Syrian opposition group harbors suspected war criminal

According to informants of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the Syrian National Coalition is harboring the suspected war criminal Ahmad Hassan Fayyad Al-Hayes, alias Hatem Abu Shakra. The Syrian National Coalition, which was founded as an opposition to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, is supported by the German government, among others. "This support must end immediately," demanded Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Consultant of the STP, in Göttingen on Friday. "Right from the beginning, this cooperation was questionable – but in the light of this new development, it is definitely no longer acceptable."

The fact that the Syrian National Coalition harbors a suspected war criminal confirms the extent of the involvement of the group with pro-Turkish mercenary groups that are terrorizing northern Syria: Under the eyes of Turkey and with the support of the Syrian National Coalition, war crimes are being committed in northern Syria – and this is even confirmed by a report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into Syria (published in September 2020). Civil society organizations also report that the Turkish occupation forces and their allied Syrian groups are committing human rights violations, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in the Kurdish regions of Syria.

In the scope of several field visits, Turkey had tried to refute and deny the reports about human rights violations. According to reports, Al-Hayes was a member of the hosting delegation of the Syrian National Army, the armed arm of the National Coalition – and the UN report accuses the leader of the Ahrar Al-Sharqiya faction, which is part of the Syrian National Army, of war crimes. Among other things, he ordered the execution of the Kurdish politician Havrin Khalaf and her companions. His order was carried out in northeast Syria on October 12, 2019.

In addition, the STP, together with 22 other organizations, calls on the international community to investigate and condemn the human rights violations committed by Turkey. "We are witnessing attempts to gloss over the ugly face of the occupation," Sido emphasized. "We are therefore repeating the demand we have been making to the German government regularly since 2013: Put an end to the political, diplomatic, and financial support for the Syrian National Coalition and other Islamist groups – immediately!"