In April, a pro-Assad offensive — enabled by Russian airstrikes and including chemical as well as conventional attacks — reoccupied the East Ghouta region near Damascus, after the killing and wounding of thousands of civilians and the displacement of tens of thousands.
But the area’s trauma has not ended with the restoration of regime authority after six years of opposition control. Writing for the Atlantic Council, nine journalists and analysts document the ongoing repression.
This is only one of the sections of the comprehensive report, “Breaking Ghouta“, documenting siege, assaults, forced removals, and disinformation.
As in previous Syrian government sieges that ended in “reconciliation”, submission to the regime did not end the human rights abuses of local residents in East Ghouta. In the aftermath of the enclave’s gradual fall into government hands, the area witnessed the largest forced population transfer recorded throughout the Syrian civil war, a crime against humanity in and of itself, which saw 66,369 people displaced from their homes in eastern Ghouta to the rebel-held north. Those who remained behind are under the constant surveillance of the Syrian security state and endure daily humiliations, arrests, forcible recruitment into the armed forces, and restrictions on their freedom of movement.
Just as it did during the years-long siege, the Syrian government continues to restrict the ability of humanitarian organizations to enter Ghouta and the “aid centers” in which thousands of Ghouta’s residents are still detained, five months after the end of the offensive. Access to Ghouta itself has also been restricted, despite the immense needs of the population.
United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in relief efforts are not the only ones whose access to Ghouta has been restricted. In the aftermath of the chemical weapons attack on Douma on April 7, which precipitated the surrender of the enclave to the government a day later, government forces and Russian military police prevented the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, from accessing the site of the attack for two weeks, and possibly tampered with the evidence. At the same time, Syrian government officials intimidated medical personnel and locals who witnessed the deadly attack into remaining silent.
Ghouta’s violent and gradual return to government control was accompanied by a mass population transfer operation, which began on March 23 and concluded on April 14, displacing a total of 66,369 Syrians who refused to reconcile with the government to the rebel-held north. “Reconciliation” is the term used by the Syrian government and its allies to describe deals between the opposition, those remaining in the area, and those being displaced. In some ––- not all ––- cases, including in Ghouta, these agreements include guarantees for the safety of those choosing to remain in their homes under government control.[4] The agreements call for unimpeded access to humanitarian organizations,[5] and, in the case of Ghouta, the reconciliation included a six-month delay for recruitment of men of fighting age into the armed services.
Detentions
None of the points contained in the reconciliation agreements were upheld in eastern Ghouta. Shortly after government forces retook the eastern outskirts of Damascus, an operation accompanied by widespread looting, they began forcibly recruiting the local men into military service. In addition, dozens and possibly hundreds of civilians have been detained by different organs of Assad’s police state. Because the government monitors the private communications of residents of eastern Ghouta and suspected opponents are hastily arrested, documenting government abuses in the area faces severe obstacles. Most cases of detention and abuse in eastern Ghouta and other reconciled areas are reported only by a single source. Despite these challenges, this report documents twenty reports that were corroborated by at least two sources and at times even more.
The wave of arrests and constant raids have created an atmosphere of paralyzing fear among residents of eastern Ghouta who worry they may be arrested next. The pervasive nature of torture, starvation, and extrajudicial killings in Syrian government detention has been widely reported, and is well-known to all Syrians.
One group targeted for arrests are people, particularly women, whose husbands and sons chose to be displaced to the rebel-held north rather than remain under government control. Such arrests were reported by multiple sources in July, when government forces arrested six or seven women in Kafr Batna for speaking to their husbands in northern Syria. In late August, apparently after the government brought into eastern Ghouta cars that are able to pick up signals of encrypted communications, the government arrested dozens of residents of Douma, including women and the elderly, who had communicated with family members exiled in the rebel-held north. Among those arrested were five women living in the same building in Douma who were arrested for communicating with their sons in the north.
Another group targeted for arrests are former members of the “local councils” that operated, and provided administrative governance, in eastern Ghouta while rebel factions controlled the territory. On May 14, government forces arrested Khalil Aybout, the former head of Douma’s local council.[15] In August, government forces arrested six former local council members in Kafr Batna. Government forces have arrested and apparently tortured to death medical workers who chose to remain in eastern Ghouta after its fall into government hands. Government officials also questioned multiple medical workers and former members of the Syrian Civil Defense (known as White Helmets). One notable case is that of Mu’ataz Hatyatani, a doctor in his sixties from Mleiha who entered one of the “aid centers” of the regime during the government’s advance into Ghouta. Regime intelligence arrested the doctor and transferred him to a prison. During his detention there, the doctor was apparently tortured to death.
Forcible Recruitment
In addition to politically motivated arrests, government forces began carrying out widespread arrest campaigns of men of fighting age, who were taken to military service and training shortly after Ghouta’s capture.[20] Hundreds of men have been swept up in these raids, despite the stipulation in the reconciliation agreement that gave residents of eastern Ghouta a “grace period” to settle their affairs before being called up for military service starting in September 2018. To avoid detention and dispatch to the fronts, and to secure a living, thousands of eastern Ghouta’s men have decided to join pro-government militias and the Syrian army, and in particular, units that operate around Damascus, such as the 4th Armored Division and the Republican Guard.
Those who do not join “voluntarily” have been swept up in large-scale arrest campaigns and sent to the Dreij military camp for brief training that lasts between twenty and thirty days. Such arrest campaigns occurred in Douma in May[21] and in August and September in Shifouniya, Douma, Misraba, and al-Marj, netting hundreds of new recruits for the Syrian army,[22] which has faced manpower shortages from the first months of the Syrian uprising.
