Rawan Shaif

Syria’s Paper Trail of Atrocity Must Be Preserved Amid the chaos of Assad’s fall, vital documents may be lost.

Preserving this truth is urgent. Syrian victims, survivors and civil society must be at the centre of this process, and a coordinated plan - backed by international support - is essential. I wrote about here on @foreignpolicy.com

foreignpolicy.com/2024/12/17/s...

The fall of Assad’s vast network of prisons, security hubs, and military sites have uncovered archives of horrors, documents that could bring justice and answers for Syria’s victims and survivors. However, these sites are fragile, and the evidence risks destruction.

As Syria’s notorious prisons empty, families search for the missing Tens of thousands of Syrians disappeared into Assad’s network of brutal prisons. After his downfall, families are finally hoping for news of their loved ones.

There was no place more feared in Assad’s Syria than Sednaya Military Prison. By Sunday, the guards had fled, its doors were flung open and this fortress of terrified silence was alive with the sounds of parents and children calling out for their missing. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

EN: iiim.un.org/wp-content/u...
AR: iiim.un.org/wp-content/u...

5/ Today, to further support efforts and assist newer Syrian civil society groups and individuals, IIIM released key guidelines on preserving vital physical and digital evidence, including “collecting, preserving and protection checklist” in Arabic and English, attached below.

4/ Accountability must now follow. Syrian civil society organisations are strong, capable and have become experienced in preserving information and evidence.

3/ The IIIM’s report is deeply significant, particularly as we continue to reflect and learn of the horrors at Sednaya prison and the many other detention facilities across Syria. Survivors, their families, and all those affected deserve to know the truth of what happened.

2/ On Friday, they released their first report, which sheds light on the systematic torture, ill-treatment, and violations within over 100 government detention facilities. iiim.un.org/iiim-release...

1/ Since 2016, the UN’s IIIM has been working to preserve and collect crucial evidence of crimes in Syria, gathered by Syrian individuals and civil society organisations.

Syria is free of Assad

Assad is gone. After decades of suffering under his brutal regime, Syrians are celebrating a historic moment of freedom and hope. This is the message we've waited so long to share: diary.thesyriacampaign.org/syria-is-fre...
#Syria #FreeSyria

Assad appears to have left the country, after 100s of thousands disappeared, tortured, & killed and millions displaced.

54 years of Assad seemingly over

To Syria with love.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left Damascus to an unknown destination, say two senior army officers Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left to an unknown destination, two senior army officers familiar with the incident told Reuters on Sunday.

Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination, two senior army officers told Reuters www.reuters.com/world/middle...

I never imagined I’d witness this in my lifetime. May those freed soon be reunited with their families and loved ones.

In 2016, alongside Forensic Architecture, Amnesty International documented and recreated the atrocities of Sednaya.

Tonight, Sednaya prison—nicknamed the “slaughterhouse”—is no more. Prisoners, many of whom whose fate had been undetermined for the last decade, are now free.

Legitimately, this is me too.

6/ Some incredibly emotional times ahead, but the work is just beginning.

5/ They are essential for holding individuals, command, and perpetrators accountable and ensuring that justice is pursued. But the road ahead requires preservation; these materials, these records and accounts, must be safeguarded, archived, and kept secure.

4/ These documents are not just pieces of paper—they are the threads that connect us to the past and to the hope for accountability. They hold the potential to expose the full extent of the crimes committed and the perpetrators behind them.

3/ Together, they’ll reveal what happened to those who have gone missing, help families understand what happened to their loved ones, and serve as key pieces in accountability efforts.

2/ The documents being uncovered will eventually become the cornerstone of future cases. The prisoners being released will share testimony to the horrors we have observed over the last 13 years.

1/ As opposition forces continue to take control of key sites across Syria—central offices, prisons, political, intelligence offices, and military branches—we are witnessing a historical moment in the search for justice!

Given fears that there may be new chemical attacks in Syria, here's a thread on some of the chemical munitions used in the past by the Syrian government. First, there's been two primary agents use, chlorine gas, and sarin, each associated with specific munitions.

7/ The complexity of Syria is often lost in the noise. There aren’t many voices here on BlueSky, but @natashahall.bsky.social has made a starter pack with a group of exceptional experts who have dedicated their career to this. It’s worth giving them a follow. bsky.app/starter-pack...

6/ This moment isn’t just about military advances. It’s about people who have waited for years to see their loved ones again and to see the streets that they grew up in. The renewed hope is palpable, and we can’t ignore the significance of this.

5/ For many, this new wave of fighting is a reminder of the false hope Syria has seen before—of pushes and counter-pushes that often fade. But for now, this is a win, and it matters. It’s a moment of resistance and of defiance.

4/ Earlier today, opposition forces reached the statue of Bashar al-Assad’s deceased brother, Bassel, at the eastern edge of New Aleppo. In a symbolic act, they took down the regime flag—a bold statement against the government’s grip on power.

3/ In the midst of this intense conflict, there’s a striking moment of humanity. Families separated for years are reuniting. The significance of these reunions cannot be overstated. It’s a glimmer of hope in a brutal 14 year long war.

2/ Within just three days, the fighting has reached Aleppo, capturing government-held territory on the outskirts for the first time in four years. Meanwhile, government forces are retaliating, bombing opposition-held areas.

x.com/SyriaCivilDe...

🧵 The situation in Syria is having an important news moment. Opposition groups, namely Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in the northwest have launched their biggest push in years against government forces.

Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘Court’), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejectin...

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza. www.icc-cpi.int/news/situati...