attack on Assyrian checkpoints in Qamishli, in a predominantly Assyrian area, killing one Assyrian and wounding three others.[73][74][75][76]

Syrian civil war

During the Syrian civil war, a UN report described actions by the security forces as being "gross violations of human rights".[77] The UN report documented shooting recruits that refused to fire into peaceful crowds without warning, brutal interrogations including elements of sexual abuse of men and gang rape of young boys, staking out hospitals when wounded sought assistance, and shooting of children as young as two.[78] In 2011 Human Rights Watch stated that Syria's bleak human rights record stood out in the region. While Human Rights Watch doesn't rank offenders, many have characterized Syria's human rights report as among the worst in the world in 2010.[5]

While it is claimed that 'the majority of these violations have been committed by the Syrian government's forces',[79] Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that each side appeared to have committed war crimes.[80]

See also

References and footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 World Report 2010 Human Rights Watch World Report 2010, pg. 555.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Amnesty International Report 2009, Syria
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Human Rights Watch World Report 2005 Events of 2004, Human Rights Watch 2005. (The same group also highlighted, in a report "Syria: End Opposition Use of Torture, Executions" (Abuses Show Need for Accountability) September 17, 2012, That "A detainee who had been held in a school told Human Rights Watch that FSA fighters there had beaten him regularly for 25 days before he was transferred to the detention facility...") ISBN 1-56432-331-5.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Black, Ian (2010-07-16). "Syrian human rights record unchanged under Assad, report says". The Guardian (London).
  5. 1 2 "Syria among worst for rights abuses: HRW report". Reuters. 2011-01-24.
  6. ↑ "Amnesty International says Syrian forces may have committed war crimes during crackdown". Associated Press. 2010-07-06.
  7. ↑ League of Nations Official Journal, Vol 3, August 1922, p1013
  8. ↑ Miller, Joyce Laverty (1977). "The Syrian Revolt of 1925". International Journal of Middle East Studies. pp. 550–555.
  9. ↑ Provence, Michael (2005). "The Spread of Rebellion". The Great Syrian Revolt: And the Rise of Arab Nationalism. University of Texas Press. pp. 87–107.
  10. ↑ Michael Provence, Jamal Wakim (4 October 2011). "Colonial Origins of the Syrian Security State". Al Akhbar English. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  11. ↑ Christoph Schumann (31 October 2008). Liberal Thought in the Eastern Mediterranean: Late 19th Century Until the 1960s. Brill. pp. 70–71. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 Ghadry, Farid N. (Winter 2005). "Syrian Reform: What Lies Beneath". The Middle East Quarterly.
  13. ↑ Syrian Human Rights Committee, The Massacre of Hama, February 19, 2004, reporting 30,000-40,000 massacred and 10,000-15,000 disappeared.
  14. ↑ "Freedom in the World 2006" (PDF). Freedom House. 2005-12-16. Retrieved 2006-07-27.
    See also Freedom in the World 2006, List of indices of freedom
  15. ↑ 2008 Human Rights Report: Syria, US Department of State
  16. ↑ http://www.arabpressnetwork.org/articlesv2.php?id=1226
  17. ↑ Syria Reporters without Borders, Published on 7 February 2008
  18. ↑ Special Report Section Freedom House, Worst of the Worst 2009
  19. ↑ see also "Human Rights Watch 2006 Report". Human Rights Watch.
  20. ↑ "Syria jails leading rights lawyer". BBC. 2010-06-23. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
  21. ↑ "Human Rights Watch 2006 Report". Human Rights Watch.
  22. ↑ Syrian Constitution, Article 35, Paragraphs (1) and (2).
  23. ↑ Mutahhari, Morteza. "Jurisprudence and its Principles". Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  24. ↑ United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Syria: International Religious Freedom Report 2007. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  25. ↑ For Syria's minorities, Assad is security. Al Jazeera, 16 September 2011.
  26. ↑ Syria: Treatment and human rights situation of homosexuals
  27. ↑ Brocklebank, Christopher (2010-06-23). "Syrian authorities crack down on gay men". Pink News. Retrieved 2010-12-07.
  28. ↑ "How Syria controls its dissidents - Banning travel". The Economist. 30 September 2010.
  29. ↑ Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
  30. 1 2 Constitution of the Syrian Arabic Republic 2012 (reformed)
  31. ↑ Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org
  32. ↑ BBC News, Syrian Dissident Louay Hussein flees to Spain, 27th April 2015
  33. ↑ Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org
  34. ↑ Ara News, ISIS checkpoints constrain Syrian movements, January 9th 2015
  35. ↑ The Guardian, Double-layered Veils and Despair, 17th February 2015
