As part of series of measures aimed at bringing about a demographic change in Syria, the Assad regime began the mass forced displacement of residents of the town of Dumair in Rural Damascus to northern Syria. The Syrian Coalition said that these plans are designed to serve Iran’s projects in the region.
Local activists said that residents of Dumair town agreed to leave their homes after Russia and the Assad regime openly threatened they would launch an assault on the area just as they did in eastern Ghouta when it used internationally banned weapons, especially incendiary weapons and white in the bombardment of the Damascus suburb. The Assad regime issued an ultimatum to residents of the rebel-held town to leave by Sunday.
The Assad regime has recently completed the yet largest forced displacement operation in Syria against residents of eastern Ghouta, onetime home to about 400,000 civilians. The onslaught on eastern Ghouta included the extensive use of internationally banned weapons against the Damascus suburb, the latest of which was the chemical attack on the town of Duma on April 7.
The Assad regime has recently brought in reinforcements to the outskirts of Duamir amid intense aerial activity by the Assad regime and Russian warplanes over the town. Local residents said that these tactics were aimed at increasing the pressure on them to agree to Moscow’s conditions for surrender. Meanwhile, head of the negotiations committee representing residents of the town was assassinated by unknown by gunmen on Thursday.
Catherine Marchi-Uhel, head of the UN International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, said Wednesday that her team has already collected around 700,000 documents that would be used as evidence of the war crimes that have been committed in Syria since the Syrian revolution began in March 2011.
Marchi-Uhel said that hear team stood ready to act quickly to collect more documents proving war crimes were committed against civilians in Syria.
The Assad regime is responsible for the overwhelming majority of war crimes in Syria. The Syrian Coalition has repeatedly called for the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court and for prosecuting all those responsible for war crimes. It also called for finding reaching a political solution in accordance with the Geneva Communique and UN Security Council resolution 2254. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)