Human Rights Defenders submits a complaint to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions regarding the victims of targeting the industrial area and the wholesale market in Idlib city 01-15-2020
On 01/15/2020, a MiG-23 aircraft took off from Hama Military Airport, codenamed Sumoud, according to flight tracking observatories at 2:00. It flew over Maarat al-Numan heading north, and then at 2:04 it struck the industrial area and the al-Hal market in Idlib city, which is crowded with civilians and is located in the northeastern region of Idlib city. There are no clear military targets in the entire area. 19 civilians were killed, including a civil defense volunteer and a child, in addition to wounding more than 68 others. The raid brought destruction to nearby shops and buildings, and panic spread among civilians who took refuge in nearby basements. Rescue teams rushed to evacuate the wounded and dead. Evidence collected by local observatories, which were able to track the aircraft from its takeoff and during the raid itself, indicates that the attack described above was carried out by a Syrian warplane that took off from Hama Military Airport. Evidence also indicates that the aircraft was a MiG-23. The attack comes after the truce announced by the Turkish and Russian governments a day before the incident, when the truce completely collapsed and the Syrian forces launched more than a hundred airstrikes on all the cities and towns of Idlib, its countryside and Ariha, which led to the collapse of the truce from its foundations. He says: Suleiman Issa, Executive Director of the Human Rights Protectors Organization, for 9 years the killing machine against the Syrian people has not stopped and the biggest losers are the civilians who are being punished by the Syrian and Russian authorities by directly targeting them and striking their gathering places such as popular markets, displacement camps and residential areas. All of these violations are war crimes and crimes against humanity. On January 17, Human Rights Guardians filed a complaint with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, asking her to call on the Syrian authorities and their Russian ally to stop their attacks on civilians, open an immediate and transparent investigation into these cases, and bring those responsible to justice and punish them.