  36. ↑ The Telegraph, Turkey closes two border crossings with Syria amid fears of 'terrorist attack', 30th March 2015
  37. ↑ Ara News, Syria regime to issue passports for citizens abroad, including refugees, April 28th 2015
  38. 1 2 Ten years after Bashar el-Assad’s installation, the government still decides who can be a journalist, Reporters Without Borders USA.
  39. ↑ "10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger", Committee to Protect Journalists, 30 April 2009
  40. ↑ "Bashar Al-Assad, President, Syria". Reporters Without Borders.
  41. ↑ "Red lines that cannot be crossed - The authorities don't want you to read or see too much". The Economist. 2008-07-24.
  42. 1 2 "ONI Country Profile: Syria", OpenNet Initiative, August 2009
  43. ↑ "Internet Enemies: Syria", Reporters Without Borders, March 2011
  44. ↑ "Syrian jailed for internet usage". BBC News. 21 June 2004.
  45. ↑ Legislative Decree on Granting Syrian Nationality to People Registered in Registers of Hasaka Foreigners, SANA
  46. 1 2 "New interview: Nurman Ibrahim Khalifah, Student: They told her: "This PKK bullet is too good for you!" and shot her in the head". KurdWatch. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  47. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Syria: Abuses in Kurdish-run Enclaves". Human Rights Watch. 2014-06-18.
  48. ↑ "Daily Reports on Violations of Human Rights in Syria: 12/03/2015". Syrian Human Rights Committee. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  49. ↑ "Under Kurdish Rule- Abuses in PYD-run Enclaves of Syria". Human Rights Watch.
  50. 1 2 3 "Under Kurdish Rule: Abuses in PYD-run Enclaves of Syria". Human Rights Watch.
  51. 1 2 "Thousands of Arabs driven out by Kurds’ ethnic cleansing". The Times. 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  52. ↑ "Rights Official Speaks of Situation in Rojava, PYD Challenges".
  53. ↑ "Syria: Arbitrary detentions and blatantly unfair trials mar PYD fight against terrorism".
  54. ↑ "Syrian Kurds give women equal rights, snubbing jihadists". Yahoo.
  55. ↑ "ʿAfrin: PYD kidnaps and tortures teenager and demands that she leave the country". KurdWatch. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  56. ↑ "US-Backed Forces in Syria Accused of Human Rights Violations". Mother Jones. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  57. ↑ http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/24112013
  58. ↑ http://syriadirect.org/news/ypg-hopes-to-%E2%80%98change-the-demographic-map%E2%80%99-in-al-hasakah/
  59. ↑ http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/581497/West-closest-allies-Kurds-Islamic-State-torch-thousands-Arab-civilian-homes
  60. ↑ http://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2015/06/13/us-is-concerned-about-pyds-demographic-alteration-around-tel-abyad
  61. ↑ "Kurdish Fighters Seize Large Parts of IS Border Stronghold". The New York Times.
  62. 1 2 3 4 "Syria". amnesty.org.
  63. ↑ "Von 'ethnischen Säuberungen' in Til Abyad gegen die Araber oder Turkmenen kann keine Rede sein.", Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, 26. Juni 2015
  64. 1 2 "Syria Kurds 'razing villages seized from IS' - Amnesty". BBC News.
  65. ↑ "YPG responds to Amnesty International report: It is contradictory". ANHA Hawar News Agency. 21 10 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  66. ↑ "Amnesty accuses US-backed Syrian Kurdish group of demolishing homes". The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com.
  67. ↑ http://www.aina.org/news/20151102170051.htm
  68. 1 2 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=256_1431537234#8PPbpje0EKEdr6tm.99
  69. 1 2 http://www.aina.org/news/20150522205619.htm
  70. ↑ http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/official-statement-from-the-khabour-assyrian-council-of-guardians/
  71. ↑ http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/the-assyrians-of-syria-history-and-prospets-by-mardean-isaac/
  72. ↑ "Rumaylan: Asayiş demands that Yekîtî politicians leave their homes". KurdWatch. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  73. ↑ http://www.aina.org/news/20160112034707.htm
  74. ↑ http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/04/25/christian-assyrian-clash-kurds-syria/
  75. ↑ https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/revisiting-kurdish-tolerance-ypg-attacks-assyrian-militia/
  76. ↑ http://aa.com.tr/en/politics/syrias-christians-pressured-by-forced-pyd-assimilation/541614
  77. ↑ "UN report: Syrian forces commit 'gross violations' of human rights, CNN". November 29, 2011.
  78. ↑ Joe Lauria (November 29, 2011). "More than 250 children among dead, U.N. says". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  79. ↑ "Syrian army behind majority of abuses: UN". News24. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  80. ↑ "Assad's regime, Syrian rebels both committed war crimes: U.N. official". Al Arabiya News. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.

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