Restrictions on Freedom of Movement
Residents of eastern Ghouta who chose to remain behind rather than be displaced can be divided into three groups: those still detained in aid centers to which they fled during the offensive on Ghouta, those residing in the destroyed towns of eastern Ghouta under the watchful eye of the government’s secret police and military, and those who managed to leave to areas that remained under government control, such as Damascus, after finding a “sponsor” willing to vouch for them. Those remaining in eastern Ghouta and in the detention/aid centers, are subject to severe restrictions on their freedom of movement.
After retaking eastern Ghouta’s towns, government forces established checkpoints between the towns and within some of the larger urban areas. Government forces continue maintaining checkpoints surrounding eastern Ghouta, which residents need to cross if they wish to travel to Damascus. The government uses these checkpoints to severely restrict the ability of Ghouta’s residents to move between the area’s towns and in and out of Damascus.[24] In April, an internal UN document stated that “Medical referrals [from East Ghouta] encountered occasional delays due to the need for security approval.”[25] In August, the restrictions on patients’ ability to exit eastern Ghouta persisted, with internal UN discussions showing that patients requiring referrals to Damascus for “diabetes, cancer, thalassemia, orthopedic surgeries, dialysis, [and] neglected war injuries” were blocked by the government’s security apparatus. The Syrian Department of Health and Syrian Arab Red Crescent are able to refer patients to Damascus only “upon receiving the approvals from security forces.” The report added: “Transportation of patients to Douma is challenging.”
Movement of goods is restricted as well and requires paying bribes to soldiers at the checkpoints. Residents crossing through the checkpoints are subjected to verbal and at times physical abuse; men fear crossing through them due to the possibility that they will be forcibly taken to military service. More goods are available in Ghouta’s markets and prices are lower compared with the period of the siege, but the restrictions on the movement of people are only slightly less severe than those that existed during the siege they lived in for years before the bloody offensive.
Detention Facilities
During the forty-nine-day military campaign against the area, 92,338 of Ghouta’s residents fled to so-called aid centers opened by the Syrian government during the last days of the offensive to recapture Ghouta. Over half were allowed to return to their homes within days. However, those who were prevented from doing so realized that the aid centers are in fact detention camps. Married women, the elderly, and children who find a sponsor in Damascus can leave. Young men and women have to pay hefty bribes to secure their release, or join military service. About 25,000 continued to be held in the centers as of late July.
The camps are supplied by relief organizations and living conditions are poor. Multiple families are held in overcrowded rooms, there are not enough bathrooms, and residents are closely monitored by government officials running the centers. According to an internal UN document from April, “secondary medical health services and specialized medical care (including orthopedic, dental, ENT [ear, nose, and throat] and ophthalmology related services) are not provided in the IDP [internally displaced person] sites.” In addition, “referrals from IDP sites are only allowed to public hospitals for urgent and life-saving medical care.”
A month later, during internal deliberations of UN agencies present in Damascus, it became apparent that the government was preventing those detained in the shelters from accessing even life-saving medical care, stating: “There is a number of detected cancer patients not being able to be hospitalized for repeatedly required treatment.” During the meeting, the participants were informed that the government was demanding that the employees of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent “sign papers as guarantors of the return of the patient to the shelter upon completing the treatment”.
The Syrian government severely restricted the access of UN relief agencies to the IDP camps. An April internal report of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs described: “Interagency monitoring and support visits to the East Ghouta IDP sites could not be realized in the period between 10 and 25th of April as no permission was granted by [Syrian government] authorities. Visits were resumed on the 26th of April.” Internal UN documents obtained by the Atlantic Council show that the Syrian government placed significant restrictions on the ability of UN agencies to access eastern Ghouta. An internal document from May 8 described one of the “challenges inside eastern Ghouta” thus: “No access by UN agencies to date.” The document states that this denial of access prevented UN agencies from carrying out an assessment of the needs of the local population. In July, an internal UN document clarified that the situation has not improved: “In general, many sectors are currently providing humanitarian assistance to the population inside East Ghouta through implementing partners [Syrian NGOs approved by the Assad regime], while direct access for the UN remains restricted.”
Interference in the OPCW’s Investigation
Following the reports of chemical weapons use in Douma on April 7, the UN’s Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons dispatched a fact-finding mission to Syria on April 14, but Syrian forces and Russian military police present in Douma prevented members of the mission from accessing the Douma site until a week later. On April 17, a UN reconnaissance team, intended to ensure the safety of the OPCW mission, carried out a preparatory visit to Douma and in one location encountered small-arms fire,[40] three days after the displacement of Syrian rebels and those refusing to reconcile with the regime was completed. After Douma’s surrender, Russian military police gained control over the impact sites of the chlorine canisters and visited the sites, raising concerns about possible tampering with the evidence.
Only on April 21 was the fact-finding mission allowed to access Douma. The mission carried out a visit to a second site in Douma on April 25 and completed its mission on May 4.
State media outlets in Russia and Syria disputed the reports about the chemical weapons attack on Douma, claiming that the footage documenting it was staged. Medical personnel and civilians who were documented to have been in a hospital treating survivors of the attack appeared on Russian and Syrian state television to deny the veracity of the attacks’ documentation. In interviews with The Guardian and Washington Post, medical personnel from Douma reported intimidation and pressure on them by Syrian security services and Russian military police to keep silent about what they had witnessed, not cooperate with investigations into it, hand over samples they had collected from victims, and appear on state television to deny the attacks had happened.
On April 26, the Russian mission to the OPCW organized a press conference at The Hague with seventeen alleged eyewitnesses to the Douma attack, who were not made available to the OPCW to interview despite OPCW’s request.[46] The participants in the press conference echoed Russian claims that the videos documenting the attack had been staged.
