As many as 54 massacres were committed in Syria in March, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said, noting that the majority of these massacres were committed by the Assad regime and its allies.
In a report issued on Tuesday, the monitoring group said that regime forces and their Russian ally committed no fewer than 39 massacres in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta during the reporting period.
According to the report, the militia of the Popular Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) committed two massacres, while eight massacres were committed by parties that the Network said it was unable to identify.
The Network said that the massacres claimed the lives of a total of 783 people, including 198 children and 138 women, noting that 43% of the victims were women and children. It noted that the high percentage of women and children indicated that the majority of these massacres targeted the civilian population and populated areas.
The rights group said it recorded an increase in the number of massacres in March. It said that regime forces were responsible for 40 massacres, while the Russian forces were responsible for four massacres that took place in the province of Idlib.
The Network also said that it had recorded 69 massacres across Syria during the month of February, 46 of which took place in eastern Ghouta during the military campaign that was launched by the Assad regime and Russia on the area in February 19.
The Network earlier said that as many as 151 massacres were committed by the main actors in Syria in 2017, noting that the Assad regime and Russian forces were responsible for the majority of them.
The United Nations has previously condemned the Assad regime and Russian forces’ aerial bombardment which caused horrible massacres. The bombings knocked out many hospitals and medical centers in the liberated areas out of service, especially in eastern Ghouta.
The Network reiterated calls on the United Nations and the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court and stop the blocking of the Council’s resolutions that should be passed on Syria.
The Network also called for the impositions of immediate sanctions against all those involved in widespread human rights violations in Syria. It also called on the Russian side, one of the guarantors of the “de-escalations zones” agreement in Syria, to deter the Assad regime from continuing the violations in the areas covered by the agreement. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
