'Syrian rebels commit war crimes against Kurds'
Amnesty International: War crimes were committed against Syrian Kurds by Syrian armed opposition groups surrounding the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city of Aleppo north of Syria
ERRBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) –Syrian armed opposition groups may have committed war crimes against Syrian Kurds while surrounding their neighborhood, Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city of Aleppo, the UK-based human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday.
The organization said the heavy bombardment that has been continuously hitting the civilians and the use of chemical weapons against them many times in Sheikh Maqsoud amount to war crimes.
“The relentless pummeling of Sheikh Maqsoud has devastated the lives of civilians in the area. A wide array of armed groups from the Fatah Halab coalition [Aleppo Conquest] has launched what appear to be repeated indiscriminate attacks that may amount to war crimes,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.
GENEVA TALKS
Speaking to Kurdistan24, Nawaf Khalil, head of Germany-based Kurdish Center for Studies (KCS) and a spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Europe, commented on the Amnesty International report saying that it is accurate and detailed, and it draws the attention of the international community to the crimes of the Syrian rebels against the Kurds.
“Amnesty international report on the insurgents’ violations against the Kurdish civilians in Sheikh Maqsoud will play a significant role in showing the international community the satanic reality of the representative of the Syrian opposition which is taking part in the Syrian peace talks being held in Geneva,” Khalil said.
Moreover, the organization confirmed that the insurgents who are attacking Sheikh Maqsoud are represented in Geneva talks.
“Two of the armed groups attacking YPG forces in Sheikh Maqsoud - Ahrar al Sham and Army of Islam - have sent their own representatives to the UN-brokered negotiations over the Syria conflict in Geneva," Amnesty International said.
The organization also called on the international community to speak up against the war crimes.
“The international community must not turn a blind eye to the mounting evidence of war crimes by armed opposition groups in Syria. The fact that the scale of war crimes by government forces is far greater is no excuse for tolerating serious violations by the opposition,” said Magdalena Mughrabi.
[A child affected by the chemical attack in Sheikh Maqsoud quarter, Aleppo, Syria, April 7, 2016. (Photo: YPG Press Office)]
EVIDENCE
Amnesty said it gathered strong evidence of serious violations from eyewitnesses and obtained the names of at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, who were killed by attacks in Sheikh Maqsoud between February and April 2016.
The organization also says that members of Syrian opposition insurgents attacking Sheikh Maqsoud may have used chemical weapons.
“A local doctor told Amnesty International that on 7 and 8 April he treated six civilians and two YPG fighters for symptoms including shortness of breath, numbness, red eyes and severe coughing fits,” Amnesty International said.
Additionally, the Syria-based Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said in a detailed report three weeks ago that 138 civilians were killed, and 912 others were wounded in the attacks on Sheikh Maqsoud, and that the attacks wounded 233 children and 257 women.
The Syrian Kurdish forces of People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is a key ally of both the United States and Russia in the fight against the Islamic State (IS), have been battling insurgents for months on a heavily contested frontline that includes the district and countryside near Aleppo.
Syrian insurgents attack Sheikh Maqsoud because they see YPG as an ally of the Syrian regime, a charge the Kurds deny.
Reporting by Hisham Arafat
Editing by Ava Homa