A barrel bomb killed this man’s father. Four Syrian generals now face a landmark war crimes trial

 

 'Omar Abou Nabout is a man on a mission.

 Part diplomat-in-training, part legal campaigner, the 27-year-old Syrian spoke in Paris between meetings, flipping between his flawless French and native Arabic.

 He smiled as he talked on the banks of the River Seine. But his journey here was far from happy.



 He, his mother and siblings fled to France in August 2016, six years into the civil uprising against the brutal régime of President Bashar al-Assad. But his father, French-Syrian citizen Salah Abou Nabout, stayed in their home city of Daraa. He was killed in a barrel-bomb strike later that year.

 Since then, Omar Abou Nabout has sought accountability over his father’s killing while forging a new life in France. Today that fight for justice took a step forward, as French investigative judges issued arrest warrants for four high-ranking Syrian generals in Abou Nabout’s case.

 “It was exhausting, especially psychologically, we know the régime, but despite my fears I couldn’t be silent, and I will not be silent. This is a right for my father, and for Syrians,” he told CNN of his efforts.



 Legal cases have been filed against the Syrian régime before. Last year a German court sentenced a former Syrian army colonel to life in prison, in the first trial of a high-ranking régime official for torture carried out under the Assad régime.

 This case, however, is the first brought against senior members of the Syrian government for alleged complicity in war crimes in a military operation. It’s the first that directly indicts four Syrian military officials, including two former defense ministers.

 And it’s the first time that arrest warrants have been issued over the use of barrel bombs, crude devices made by filling oil drums, fuel tanks or gas cylinders with explosives and shrapnel. The Syrian régime used them extensively, and indiscriminately, in densely populated areas at the height of the war, which was considered a form of prohibited indiscriminate attack under international humanitarian law.



 The indictments are the result of a years-long investigation by French prosecutors, aided by Abou Nabout and a human rights-focused non-governmental group.

 Abou Nabout’s case dates to June 2017. His father, Salah, was politically active in his youth and, although his son says that by the time the revolution rolled around he had given up on politics, he was still jailed for more than two years in the early days of the Syrian uprising. When his wife and children fled Syria in August 2016, Salah was unable to leave.

 He allowed an education NGO to use his three-story home in Daraa city as a makeshift school. It was an old, rundown building, but artwork and motivational slogans peppered the walls. One, seen in a photo, read: “We need a little bit of thought to achieve great things. Think well.”

 The southern Syrian province of Daraa was the scene of ferocious battles. It was recaptured by the Russian- and Iranian-backed Syrian government from rebel forces in 2018, but it was left looking apocalyptic. One year earlier, on June 7, as government bombs fell on the area of Tareek al-Sad, Salah’s building was hit. Children weren’t in class at the time. But Salah was there and lost his life in the blast.



 The bombs in question were barrel bombs dropped from régime helicopters with devastating consequences. By their very nature, they are uncontrollable. An estimated 82,000 barrel bombs had been dropped in Syria as of April 2021, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, killing more than 11,000 people in the process.

 The Syrian government has repeatedly insisted its strikes target “terrorists.”

 When Omar Abou Nabout and his family sought refuge in France – where his father held a passport – they found the language and culture difficult to understand at first. But Abou Nabout went on to graduate from the country’s prestigious Sorbonne University, and now works with the French Foreign Ministry, with ambitions of becoming a diplomat.

 Back then, his one link to his new country was his father. Following his death, as Abou Nabout put his energy into the pursuit of justice, Salah’s French citizenship gave France jurisdiction in the case.

 “The past six years were tough, because it’s a new country,” Abou Nabout said. “We had to adapt first. I adapted and tried to mainly focus on the case and worked on my own at the start.”



 Abou Nabout initially took his case to French prosecutors. It was later picked up by Mazen Darwish, a Syrian lawyer who leads the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) – an NGO that started work in Syria and is now based in Paris.

 The group has made a name for itself pursuing justice against both the Assad régime and Islamist extremist groups in Europe, earning Darwish a place on Time’s list of the most influential people for 2022. Last year, Darwish was instrumental in bringing the legal case that saw former Syrian army colonel Anwar Raslan sentenced to life in prison in Germany for crimes against humanity.

 Darwish himself has experienced the brutal extremes of Syria’s incarceration system first-hand. In February 2012, Darwish was arrested with his wife and other staff at the NGO. He was accused of “promoting terrorist acts,” he says, and was tortured. After three and a half years in prison, he was released; the charges against him were later dropped.

