Aleppo: The continued siege of Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafieh neighborhoods puts the lives of thousands of civilians at risk

The people's committees affiliated with the People's Municipality are carrying out maintenance work for the sewage system in Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. Image source: Lilon Association

The civilians of the Kurdish-majority in Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo city, which are under the control of the Autonomous Administration, suffer from recurring economic and service crises, especially after the earthquake of 6th February 2023, as a result of the imposition of the checkpoints of the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arm since the beginning of May …

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Joint Report — Syria/ Türkiye Earthquake: Widespread and Recurrent Violations During and After the Humanitarian Response

STJ's photo shows part of the response operations to the devastating February 2023 earthquake in Jenderes/Afrin.

Executive Summary This joint report documents a wide range of human rights violations that accompanied and followed the humanitarian response to the catastrophic earthquake that shook Syria on 6 February 2023. These violations and abuses included discriminatory search-and-rescue orders from some parties to the conflict, prevention or impediment of life-saving aid entry, discrimination in aid distribution, confiscation of all or …

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Afrin: Summons campaigns against civilians by the military police with the aim of intimidation and ransom

Summons campaigns against civilians by the military police. Photo courtesy of the Rajo Military Police website

At the end of May 2023, The Military Police in the Rajo district of Afrin summoned a group of civilians from Dimelya/Al-Umsiya village by their mayor, for interrogation on charges of “dealing with terrorism” in the past, in reference to dealing with the Autonomous Administration and its previous institutions. On Monday, 22nd May 2023, a group of six young men …

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Jenderes crime: A new chapter in the series of preventing indigenous people from practicing their culture and rituales

The funeral of the victims of Nowruz Genders. Photo: from social media

The Jenderes incident which claimed the lives of four Kurdish men on the eve of Newroz, came as another episode in a series of violations repeatedly and systematically against the indigenous Kurdish population committed by the Syrian armed factions supported by Turkey since it occupies Afrin on 18th March 2018. The “Jaish Al-Sharqiya” faction dominated the scene of events after …

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Syria/Afrin: The U.S. Government Response to the Jindires Crime

Jindires - Afrin

The killing of four Kurdish individuals in Syria’s town of Jinderes in the Afrin region, northwest of the country, sparked a massive wave of indignation and denunciation in Syria and abroad. Syrians and Kurds across the country and Europe protested to express solidarity with the victims’ families and their demands. The families called for holding the perpetrators accountable, providing surviving …

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Syria: Independent International Commission of Inquiry Reports Human Rights Violations in Afrin

Chairman of the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria during a press conference. Photo Source: United Nations.

On 13 March 2023, the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria issued its report on the status of human rights and relevant violations in the country between 1 July and 31 December 2022. The 44-page report builds on 467 direct interviews, carried out physically or online, covering various forms of human rights violations perpetrated by all parties to the conflict …

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Syria/Afrin: Protests Held Worldwide Condemning the Jindires Crime

Protests Held Worldwide Condemning the Jindires Crime. The photo: from Shiar Khalil

Renouncing the Killings of four Kurdish civilians on the 2023 Newroz Eve in Jinderes town by members of the al-Sharqiya Army faction, after they lit Nowruz fires in front of their house, a number of Syrian and Kurdish activists around the world organized several initiatives and various activities across European and Arab capital cities. These activities included peaceful protests and …

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Syria: Satellite Images Reveal Extensive Logging in 114 Forest Patches in Afrin

Extensive illegal logging at the Deir Sawan forest patches in Sharran in the Afrin region, controlled by several factions of the 3rd Legion of the Türkiye-backed Syrian National Army. Taken in November 2022. Credit: STJ.

Executive Summary In this report, Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) and Lêlûn Association for Victims in Afrin reveal illegal logging operations in 114 forest sites in Syria’s Kurdish-majority region of Afrin. Based on the extent of the concentration of tree-cover loss, STJ monitored: High degradation of the forests in (57) locations, where perpetrators cleared the forests almost trees entirely. …

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“Oral Epic Literature in Afrin” during the Qamishli seminar

Member of the "Lelûn Association for Victims" writer "Walid Bakr" during the evening - the photo belongs to "Lelûn"

To highlight the importance of “oral literature” in the lives of peoples and nations, a member of the “Lelûn Association for Victims”, the writer “Walid Bakr” from his place of forced displacement in the city of Qamishli / Qamishlo, gave a lecture devoted to talking about “Oral Literature in Afrin”, in the presence of a number of intellectuals and who …

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