Foreword

Ms Chawkat’s mother Bushra is Assad’s sister and was described in the Economist in 2013 as having a “fearsome reputation in Damascus” and thought to “exercise considerable influence” over the Syrian dictator

Despite a Turkey-Russia-Syria buffer-zone agreement signed in September, the region has come under increased attacks by state forces since falling in the hand of armed militias

Demonstrations reminiscent of the early years of the conflict have resurfaced

Aid group publishes open letter to political leaders, asking them to act on their words if elected

Owners of properties in war-devastated areas are concerned that Law 10 is nothing but a legal cover for government expropriation, erasing all trace of opposition

The camp is part of the large Atama camp compound across northern Syria. According to the Response Coordination Group (RCG) manager Mohammad Hallaj there are “more than 11,000 families affected” by the rainfall

The violations varied, including five massacres and no less than 82 attacks on civil vital centers, 17 places of worship, 19 schools, six medical facilities and four markets

Hussien says “We were about two thousand people including women. The first checkpoint of the regular forces took photocopy for our IDs and ordered us to chant for the president in order to atone for our sins, as they said”

Following the capture of Baghouz, SDF officials called for an international tribunal to help prosecute the more than 1,000 foreign fighters in its custody

Discussions about who deserves to be tried, and who deserves amnesty, are integral to any post-conflict criminal accountability process

Unfortunately, this feeling of being ignored by Italy has been reinforced with the latest elections which have been won by the Northern League and the Five Stars Movement, two parties which had several times expressed their support towards Russia and Assad regime’s ‘fight against terrorism’

Criminal investigators say they have built a case documenting the widespread torture and murder of Syrian detainees by the Assad government

Under international laws, children benefit from the protections granted to civilian non-combatants

Each State Party undertakes to destroy chemical weapons it owns or possesses, or that are located in any place under its jurisdiction or control, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.

These crimes have been documented by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the independent, international commission of inquiry established by council resolution S-17/1 of 23 August 2011.