 Darwish moved to France, transferring the headquarters of SCM there in 2016. In 2020 he – along with the SCM – became involved in Omar’s case, assisting French investigators.

 But building a case in a foreign country about a crime in another country, which itself is entrenched in a civil war, isn’t easy. By the time the investigation started, Daraa had come under government control, making access for French investigators difficult. The SCM offered support as a civil party, using its network to collect evidence when French investigators couldn’t; taking photos, collecting samples, and interviewing defectors to put together a chain of command in a painstaking 14-month process.

 The decision by French investigative judges to now indict four high-ranking generals, including two of the country’s defense ministers, is a big step forward. “This is the first time the Syrian official army are being prosecuted,” Darwish said. “This is the first time we’re talking about the air force, the Syrian official army attacking schools and protected places.”

 On the list of indictments are Fahed Jassem al-Fraij – at the time, he was the second-highest ranking military official after Bashar al-Assad and one-time defense minister.

 Then there’s Ali Abdullah Ayoub – former chief of staff of the armed forces, and later defense minister. He was the third-highest ranking officer at the time of the attack.

 Brigadier Ahmad Balloul, who commanded the Air Force at the time of the attack, and Brigadier Ali al-Safatli also both appear on the list.



 Notably absent, however, is Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. “This is not because he’s not responsible,” Darwish said. “But because we are talking about local courts and presidents have immunity.” Assad would need to be tried through the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands, he added. Syria is not a member of the court, so a case would have to be referred by the UN Security Council, where Russia, which supports Assad, has veto power.

 The Syrian government has long been accused of war crimes, targeting schools and hospitals. It may deny targeting civilians, but Abou Nabout says the new indictments are a victory for him and others fighting impunity.

 “It was my instinct to pursue justice for my father. I grew up during the revolution. I was part of it … I watched people die including friends,” Abou Nabout said. “I couldn’t stay silent when I could do something. I didn’t want the day to come when I’m older and would regret missing the opportunity.” '

Eye on Syria: Past, Present and Future Part 4

 

 Celine Kasem:

 ‘It’s so nice to see what’s happening in Sweida right now. Unfortunately, the régime is playing on this narrative that it’s protecting minorities, and because it’s a minority itself, it’s going to have minorities’ interests at heart.

 Right now, in 2023, they have been out for over a month and a bit, protesting every day, and they are saying the same chants that people went out with in 2011.

 They’re being very loud, and prominent, and it’s beautiful to see once again. All these people together, and when it first started, there were protests all around the country. This just proves again and again, that even after all these years, and how the international community has failed us over and over again - they’ve put us on the burner, nobody is really talking about Syria, nobody has that up on their agenda - but they’ve proved that the people even inside of régime-held Syria, that are in Sweida, that are in the coast, that are in Daraa; all of those people, all of that, do not want to live under this dictatorship. Do not want to live under these economic conditions that you are making $10 a month, you are making $15 a month, that simply cannot even get you groceries.

 The living conditions in the régime-held areas are beyond what anyone can describe. Then when we go to Idlib, it’s crazy, because we see all these people, trying with the normalisation that’s taking place, trying to paint Damascus as a beautiful, wonderful, party scene, and people are coming out and Damascus is back to safety, and you guys should come visit.

 But it’s not that, and the war is still happening, and people are still getting bombed every single day. SETF have an app called SyriaWatch, which you can download off the App Store, and you get updates of every single attack that takes place. And this last week has been busy for that team. Every couple of hours.

 There was a thing that happened with Homs, and now they are blaming it on the Northwest, and these groups, on these people of Idlib. And they’re bombing them, and over 40 people, 50 people, have passed away. Nobody is talking about it, unfortunately, so we need to be that voice. We need to be more and more, even if it’s on the back burner, even if no one is discussing this any more, we need be the ones to do this, and bring their voice to the rest of the world.

 So I hope that all of us can see what’s happening in Syria, and support it. And see what’s happening in Idlib, and be a witness to it.’



 Dr. Aula Abbara:

 ‘What’s remarkable about Sweida is that women are very much on the forefront of these protests and the organisation. I think, for us, it’s very important, because it doesn’t tie in to the narrative, that I often have with people external to Syria, who think women are silent. Whereas women are the strongest advocates, we just have to look at Celine, in particular, to know that.

 We have spoken about the northwest. It’s always important to remember, we’re not trying to fragment the country, but we need to be realistic when we talk about health systems, and the political determinants across the country.

