Syria: Assad’s armed forces must face accountability, says rights probe

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Widespread pillaging and the destruction of property in Syria by all parties to the conflict have largely gone unpunished and likely amount to war crimes, top independent rights investigators reporting to the Human Rights Council maintained on Thursday.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria’s latest report follows the lightning operation led by mainly Hayat-Tahrir al-Sham fighters that toppled President Bashar al-Assad last December, ending the 13-year war that decimated the country and destabilised the entire region.

The violence is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and uprooted 15 million, the report’s authors said.

They noted that various armed groups – including former government troops and opposition fighters – carried out widescale damage to and pillaged Syrian property, particularly in areas that changed hands repeatedly during the fighting.

The Assad regime’s security forces targeted those perceived as political opponents, including demonstrators, activists, deserters and defectors, their families and communities, the report’s authors continued.

Persistent and repeated crimes

Vast areas of land where refugees and internally displaced people had relocated to were also pillaged and ransacked to the point of rendering entire neighbourhoods uninhabitable.

Forces stole household items, furniture and valuables, which they would sometimes sell at markets including some created specifically for this purpose.

They also dismantled roofs, doors, windows, iron rods, electrical wires and plumbing fixtures.

‘Systematic pillage’

“Systematic pillage was coordinated by members of the former Syrian army, such as the Fourth Division, and affiliated security forces and militias, who concluded business agreements with private contractors or merchants interested in acquiring looted items, including raw materials,” the Commissioners explained.

The wrongdoings could “amount to war crimes” if “carried out for private or personal gain”, they added.

Near-total impunity

To date, accountability for these crimes has not happened and the overwhelming majority of perpetrators have escaped any accountability. “The impunity for the war crime of pillage has been near total in Syria” except for a few convictions in areas held by the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).

“The only known convictions that relate to pillage or property offenses concern female former members of ISIL [or Da’esh, the terrorist group]”, the report said, adding that none of the forces perpetrating pillage on a massive scale had been prosecuted.

Accountability and reform

Among their recommendations, the Commissioners urged renewed efforts to protect housing, land and property rights as paramount to the country’s efforts to rebuild after a decade of crippling conflict.

If the violations remain unaddressed, grievances and social tensions will be exacerbated, fuelling cycles of violence and displacement, the commission warned.

The investigators write that following the fall of the regime, on 8 December, the “devastating patterns” of pillage “must not be repeated”.

The report urges all military commanders and newly empowered leaders to prevent and punish any instances where property is stolen that was left behind by those newly displaced.

Independent experts

The Commissioners representing the top rights panel are appointed and mandated by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. They are not UN staff, do not draw a salary, and serve in their individual capacity, independent of the UN Secretariat.