On Thursday, July 10, 2025, brothers Shadi Muhammad Mahfouz and Farid Muhammad Mahfouz were killed, and Muqdad Farid Mahfouz was injured. They are from the village of Ain al-Krum in the Hama countryside. They were shot by unknown gunmen in the Khirbet al-Suda area in the western Homs countryside. It should be noted that the area is under the control of the transitional government.
According to information obtained by the Syrian Network for Human Rights from reliable local sources, armed men in a car opened fire on three civilians from the same family as they were heading to the vegetable market in the city of Homs, where they live, killing two instantly and injuring the third. SNHR continues to collect eyewitness accounts to verify and fully document the circumstances of the incident.
Legal conclusions:
- The killing of civilians Shadi and Farid Mahfouz by direct fire from unknown armed men, without any legal justification or engagement, constitutes extrajudicial killing and constitutes a gross violation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates that the right to life is inherent to every human being and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of it.
- The injury of a civilian as a result of shooting by unknown gunmen constitutes a violation of Article 9 of the same Covenant, which guarantees the security and physical integrity of individuals, and imposes on the authorities the duty to prevent such attacks and hold the perpetrators accountable.
- Indiscriminate shooting by an armed group not subject to official control in a vital civilian area constitutes a failure by the state to fulfill its obligations to protect the civilian population, which violates the principle of the “duty to protect” binding on the de facto authorities under international law.
- The fact that the gunmen are unknown does not diminish the transitional government’s responsibility to maintain security. The inability to contain civil conflicts or the behavior of local armed groups affects the enforcement of the rule of law.
- Failure to identify and prosecute perpetrators reinforces a pattern of impunity, undermines civilians’ trust in justice, and creates a dangerous environment for the recurrence of such crimes.
Recommendations of the Syrian Network for Human Rights:
- Open an urgent, impartial, and transparent investigation, supervised by independent judicial authorities, to uncover the circumstances of the crime and identify the perpetrators, while ensuring the protection of witnesses and the documentation of evidence.
- Hold the transitional government fully responsible for protecting public facilities and civilian areas, including deploying security checkpoints, activating surveillance devices, and tightening control over unofficial armed groups.
- Prosecute all those criminally involved, including any local parties or groups that participated in the shooting, and bring them to public and fair trials that guarantee the rights of victims and their families.
- Compensate all victims and the families of those killed and injured, both financially and morally, and ensure that health and psychological care is provided to those affected, as part of the basic obligations of the controlling authority.
• Launch a local awareness campaign on respect for the rule of law and rejection of indiscriminate weapons, with the participation of local community leaders, to combat irregular armament and tribal violence.
