An independent rights group has recorded new massacres by the Assad regime and its backers in April, including the April 7 massacre of Douma in which the Assad regime used chemical weapons and led to the death and injury of hundreds of civilians.
In a new report on Monday, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said it had recorded six massacres by the Assad regime and its allied foreign militias in Syria in April.
The Network said that nine massacres were committed in April 2018, including the massacre of Douma in eastern Ghouta and a massacre in the the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus.
The Syrian Coalition said that these massacres are part of “the scorched earth policy being pursued by the Assad regime to terrorize the people and displace them from their homes.”
According to the report, as many as 160 massacres took place in the first four months of 2018, including 29 massacres that took place in February, 54 in March, and 28 in January. The massacres coincided with daily bombardment by the Assad regime and its allied militias leading to mass forced displacement of the civilian population in the targeted areas.
The monitoring group pointed out that 40 people have been killed under torture in the prisons of Assad regime since the beginning of 2018. In a previous report, the Network said that torture by the Assad regime forces has had racial and sectarian nature.
The Syrian Coalition pointed out that the documentation of these crimes while mass forced displacement is taking place indicated the terrorist tools the Assad regime is using to drive the civilian population out of their homes.
The Coalition underscored that the actions of the Assad regime constituted war crimes under international law, adding that these actions impede the political process and replace it with a bloody military solution. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
