“Plateing and robbing”, an international investigation committee documenting the illegal seizure of the property of the displaced and refugees

The new report was released today, Thursday, under the title Looting and looting: illegal seizure and the destruction of refugee and displaced properties internally in Syria.Depending on the analysis of satellite images, videos and reliable photographs, as well as direct novels.

The report pointed out that the areas most affected by looting are those that change those who control them during the conflict path, such as the opposition-controlled areas and which were restored by the previous government forces between 2016-2020, and the areas dominated by the Kurds and which the Syrian National Army seized during the period Between 2018-2019.

The report said that in such areas, looting was often accompanied by other serious human rights violations. He cautioned that the demographic composition of many villages, towns, cities, and the entire regions has been changed, perhaps permanently, for fear that refugees and displaced people can return safely and dignity to their restored homes.

“Looking” operations

The report indicated that in the aftermath of the tremendous escalation on November 27 and the fall of the previous government led by Assad on December 8, tens of thousands of civilians fled again of hostilities with the regions move to other hands.

The Independent International Investigation Committee report stressed that the devastating looting patterns of homes fleeing from the newly seized areas should not be repeated. The report urged the parties to the conflict to prevent and be punished by the forces subject to their own leadership, and to protect the property left by the displaced and refugees from destruction and illegal seizure by others.

In the areas affected by the great displacement, as the report documents, the forces were not satisfied with stealing home, furniture and precious things from the homes of the displaced and refugees, but also dismantled the bishops, doors, windows, iron bars, electrical wires and plumbing tools, which made the entire neighborhoods uninterrupted, citing an example Locusts that strip the agricultural lands and forests of all foods suitableDo not leave only the naked land and the branches.

He pointed out that the Syrians call such a looting on an industrial scale “Al -Tafish”, which is evident in satellite images.

Systematic looting

The report stated that systematic looting took place mostly in the areas controlled by the previous government forces, and by these forces.

He added that the investigations of the International Investigation Committee show that the systematic looting was carried out in coordination with members of the former Syrian army, such as the fourth division, the security forces and its militias, who concluded commercial agreements with private sector contractors or merchants interested in obtaining looted materials, including That raw material.

The trucks were transporting looted materials for sale in the markets, including some markets that were specially established for this purpose, such as the “Sunni market” that was selling looted materials from the homes of refugees and displaced Sunni displaced people in Homs.

The report added that in the areas controlled by armed groups, the looting has mainly affected the transferred materials, as homes were often seized or occupied to house the displaced and civilian fighters. The looting seemed to be opportunistic and not systematic, although sometimes it carries a sectarian dimension.

The report indicated that the homes of refugees and displaced people in these areas were not usually destroyed, but rather were used to accommodate millions of displaced people who fled north of the government -controlled areas. Sometimes, armed groups allocated the homes of the displaced and refugees to their fighters to live with their families.

War crimes

The report concluded that there are reasonable reasons for the belief that members of the former government forces as well as members of the opposition armed groups violated the ban on looting under international humanitarian law, adding that when such actions are carried out to achieve special or personal gains, such actions rise to war crimes.

He added that by imposing arbitrary restrictions on the movement and illegally depriving people of their property rights in the areas that were under the control of the anti -government armed groups in the Idlib and Yarmouk countryside, the previous government forces may also commit the war crime of collective punishment.

So far, according to the committee’s knowledge, impunity for the crime of war represented by almost complete looting in Syria, with the exception of a small number of condemnation that the committee was informed in the areas controlled by the Syrian National Army.

The report added that until now, more than fifty people have been convicted at the international level for crimes of collective atrocities in Syria. Among these crimes, the only well -known condemnation related to looting or property was related to previous ISIS, while none of the forces that committed looting were widely tried.

The report said that the need to restore property on a large scale in the future is important, as well as the need to hold accountability and reform the housing, land and local property framework in Syria, which was already in urgent need of reform before the conflict began.