See our last report on the Assad regime’s crimes.

Photo: SNHR

In related news, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last week that he and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa hope to see 80% of Syrian refugees in Germany return to Syria in the coming three years. Merz’s call for Syrians to “go back to their homeland,” which came after his meeting with al-Sharaa in Berlin, drew condemnation from human rights monitors who pointed to continued violence and insecurity in Syria. (TNH, Jurist)

Photo: Sara Creta/TNH

Commissioners Monia Ammar and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin met with senior Syrian officials and various stakeholders to emphasize the importance of “transparency, accountability, security sector reform, and engagement with impacted communities” as core implementation priorities for the transition. The COI also called for a “legal system capable of fairly addressing the past” while also addressing “more recent violations,” underscoring that the transition must be defined by “equal protection” of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

The commissioners said they were encouraged by the growth of Syrian civil society organizations, including groups returning from exile. Still, they noted continued barriers and fears, and urged conditions that would allow civil society to operate “without restriction.” There remain legal questions about whether and to what degree authorities will tolerate independent documentation, advocacy, and victim participation, which are needed elements for credible truth-seeking, reparations design, and institutional vetting.

The COI was created by the Human Rights Council in 2011 to investigate violations of international human rights law in Syria since March 2011, to document facts and circumstances that may amount to crimes, and, where possible, to identify responsible actors to advance accountability. Its mandate also includes recommending reforms, international responses, and pathways to justice.

The COI statement explicitly linked transitional legitimacy to enabling civil society to operate “without restriction,” reflecting the reality that effective accountability depends on the safety and independence of non-state actors, especially where victims and witnesses may face retaliation.

The COI described spillover effects on Syria from the regional escalation following the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, including civilian casualties from falling debris from intercepted rockets, and raised concerns about “direct Israeli activity in southern Syria” interrupting internal stabilization efforts.

The statement emphasized core protection duties under international law, such as the obligation to protect civilians and to investigate potentially unlawful harm.

From JURIST, March 8. Used with permission.

See our last report on the transition process in Syria

Image: Damascus protest against Israeli intervention in Syria. Credit: The Syria Campaign via Facebook

Briefing for the first time as deputy special envoy for Syria, Claudio Cordone highlighted the ceasefire and “integration” agreement reached between the Syrian transitional authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in late January. Cordone said hostilities had ended and that implementation work was progressing, including reported deployments of Interior Ministry forces in al-Hasakeh and Qamishli, alongside discussions on local governance and political appointments.

The agreement includes provisions on the return of displaced people and the protection of Kurdish civil and educational rights, building on last month‘s Presidential Decree 13, guaranteeing Kurdish linguistic, cultural and citizenship rights.

The transition briefing raised concerns about detention and accountability for rights abuses. In remarks delivered to the Security Council, Cordone said the UN is monitoring transfers of detained suspected ISIS collaborators, both Syrian and non-Syrian, to Iraq. He stressed that any proceedings must respect fair trial standards, while urging states to repatriate their nationals among the detained.

UN officials warned that relative stabilization in the northeast has not prevented renewed volatility elsewhere. In Suwayda (Sweida), renewed clashes between government forces and local Druze armed groups have reportedly caused material damage and electricity outages. Protests calling for self-determination have also resurfaced, prompting UN calls for confidence-building measures within full respect of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In southern Syria, UN officials cited continued Israeli incursions and operations, including reports of aerial herbicide spraying that damaged crops. They called for respect for international law and withdrawal from areas the UN describes as occupied in violation of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.

Humanitarian officials emphasized that insecurity is compounding acute civilian need. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that recent clashes have displaced tens of thousands, and that about 130,000 people remain displaced across al-Hasakeh, ar-Raqqa and Aleppo governorates, with a large majority women and girls. UN officials also reported flooding in Idleb and northern Latakia that killed two children and damaged or destroyed roughly 2,000 tents, affecting over 5,000 displaced people.

The next political milestone, Cordone said, is the formation of the People’s Assembly, with additional seats still to be filled and further presidential appointments pending. He stressed that meaningful representation, rights protection, missing-persons recovery, and transitional justice remain central to a credible transition.

From JURIST, Feb. 16. Used with permission. Internal links added.

See our last report on the transition process in Syria

Map: PCL

A last-minute “permanent ceasefire” may mean that northeast Syria is back from the brink of Arab-Kurdish ethnic war. But ceasefires have repeatedly broken down since fighting resumed earlier this year, with Damascus demanding disbandment of the Rojava autonomous zone, and the integration of its institutions—including its military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—into the central government. While the new pact sets a more “gradual” pace for this integration, the Kurdish aspiration to regional autonomy and the central government’s insistence on centralization may prove a long-term obstacle to peace. In Episode 315 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg weighs the odds for avoiding a conflict that holds the potential for escalation to genocide, with the connivance of the Great Powers that so recently backed the SDF to fight ISIS.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

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Photo via Facebook

This development came to light this week as Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa was on his second trip to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin. As during his last one in October, the chief issue on the table was Russia maintaining its two major military bases in Syria, on the Mediterranean coast at Khmeimim and Tartous.

