Chapter

Scorched earth in Syria : between crimes against humanity and genocide

Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen and Yael Siman

The Syrian war : between justice and political reality

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2020

p. 107-139

English

After eight devasting years, the armed conflict in Syria seems to be nearing its end, yet the humanitarian crisis is still ongoing. This is due to the enormous scale of international crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, characterising the conflict and committed by different parties to the conflict. This chapter discusses the commission of crimes against humanity and genocide since the beginning of the uprisings and focuses on a legal analysis of some of those crimes. The discussion of crimes against humanity in this chapter focuses on specific conduct and the two crimes most documented by the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International: torture and extermination of prisoners in detention facilities of the Syrian government. Regarding genocide, this chapter surveys the evidence for the commission of genocide of the Yazidis by ISIS and focuses on the CoI Syria's factual and legal analysis.

• The Syrian war : between justice and political reality / Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen, Nir T. Boms and Sareta Ashraph