 The situation in the northeast of Syria is desperate. In areas under government control it is also desperate. I met doctors from Sulaymaniyah about a week ago, and they get in the region of thirty to forty dollars a month, and they don’t make it from week to week in order to feed their families.

 And many of us still have families in these areas, because they’re areas that were retaken by the government. And for us as Syrians, it is important to remember our shared humanity, and not to be divided; but, of course, never to forget the injustices that have occurred.'



 Dr. Mohammad al-Hadj Ali:

 ‘I’m optimistic by nature, but this is based on facts. Which is, the Syrian people, as we saw in Sweida, as we see in Idlib despite all calamities, despite all casualties, despite all of what happens there over years and years. After twelve years, we still see a strong, solid foundation for that hope, for that optimism.

 It is not a fake hope. When people dare to be out in the streets, thinking of our future, and thinking about a better Syria. We never knew that we’d be in the diaspora for a long time, and we’re going to miss our beloved people and family members, and all that stuff. But we still have the hope, that we’re going to rebuild it again.

 All my hope, when I was resident at Aleppo University Hospital, and I was doing my specialty in diabetic endocrinology before I came here to do my PhD; all my hope, I was looking at a place in the campus of Aleppo University, which is very much close to Aleppo University Hospital. I’m reminded at that time, that there were three or four rooms, very much attached to the hospital, they’d had been occupied by the intelligence forces, over years. They’d been part of the hospital, taken over.

 My idea at that time, was that I would go back at some point, and establish what I’d call the Aleppo University Diabetes and Endocrinology Centre. So that was my dream. I don’t know why I pinpointed on that place, but I always thought, why they took it from the campus? There is no need for their existence in that place, among the civilians.

 And I thought, one day, even if I return to academia, I’ll return to see that place as a nice, academic place, research and for training people in diabetes and endocrinology.

 I had an emotional chat last week, with my cousin. And I had to hide the fact from him, that when I came to the UK for the first time, I started reading everything forbidden inside Syria. I was in a city where there was no Syrian diaspora at all, I started my journey in Syria.

 And I came across a document, naming people who’d been killed in the Tadmor massacre, and buried alive. And that was the first story where they had the big bulldozers in the desert, buried them, and that was the story. And I spent nights looking through this story, done by the Syrian Human Rights Committee. I reached after 1500 names, the name of the husband of my auntie.

 I saw his name, and we’d always been told, that he’d disappeared, and he was taken, but nobody knew his fate. And every time we asked about his fate, they say, don’t ask about it, next time, don’t think about this name any more. Right, can we get a death certificate for him, because there’s inheritance to sort out here? No, we can’t give you a death certificate for him. Is he alive then? Nobody would answer that question. I know that fact.

 On one of my visits to Syria before the revolution, before I was banned then for protesting, I can’t go back until that régime falls; I say that to my mum and dad. Should I share that with my auntie, who passed away later? Should I share that with her? They said to me, if you say anything, it will be like a big trauma in the family. Just keep it quiet, and leave the woman alone.

 I had a chat with my cousin last week, and it was very emotional. I said to him, that’s the story, this is your dad, and that’s the details, after all the long period of time. He said to me, three months ago, I was in the middle of my sleep. I woke up with the nightmare, of my dad saying to me, why don’t you come to my grave in Tadmor, and make fatiha for me? Why don’t you come and visit my grave?

 I call my brother, and my brother say to me, this is ridiculous. They told us it’s a safe area, he’s somewhere else, and that was a fact. I say no, this is what has been documented ages ago.

 So I wanted to just go back to that trauma, and that flashback. Because in my conversation with him, he was a bit pessimistic. I said to him, look, the blood of your dad, won’t be wasted. And the blood of many of our people, won’t be wasted. And all those dead detainees won’t be wasted. I know the suffering, the struggle, of children, who are out of school, or are forced to be displaced to other countries; all that calamity and struggle won’t be wasted.



 There will be one day we will come for justice. And one day there will be accountability. And one day we will build a better future for Syria. Even if we are a diaspora now, this is our beloved country, and we will never leave Syria alone. We will always be attached to our beloved country, and we will continue, and this lovely audience tonight is a big push , and a big inspiration, that the march is going to continue, for a better future for Syria.’

