As the Syrian Civil War is still ongoing as much as its not in today’s headlines these days as recurring as they were at the beginning and climax of the conflict, it is still definitely worth noting and perhaps never forgetting about the stories of the atrocities and spilled blood on innocents on Syrian soil by the hands of the Assad Regime. It seems now that the horrors of the war crimes of Assad’s Regime are coming to light finally, as we see that a trial in Koblenz, Germany that is on day 3o of the trial, exposes the war crimes and the atrocities against two Assad regime officials, Anwar Raslan and Eyad al-Gharib. As witnesses began telling stories about how these killings have become essentially a day in the life of living in a war torn Syria under a bloodthirsty regime, that accounts get really intriguing and interesting as some unique witnesses testify.
One witness was in fact a Syrian undertaker, who is identified as Witness Z, testifies how corpses were brought from all over the place, including multiple departments in Syrian intelligence services, military included, between 2011 and 2017 alone. Witness Z recalls how the there was “rivers of blood and maggots” as well as how the corpses have not only were unidentifiable but the stench of the corpses was really disturbing to the point it was in his nose while he took showers. Witness Z also recalled how he would drive these trucks that had refrigerated bodies of about 200 to 700 bodies to the cemeteries, citing how these cemeteries’ looked like military camps, and the bodies were dumped in 6ft deep and 16o to 330 ft long trenches in perhaps the most carless way ever seen. One may as why Witness Z was doing this despite knowing what he was seeing was wrong, simply put, he had no other choice but to do what he has been instructed to do.
The testimony of Witness Z a clear and present indication that there is not evidence of these mass atrocities coming to a halt. In addition, this is in no way any random acts of murder too as we clearly know this time around. For the Syrian refugees in Germany and Europe, this case proves why returning the refugees back to Syria may be a bit premature, despite calls for it. However the main issue and problem I see in this, is it is clearly evident that the Assad Regime has blood all over their hands and he has yet to be brought to justice, given the fact that China and Russia both back the regime, which makes it difficult for Rebel Forces and forces backing the Syrian Rebels to construct a plan to overthrow Assad and bring him to justice. As long as Assad has Russia and China backing him, it may be a while until we see him brought to justice, who knows when that will be. Only time will tell.
Jordan,
This is a powerful blog post. I kept thinking about the atrocities in Nazi Germany and the Balkan conflict when I read it. You are certainly right that we probably don’t have anywhere near a full accounting of what went on (and may still be continuing) in Syria. And you are also correct that as long as Russia (and, to a lesser extent, China) support and protect Assad, there will not be a full accounting–much less a successful effort to bring him to the International Criminal Court to face charges as the war criminal that he surely is. But politics do change and evolve, as we have seen with other political leaders in other countries that have blood on their hands. And there is always the possibility that he will be assassinated, or at least overthrown–though I admit that neither of these outcomes is likely. –Professor Wallerstein