The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has documented the killing of five civilians, including one child and one woman, on October 5, 2023, in Syrian regime forces’ heavy artillery and rocket bombardment of villages and towns across rural Idlib. Another 38 civilians, including eight children and eight women, were wounded in today’s regime attacks on the region, which also destroyed many buildings and vital facilities in the region. The area is under the control of armed opposition factions and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
It should be noted that those attacks come Ina retaliatory context, as the regime has ordered an intensification of the bombardment of these areas in response to a bombing that targeted the regime’s Military College in Homs city.
SNHR notes that through these attacks, Syrian regime forces have again unequivocally violated Security Council resolutions 2139 & 2254, both of which categorically prohibit indiscriminate attacks, as well as violating the rules of international humanitarian law on distinguishing between civilians and fighters. Such attacks aim solely to spread fear and panic among civilians, to drive them from their lands and homes, and to forcibly displace them. It is estimated that 6.5 million people are currently internally displaced in Syria.
The international community must put pressure on the Syrian regime and its allies to support a process of political transition. Pressure should be applied on all parties to compel them to launch such a transition within a period of no more than six months, so that millions of displaced people can safely and stably return to their homes.