Eye on Syria: Past, Present and Future Part 3

 

 Ellie Nott:

 ‘He said, can I show you some pictures on my laptop. I said okay. He showed me photo after photo of extraordinary injuries that people were facing. There was one video in particular, that made me gasp out loud. It was of a baby being born by caesarean section, and the mother had been shot in the abdomen. Which I learned was an amusement of régime soldiers. They would choose a different body part each week to target, of the civilians who tried to get bread or reach the market.

 David showed me this video of an emergency caesarean. There was an awful moment when this baby came out in silence. And suddenly, the baby cried out. And tears came to my eyes. And I probably fell in love with David that day, and I probably fell in love with Syria that day. And since then, we’ve set up a foundation together. We’ve trained some 500 Syrian doctors, surgeons, anaesthetists, in the surgical skills they need to treat injuries inflicted by conflict.

 And there’s been a lot of conflict. And the health system has coped in such a remarkable way, that it’s really taken a toll on the healthcare workers who are trying valiantly to hold it up.



 One of the amazing things about the Syrian revolution, is that it also gave a space for an extraordinary opening of civil society, and an amazing number of humanitarian organisations, and healthcare organisations as well, where doctors, and physicians, and pharmacists, work together to create extraordinary organisations, that have provided a health system, in areas where there has been no government for a decade.

 And that’s something we’re really proud to support, and I’m also so delighted to see one of the surgeons that David operated with, side by side, as brothers, in Eastern Aleppo in 2013-14, here tonight. These are friendships that were forged in the most extraordinary circumstances, and we’re never going to let them go. And we’re here, with Syrian organisations, even after the large NGOs have lost interest, even after the multilateral institutions are lacking funds, we’ll be there for the long-term.



 Celine Kasem:

 ‘If we go back to what inspired people go out and ask for such a low bar of human rights. And they went out with flowers, and water, in the first protests. And they were asking for freedom and their dignity, because there was simply over the last fifty years, none of what we in the rest of the world expect.

 The very simple pleasures of, you in high school being able to write about a conflict somewhere around the world. You were not able to get good resources to be able to write about this. You were not able to ask questions as to why certain branches look like this, and why do they act like this. Why are there so many photos of this President, everybody that we know? It’s really interesting, because I was outside of Syria, and I would come and visit in the summer.

 You don’t realise this as a child, but then recently I was in Turkey with my family, and my baby sister asked, who is this? And I wonder if I asked that as a child, when I would go and visit.

 It was simply a dictatorship, and we have a famous saying in Syria, that says “The wall’s listening”. Even if you were home, even if you have these private book clubs which my dad’s friends had in Syria, and they would meet up, and they would talk about a certain book that was banned in Syria. That was never allowed to be there.

 But they were arrested. And they spent tens of years in prison. They were tortured, and their stories are just like all of the detainees stories.

 So they wanted just a simple, average life, that all us can be so privileged to live all around the world, under a non-dictatorship.'



 Dr. Mohammad al-Hadj Ali:

 ‘So, unfortunately over the last few years, if we look at the twelve year story; I’m sure everyone here has their own stories, their own problems, their family attachments, and all that stuff. So over twelve years, we can see a decreasing appetite towards supporting Syrian people. As Ellie said, even NGOs, they recently started dropping down their funding and support to Syrian people. People are fed up with their story, and it’s a dictatorship, and Russia intervened in this story, and there’s no hope at all.

 Until the earthquake came. And came to the story. And I believe it was not only shaking the Earth to destroy and damage the infrastructure and the buildings in part of Syrian territory, but it shaped the whole situation around politics around Syria. When the time, people were talking about normalisation with Assad régime. There’s no way we can bring them back to justice, and accountability, and all that stuff.

 So, the best way is to normalise with Assad, and forget about all these stories, and the earthquake came. It came, actually, to revive the rights of all those being detained, and all those being killed, and all those being forced to be displaced. And all refugees, it was a shake, not only for the Earth, but I believe, in the politics around Syria as well.

 And unfortunately, eight thousand people died, in the northern part of Syria, and some parts of Syria under régime control as well. But if we look at the overall situation in Syria, the economic situation, in the areas under régime control, in northwest Syria, in northeast Syria, in Rukban camp where Syrian Emergency Task Force takes fantastic job to break the siege there; if we look at all these fragments of our beloved Syria, the situation is not that great.

 But, to be honest, I remain an optimist, and I say, that if we are not under barbaric attacks, from airstrikes from Russian side or régime side, then the other parts of Syria will flourish very quickly. Because we have the will of Syrian people. We have the desire for a better Syria, and a future which is rosy for the Syrian people.