Speaking at a press conference before their meeting on Jan. 28, al-Sharaa thanked Putin for the “historic” role Russia has played in the “stability of the region”… a strange euphemism for the years of savage bombardment of Syria to keep al-Sharaa’s own rebel forces from taking power! Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said before the meeting that “the presence of our soldiers in Syria” would be discussed. (PRI, Al Jazeera, NYT)

Abdulkarim Omar, a senior Syrian Kurdish official, told The Telegraph in Qamilshi as the Russians withdrew that Moscow had sacrificed its outpost in Rojava in order to a secure a continued presence on the government-controlled coast. “Russia wants to retain its base on the Mediterranean,” he said.

In some tentative good news, Damascus and the SDF agreed Jan. 30 to a “permanent ceasefire” that would see Kurdish-led forces and institutions gradually integrated into the structures of the interim government. The speed and completeness of this integration has been the critical factor at issue between the two sides, and has led to ceasefires repeatedly breaking down over the past weeks. In welcoming this latest deal, SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi said: “There was a threat of genocide against our people.” (Rudaw, Rudaw)

Photo: SOHR

The Syrian interim government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached an agreement Jan. 18 to immediately halt fighting and integrate SDF-held areas into state institutions. The deal follows days of renewed clashes, in which government forces routed SDF strongholds in the city of Aleppo and then pushed east, taking several towns that had been under the control of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration. Just hours before the agreement was reached, autonomous authorities in the Kurdish region, known as Rojava, had announced a “general mobilization” in support of the SDF, citing an “existential war” launched by Damascus against their territory.

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said the agreement was signed remotely with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, who was unable to come to Damascus due to bad weather. Earlier in the day, Sharaa met at the presidential palace with the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who seems to have had a hand in brokering the agreement.

Key provisions of the agreement include the integration of SDF personnel “individually” into the Syrian Army rather than as a unified force, the full handover of SDF-held areas of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa provinces, and the integration of all institutions and employees of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North & East Syria (DAANES) into national ministries. The deal also establishes the central state’s control over all border crossings and energy resources, including oil and gas fields.

Implementation of a March 2025 integration agreement between Sharaa and the SDF/DAANES had stalled after the SDF pushed to be incorporated into the Army as a unified bloc, a demand rejected by Damascus.

Barrack said the US “looks forward to the seamless integration” of the SDF and the Syrian Army in the fight against ISIS.

The new agreement references and pledges to uphold a decree issued by al-Sharaa two days earlier guaranteeing cultural, linguistic and citizenship rights to Syria’s Kurdish population.

Significantly, it also calls for the removal of the heavy military presence from the contested town of Kobani (Ain al-Arab), and the formation of a local security force drawn from the city’s residents, under joint administration by municipal authorities and the Ministry of Interior.

The agreement also calls for transfer of massive detention camps for suspected ISIS collaborators from SDF control to that the Syrian government. (Rudaw)

Photo: Rudaw

Jordan also carried out a series of air-strikes supposedly targeting drug traffickers in the closing days of December—the latest in ongoing intermittent Jordanian strikes aimed at breaking up the Captagon smuggling networks in Syria. (LWJ)

The past week also saw joint British and French strikes on supposed ISIS targets near Palmyra. (BBC News)

Turkey’s Defense Ministry meanwhile said it stands ready to help Syria’s interim government in its ongoing “counter-terrorism” operation against Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, while adding that the Aleppo operation has so far been “carried out entirely by the Syrian army.” (France24)

Image: Pixabay

But the fighting appears to spreading into the Kurdish heartland. The town of Deir Hafer, east of Aleppo, is also coming under shelling from government forces. The town is held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), main military wing of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration that controls much of the country’s east.

With several casualties in both Aleppo and Deir Hafer, the clashes mark the deadliest outbreak of fighting since an agreement last March to merge the SDF and autonomous administration into Syria’s new government. The deal has still not been implemented, with both sides at odds over the terms. (Rudaw, Rudaw, France24)

In a grim irony, this comes exactly a decade after the peak of the massive bombardment of Aleppo by the Assad regime.

Map: Google

In a statement issued by his office, Guterres said he “unequivocally condemns” the bombing, stressing that “attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable”  He noted that Syrian authorities have also condemned the attack, and reaffirmed their commitment to combat terrorism and hold perpetrators accountable.

A group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna, said to be a splinter of the Islamic State (ISIS), claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had coordinated with “mujahideen from another group” to detonate explosives inside the mosque. The group previously claimed responsibility for the June 22 suicide bombing at Mar Elias church in Damascus that left 25 people dead, raising concerns about a pattern of attacks on religious sites.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said it has cordoned off the area around the mosque in Homs, and begun collecting evidence to “prosecute the perpetrators of this criminal act,” while the Foreign Ministry denounced the bombing as a “cowardly criminal act” aimed at undermining security and spreading chaos.

Under international humanitarian law and customary norms, intentional attacks on civilians and on buildings dedicated to religion are prohibited and may constitute war crimes when carried out in the context of armed conflict. Syria remains bound by its obligations under international human rights law to protect the right to life, safeguard freedom of religion, and ensure the security of minority communities.

The bombing in Homs sparked angry protests and street clashes in the Alawite heartland of Latakia and Tartous provinces on Syria’s coast.

From JURIST, Dec. 28. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Note: There have been various jihadist formations that go by the name Ansar al-Sunna in different countries, but it is unclear if they are organizationally linked.

Map: Google