This report documents a collection of video materials, most of which were released by members affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, depicting the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law against Kurdish civilians in the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, northern Syria.
The documented violations include extrajudicial killings, ill-treatment, and arbitrary arrests, as well as degrading and humiliating practices that violate human dignity. The footage also shows the desecration and mistreatment of the bodies of victims, constituting a clear breach of the obligation to respect the dead, as stipulated in the Geneva Conventions.
If substantiated, these acts may amount to war crimes and serious violations that entail individual criminal responsibility and are not subject to statutes of limitation under international law.
We note that the accompanying visual materials contain graphic and distressing content, and viewing is not recommended for minors or individuals with psychological sensitivity.
After a Kurdish civilian was captured in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo by militants of the so-called “Syrian Arab Army” affiliated with the interim authority, images emerged showing that these elements committed severe abuses against him, including brutal mutilation of his body.
Due to the extreme brutality of the original scenes and the impossibility of publishing them, only censored images are being released.
