UN: Assad regime continues to torture, disappear detainees

The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry announced that the Assad regime has continued to “disappear, torture and ill-treat its detainees.”

This came in a report published by the committee within the framework of the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

It added that there has been a “wave of violence” in Syria not seen since 2020 and that the warring parties have carried out attacks against civilians and infrastructure in ways likely amounting to war crimes.”

“An unprecedented humanitarian crisis is plunging Syrians into ever-deepening despair,” the report added.

It pointed out that the increase in conflicts began after the attack on a graduation ceremony for the military college in the city of Homs under the control of the Assad regime on 5 October 2023.

It noted that in response to the attack, the Assad regime and Russian forces carried out shelling on at least 2,300 opposition-controlled areas within three weeks, resulting in the killing and injury of hundreds of civilians.

“The Syrian Government continued to disappear, torture and ill-treat its detainees, and the Commission documented yet more deaths in custody, including in the infamous Sednaya prison,” the report indicated.

The report also mentioned that tensions escalated between foreign forces in Syria, particularly Israel, Iran, and the United States, after Tel Aviv launched its brutal bombing campaign on Gaza in October.

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