**UN Syria Commission concludes latest visit to Syria**

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Commissioners Monia Ammar and Fionnuala Nì Aolain of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic concluded their latest visit to the Syrian Arab Republic, where they engaged with Syrian victims of past and recent human rights violations, Government officials, civil society actors, and members of the international community between 1 and 7 July.

The Commissioners focused on key international human rights and humanitarian law issues and challenges in furtherance of the Commission’s investigative mandate and to provide expert advice to strengthen respect for human rights and prevent future violations. They also visited Homs and Quneitra governorates.

Their visit followed investigative missions to Damascus, Rural Damascus, Aleppo, Raqqa, and Hassekah governorates over the preceding weeks. The Commission continues to enjoy broad access to the Syrian Arab Republic and expresses thanks to the Syrian Government for its continued facilitation in this regard.

At the start and at the conclusion of the Commissioners’ visit, likely improvised explosive device attacks killed and injured civilians in a café close to the Ministry of Justice and near the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus. The Commissioners reiterate their condemnation of both attacks, as well as their solidarity with the victims and families.

On accountability, rule of law, and transitional justice, the Commissioners noted progress in developing a transitional justice law, and the start of trials in relation to Assad-government-era human rights and international humanitarian law violations.

The Commissioners highlighted the necessity of respect for the principle of legality and fair trial guarantees in the conduct of such trials, and the urgent need for clarity and revision of the existing criminal code to ensure compliance with relevant international frameworks in meetings with the National Commission on Transitional Justice and other government and non-government actors working on transitional justice and accountability issues. It took note of the designation of court chambers dedicated to the transitional justice proceedings, as well as the announcement of legal procedures in relation to the events in Suwayda in July 2025.

The Commission will continue to follow these developments closely, and provide its recommendations as relevant, underlining the importance of advancing accountability at all levels of responsibility for those events, as well as the coastal violence from March 2025.

The Commissioners also underscored the importance of ensuring a holistic process in the context of the transitional justice process. Specifically, all parties to the conflict must be, equally, the subject of accountability, truth and justice to ensure compliance with international law. The Commissioners affirmed the importance of the pending law being submitted to the People’s Assembly and the encouragement to widen consultations with victim associations and broader society, to ensure wider ownership of the transitional justice process and to ease tensions that remain following decades of impunity.

Regarding detainees in Government facilities, the Commissioners noted the Government’s commitment to ensuring that detainees’ rights are respected and facilitating access for families and lawyers. At the same time, it underscores that families still report being unable to trace the fate and whereabouts of persons taken into Government custody, and the prolonged detention without apparent judicial review of thousands of detainees, including but not limited to those suspected of committing crimes under the previous government. The Commission is cognizant of the frustrations of communities wishing to see swift action to confront past violations yet emphasizes the Government’s obligations to ensure that all deprivations of liberty are lawful, and that the lawfulness of such detentions is reviewed in line with the periodicity stipulated in Syrian law.

During its visit, the Commissioners continued to engage communities affected by the destruction and seizure of their properties as a result of the conflict, and the challenges to restoring property rights, in particular for those whose properties lack formal documentation or those who were unable to engage in property processes due to the conflict. The Commission underscores the urgency of resolving complex property rights issues, noting the importance of ensuring that large real estate projects are undertaken with due regard for the property rights of original inhabitants of the areas, and with fair compensation and appropriate support when such persons are unable to reclaim their original homes. It also noted the particular challenges faced by women-headed households in this regard and challenges posed by women to reclaim their property rights more broadly.

The Commission also engaged on ways to ensure that education and educational opportunities are equally accessible for all students across the country. It was encouraged to hear about steps taken to harmonize curriculums across the country and recognize educational qualifications from areas under the control of different non-state actors during the conflict.

The Commission was also encouraged by interim measures allowing children who lack legal identity documents to attend school and obtain health services, and encourages the Government to continue this practice in light of ongoing challenges to obtain such documentation. It remains concerned about the ongoing impasse preventing students in parts of Suwayda from sitting for their final exams and took note of continued security concerns by some communities preventing them from sending their children to school or university. The Commission reiterates its call for all parties to facilitate the ability of students to sit these exams, as well as the need to address lingering security concerns preventing students from continuing their studies.

The importance of countering hate speech was also emphasized across engagements with Government officials. The Commission noted the positive developments in expanded freedom of speech and general media freedom. It also remained concerned about the balance between the need to counter hate speech and the use of media to incite violence with the fundamental freedom of speech. The Commission will continue to engage on these issues, particularly regarding educational and media activities to promote human rights, counter hate speech and promote social cohesion.

Throughout the Commissioners’ engagements, they reiterated the importance of implementing in full its recommendations in its reports [A/HRC/59/CRP.4](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/a-hrc-59-crp4-en.pdf), [A/HRC/61/CRP.7](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session61/a-hrc-61-crp-7.pdf), and [A/HRC/61/62](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session61/advance-version/a-hrc-61-62-auv.pdf) aimed at addressing the aftermath of the coastal violence, the Suwayda violence and the overall human rights situation in Syria, respectively. In this regard, the Commission recalls that a year has passed since the July 2025 violence in Suwayda and more than a year since the March coastal violence.

