SNHR documented the extrajudicial killings of 18 civilians, including three children and five women, by Syrian regime forces, Russian forces and Unidentified parties, on Saturday, June 12, 2021, with the toll of victims distributed as follows:
Syrian regime forces: a civilian.
Russian forces: 2 civilians (children).
Unidentified parties: 15 civilians, including a child and five women.
The SNHR has documented that 15 civilians were killed in the shelling of al Shefaa Hospital in Afrin city in north Aleppo governorate. Although the SNHR is unable to identify the party responsible for the attack as of this writing, the primary parties suspected of responsibility for the attack are the Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian regime forces, with the shelling emanating from an area controlled by them. The investigation process is still underway, and the SNHR will publish a special report identifying the party responsible for the brutal attack once this has been ascertained in the near future.
SNHR issues this daily brief report of the death toll of Syrian civilians who were killed, against all the tenets of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, by all the dominant parties in Syria. SNHR’s work on these reports has lasted for nine years to date, during which time not one day has passed without civilian victims being killed in Syria. SNHR condemns all operations by any party which result in the deaths of civilians, and confirms that the regime and its allies are responsible for the vast majority- 91 percent – of the killings in the country, with the total death toll of civilian victims documented by SNHR exceeding a quarter of a million victims, although the estimated unofficial death toll is far larger.
Accordingly, SNHR calls on the international community to intervene and protect civilians in Syria by taking all the necessary steps to reach a democratic political transition that will achieve security and justice in Syria.
