UN Syria investigators report ‘systematic’ pillage of property during war

DAMASCUS - A United Nations commission said on Feb 6 it had documented the systematic destruction and pillaging of displaced people’s property during Syria’s war, warning of demographic change nearly two months after Mr Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Syria has documented “pillage of such large scale that entire homes... have been dismantled and destroyed, systematically across entire districts”, a summary of the report said.

The commission used satellite images, authenticated videos and photographs, and testimonies to compile the report, which was finalised on Dec 6, 2024, two days before Mr Assad’s ouster.

Areas most affected typically “changed hands during the course of the conflict”, with pillage there “frequently accompanied by other serious human rights violations”, the report summary said, blaming both government forces and non-state armed groups.

“The demographic composition of many villages, towns, cities and entire areas has been altered, possibly permanently,” it added.

Syria’s conflict broke out in 2011 with the authorities’ brutal repression of anti-government protests spiralling into a complex conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions internally and abroad.

Rights groups have also reported looting, pillaging and property seizures during the conflict, both in areas held by the former government and those outside its control.

In areas of large-scale displacement, forces stole household items but also “dismantled roofs, doors, windows, iron rods, electrical wires and plumbing fixtures, rendering entire neighbourhoods uninhabitable”, the statement said.

“Widescale, systematic looting was mostly conducted in areas controlled by former government forces, and by such forces,” the commission said, with investigations showing that “systematic pillage was coordinated by members of the former Syrian army... and affiliated security forces and militias”.

Forces made deals with contractors and merchants, with looted items sometimes sold in markets created specifically for that purpose, it added.

In areas controlled by opposition armed groups, the investigators reported more “opportunistic” looting, “although sometimes with a sectarian dimension”.

“Movable items” were mostly looted there, they said, “with homes often seized or occupied to accommodate both displaced fighters and civilians”.

Following Mr Assad’s ouster on Dec 8 after a lightning Islamist-led rebel offensive, the statement also warned against the looting of homes in newly captured areas, urging all parties to “prevent and punish pillage” and to protect property.

“The impunity for the war crime of pillage has been near total in Syria,” it said, cautioning that a failure to prevent violations risked “fuelling further grievances” and triggering “new cycles of violence and displacement”. AFP