Two children, named as Muhammad Subhi Darwish and his sister Huda, aged nine and eight respectively, sustained various degrees of injury on August 20, 2021, when Syrian regime artillery forces fired mortar shells near a cemetery in Kafr Noran village in the western suburbs of Aleppo governorate where they were visiting their father’s grave. The shelling also partially damaged a number of other graves there too. SNHR can confirm that the cemetery is in a residential area and free of any military presence and equipment.
Through this action, Syrian regime forces have, without doubt, committed another violation of Security Council resolutions 2139 and 2254 which prohibit any further indiscriminate attacks, as well as violating the rules of international humanitarian law which stress the distinction between civilians and combatants. Attacks of this nature spread terror and panic among civilians, leading them to flee their lands and homes in an attempt to reach safety, and forcibly displacing them, with the number of internally displaced persons within Syria currently standing at approximately 6.5 million Syrian citizens in total. The international community should put pressure on the Syrian regime and its allies to force them to compensate the displaced victims, rehabilitate homes and vital centers, support the process of political transition, and press all parties to pursue implementation of political transition according to a strict timetable which must not exceed six months, thus enabling millions of IDPs to return to their homes.