 What I want to say, unfortunately, when we talk at the present moment about Syria, and what’s happening in the region as well, not only in Syria; it’s sort of the dynamics in the region, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq: all that stuff unfortunately influences Syria. Even Turkey, the internal politics inside Turkey, very much affecting Syrian people there, and refugees there.

 I would describe the moment at the present time in Syria, that this régime changed Syria, from what we call the land of civilisations. All ancient civilisations started there, in Syria. And now, it’s from the land of ancient civilisations, to the land and the country and the state of Captagon, and the drugs. This is unfortunately, when you see a country and régime, failing to control the country, in their own way, they have to become a state of drugs. And they have to shift the country from a place, to another place.



 So this is how I describe the moment here, we are stuck under the dynamics of the region, the régime wanted to label the country as a country and as a state of drugs. They want to put pressure on other countries and our world as well, to follow their own agenda.

 Hopefully there is time to talk about the Syrian way. The airstrikes may break more infrastructure, streets, country, buildings, all that stuff. But it will never break the Syrian way, and the Syrian human beings, and the free people. And those who have the real desire to change Syria from a place to another place, they wanted a land and a state of narcotics and drugs, and we want Syria to be back again as the land of civilisation.'



 Dr. Aula Abbara:

 ‘This issue of Captagon, and I’m sure many of you are following it, is based on Fenethylline, which is an amphetamine-based narcotic. We are talking a multi-billion dollar industry, that essentially is continuing to fund the conflict in Syria, the weaponry in Syria. But also because of the spillover into the region, is also making other countries stand up and notice, and so it’s a very frightening development. I can tell you many anecdotes of factory owners being forced to produce this drug, and feeling that they had no choice. They may have been loyalists, but have now had to leave, because of the threats to their lives, and that of their loved ones.’



 Ellie Nott:

 ‘I remember the first conference I went to in Gazientep in 2014, and it felt like a Ministry of Health in waiting. There were data analysts, people from Yale, people from Harvard, it felt like a shadow Health Ministry. I found it extraordinary, the idea of governments where there is no government. So often we’re fed a picture in the media of failed states. If there is conflict, people are helpless victims, everything has collapsed, no life as we know it is carrying on.

 That’s not the case, and I find, not to denigrate the huge challenges and struggles that exist, there’s a huge amount of industry, of agency, of people working together supporting their communities, and grounding some of these things, like human rights and democracy.



 The Idlib Health Directorate, which is an extraordinary body, which was dreamed up in someone’s sitting room earlier in the conflict; that’s a body that co-ordinates health governance across the northwest of Syria. And it’s amazing. Just small things, which might seem small if you’ve lived in Britain all your life, but they have elections to their boards. And at the end of someone’s term, that person steps down, and they have a new election.

 For Syria, that’s very revolutionary. It really is. So there’s this idea of the micro-level of democracy, democratic practices, and the idea of health care workers as advocates, and voices, for human rights. I think that’s especially powerful in the siege, and forced displacement, from eastern Aleppo. Especially in 2016, when healthcare workers were the most articulate voices calling for a stop to the barbarity of what was happening there.

 A point on Idlib at the moment, I had a very dear friend who got back last Friday, from being in Idlib. He said as soon as he left, he had a sense of peacefulness. He was training doctors, obstetricians, gynaecologists, to do a cervical screening programme. And he said that kind of work, was now having the space to take place.

 And how quickly that changes. Between the 4th and the 8th of October, I think 52 people have been killed, 11 of whom are children, another 246 injured, dozens of facilities damaged including four hospitals. It’s just a reminder that the northwest is so vulnerable. And the predations of the régime and its Russian allies, we just have to keep talking about it, there’s no other way.’



 Dr. Aula Abbara:

 ‘Having observed the evolution of the health system, particularly in the northwest of Syria, but also comparing it to what’s happened in the northeast of Syria, and the areas under government control, we can see the resilience, determination and imagination of the healthcare workers, and leaders within healthcare, in the northwest of Syria.

 It always amuses me how challenging it is for international organisations to work with Syria. Because Syria, before the conflict, had a functioning health system: not perfect, but functioning. Far more so than many of the other conflict-affected countries around the world. And the international humanitarian organisations are not used to this. They want to dictate across the border.

 I hate figures, because behind every figure there’s a human, but at least 950 healthcare workers have been killed in the course of their work, let alone secondarily, let alone those detained, let alone those tortured, or forced from their homes.’