**Commissioners’ work in Homs and Quneitra**

During its visit to Homs, the Commission underscored the need to promote intercommunal dialogue and expressed deep concern regarding the apparent vigilantism taking places against alleged former members of the previous government, which has heightened a sense of insecurity amongst many residents. It recalls that these issues are not limited to Homs governorate, and in this regard, underscores the responsibility of the Government to ensure all killings are investigated promptly, effective, and impartially to comply with its obligations concerning the protection of the right to life. The Commission also took note of limitations reported on civil society in certain contexts and reminds of the important role of civil society being partners in rebuilding Syria.

The Commission also conducted a visit to Quneitra as part of its ongoing investigations into Israeli human rights and humanitarian law violations occurring on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. The Commissioners met with local officials, civil society and impacted communities to hear directly from them concerning reported Israeli incursions, detention, harassment, home demolitions, and the inability to access grazing and agricultural land. In this regard, the Commission urges Israel to urgently restore access to roads and farmland, enable farmers to tend crops and maintain orchards and release all arbitrarily detained civilians.

The Commission witnessed first-hand the impact of blocked roads and inability of farmers to access their lands on the lives of civilians, many of whom have lost their main source of income as a result. It is incumbent on the international community to address ongoing violations to prevent further deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in Quneitra and neighbouring governorates and to facilitate recovery in the area.

**Commission’s work in North and Northeastern Syria**

During visits to the north and northeast, Commission staff visited neighborhoods and communities impacted by the hostilities between the Government and the SDF in January 2026, displaced and recently returned Syrians, as well as prisons and detention facilities.

The Commission reiterates its concern about the transfer of detainees to Iraq, including an indeterminate number of vulnerable children who were transferred out of the Syrian territory. It calls on the Syrian Government to immediately establish the fate and whereabouts of approximately 3,500 Syrian nationals, reportedly also including children, who were transferred.

The Commission also remains gravely concerned regarding the legality of detention of men, women, and children across the north and northeast, including in facilities still under the _de facto_ control of the SDF. It is particularly concerned about Roj camp where over 60% of the detained population are reportedly children, as well as those facilities recently transferred to Government control.

It calls on Member States to expediate the repatriation of their nationals from Aq Burhan and Roj camps and for the release of all those arbitrarily detained. The Commission is profoundly concerned regarding detention conditions in relation to children in custody, including particularly boys in Roj and Al Sina.

It notes the improved conditions of detention in certain formal detention facilities and closed camps where individuals are deprived of liberty under Government control. At the same time, it remains deeply concerned about the lack of progress in ensuring that people in detention are held lawfully and humanely treated in facilities across the country, as noted above.

In relation to the hostilities in January 2026 in Aleppo city and other parts of the north and northeast, the Commission also calls on all parties to help facilitate the prompt identification of all remains and collection by their families, as well as the need to clarify the fate of children who were caught in the conflict, including those who were allegedly subjected to forced recruitment by armed groups.

In Afrin district of Aleppo govnernorate, the Commission observed notable security improvements and the progressive restoration of state institutions, and noted significant efforts undertaken by the Syrian Government to enable the dignified and secure return of internally displaced persons To Afrin. It encourages the Government to intensify measures to facilitate the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return for all displaced persons, including approximately 1,000 families displaced from elsewhere currently residing in Afrin, while ensuring full respect for property rights.

In Hassekah, the Commission engaged with a range of actors. It noted that over 1,000 fighters captured during the January 2026 escalation have been released and calls on the Government to intensify efforts to clarify the fate and whereabouts of approximately 800 additional individuals.

The Commission commends the Government on facilitating access to places of detention but regrets that it was unable to access certain facilities requested in advance, in particular in Raqqa and Hassekah governorates. It will continue engagement with the Government, as well as the SDF in Hassekah, with a view to accessing such facilities in future.

The Commission took the opportunity in country to seek insights and information from all relevant interlocutors. It also shared preliminary recommendations and advice in relation to accountability, fair trial rights, transitional justice, freedom from arbitrary detention, addressing hate speech and incitement, as well as access to education, amongst other issues with Governmental counterparts. The Commission’s investigations and engagement regarding the matters above continue.

ENDS

**Background**: The [Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic](https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/iici-syria/independent-international-commission) was established on 22 August 2011 by the [UN Human Rights Council](https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/home) through resolution [S-17/1](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/ResS17_1.pdf). The mandate of the Commission is to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law since March 2011 in the Syrian Arab Republic The Human Rights Council also tasked the Commission with establishing the facts and circumstances that may amount to such violations and of the crimes perpetrated and, where possible, to identify those responsible with a view of ensuring that perpetrators of violations, including those that may constitute crimes against humanity, are held accountable. The Human Rights Council has repeatedly extended the Commission's mandate since then, most recently for an additional year through resolution 61/3, which was adopted on 7 April 2026.