UN urges thorough screening of militants joining Syrian army

The United Nations on Wednesday called for proper screening of Syrian National Army (SNA) militants being integrated into Syria’s official military structure, with many fighters accused of serious human rights abuses in northern Syria. 

“I believe that decisions on integrating forces into the national army should be taken, of course, by the Syrian officials, but they need to take care to make sure that they screen people to make sure that all basic human rights norms and standards are fully observed,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson to the UN Secretary-General, told Rudaw. 

He was commenting on a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Wednesday detailing the continued detention and extortion of civilians by Turkish-backed SNA factions in northern Syria despite their integration into the Syrian state apparatus. 

“It’s up to the Syrian authorities, as they develop their institutions, to make sure that they have appropriate institutions to ensure accountability, both for the government but also for any abuses committed in the past,” Haq stressed. 

Syria’s new authorities have come under fire, particularly from the Kurds, for appointing militia commanders complicit in serious human rights abuses, particularly Ahmad al-Hayes, better known as Abu Hatem Shaqra, the former leader of the SNA’s Ahrar al-Sharqiya, and Mohammad Hussein al-Jassim (Abu Amsha), the notorious commander of the Suleiman Shah Brigade.

In 2021, the US sanctioned Hayes, accusing him of serious human rights violations, including trafficking Yazidi women and children, and connections with the Islamic State (ISIS). He is also accused by Syrian Kurds of killing popular Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf during Turkey’s 2019 military offensive against the Kurdish-led SDF in northern Syria.

Washington has also sanctioned Abu Amsha for “serious human rights abuses” in the Afrin region and for ordering his militants to “forcibly displace Kurdish residents and seize their property” in northern Syria.

According to HRW, hundreds of citizens “remain detained in SNA-run, Turkish-supervised prisons” despite the removal of most SNA checkpoints in and around the Kurdish city of Afrin in northern Syria. 

(Source:Rudaw)