International Criminal Court silent over deadly clashes in Syria

The International Criminal Court has been urged to investigate the new Syrian regime over civilian massacres in another test of its legitimacy.

A Swedish-rights group has released a leaked report documenting the humanitarian impact and the violations of international law which has been sent to the ICC, as well as the UN and other human rights organizations. The leaked document suggests the report was sent on March 11th but, at the time of writing, the ICC has issued no statement of response to suggestions of war crimes or crimes against humanity in Syria. Their lack of response adds to an already dismal geopolitical picture of the collapse of the post-war rules-based order.

Over 1000 people have died in some of the deadliest clashes in western Syria as Alawite civilians have been massacred by militias affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in coastal regions, where the Shi’a offshoot predominantly reside, in sectarian “summary executions.”

The violence has been carried out in revenge against the Alawite community, which constituted the traditional support base for ousted-dictator Bashar al-Assad, after reports emerged that 16 government forces had been ambushed by Alawite gunmen, prompting the government to deploy large swathes of security forces to the coastal towns.

Clashes continued and reports suggest the involvement of other armed groups as calls for jihad against a particular sect were issued from mosques, as documented in recorded videos referenced in the leaked report. Additionally, extremists in Idlib, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor also called for volunteers to be sent to the coast. Many were seeking to punish the Alawite sect for their previous support of the former regime, resulting in the skyrocketing of the civilian death toll, with many shot at close range. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 830 civilians have been killed although these figures could not be independently verified.

The perpetrators bragged about their massacres, posting numerous videos and photos documenting their crimes. According to many testimonies collected by the Syrian Observatory, perpetrators raided houses, asking residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before proceeding to either kill them or spare them. Residents of Baniyas, one of the towns worst hit by the violence, said bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, and nobody was able to collect them.

One might assume that suggestions of massacres and genocidal intent do not bode well for the new interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa who has repeatedly pledged that the government will protect all minorities as he continues to plead the international community to lift sanctions placed upon Syria under the former Assad regime.

These crimes come in the context of widespread reprisals against the Alawite sect with reports of arson, forced displacement, executions as international institutions like the International Criminal Court (ICC) fail to intervene, despite Turkish intellectuals reportedly having submitted an application to the ICC to investigate the massacres in western Syria.

The ICC was founded as part of the Rome Statute, granting the court jurisdiction over four main crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. Founded on the liberal concept of international law, the court constitutes a pillar of the global rules-based system where individuals will be prosecuted for their offences and justice brought to victims of the four main crimes.

However, the ICC has always faced criticism for being ostensibly western-aligned and has only successfully arrested and prosecuted African leaders like Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.

More recently, the court has indicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Secretary Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in their 15-month long offensive in Gaza. Their indictment has been met with polarization with countries like the US, Hungary and Israel rejecting the warrants whilst others have said they would abide by their responsibilities to the court and respect the warrants.

The legitimacy of the court has been put to the test. With its reliance on states respecting its warrants, the shift in global politics away from a liberal rules-based order may suggest the ICC will fail – again – to successfully engage in the search for justice following the Alawite massacres.

Other bodies like the OHCHR and the Syrian Observatory have urged accountability for all crimes committed in recent clashes but it appears international organizations are phenomenal at urging governments to act but lack any ability to enforce international law.

However, Sharaa has publicly stated in an interview with Reuters that the killings of Alawites threatens his mission of Syrian unity. He said “we fought to defend the oppressed, and we won’t accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us.”

Whether this is a genuine attempt at justice or an attempt to stay in the good-books of western states as he pleads for the removal of sanctions placed upon Syria under the former Assad regime, it is unlikely he has vowed justice because he is concerned over any incoming ICC indictment, if any indictment is coming anyway.

Since Sharaa came to power, he has publicly presenting himself as a peacemaker. A man who has vouched his government will protect religious and ethnic minorities, keep women and girls in school, and pose no risk to the West. In return, he has plead for the removal of sanctions and resumption of aid – a move only possible if his al-Qaeda offshoot HTS is removed from the list of terrorist organisations of the West.

Whilst the ICC stays silent, individual states have raised eyebrows with France expressing “its deep concern” over recent violence. Paris “condemns in the strongest possible terms atrocities committed against civilians on the basis of religion grounds and against prisoners,” its foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.

AP News, OHCHR, Reuters, Maghrebi, Syria HR