War planes, likely within the regular forces and their allies, targeted on September 28, 2015 a flea market along with other locations in Al Mayadin city, east of Deir Ezzor, and resulted in death and injury of dozens of civilians.
The witness Ahmad, pseudonym, says “Two war planes dropped 12 rockets, each six rockets from a warplane. The rockets were dropped one-time. We did not notice scout planes. We only saw them flying over. There are no military headquarters. The city of Al Mayadin is considered a displacement destination for people who flee from the surrounding villages. At least thirty people from Al Mayadin city were killed along with deaths from the surrounding villages, IDPs, and Iraqi refugees. The air strikes resulted in large-scale destruction in houses and shops. I will never forget that, it was so cruel”.
The witness Abdullah, pseudonym, says “Bodies were in streets. After I made sure that my brother and my son were fine, I headed to the location where the rocket was dropped. I was walking on the bodies that were in the streets. A child said to me “Please my uncle, bring my father to me. I saw the body of my friend’s wife. I saw burned bodies that I could not recognize”.
JFL team that consists of three people reached one of the survivors from Al Mayadin city along with families of the victims. In the outcome, the report depended on eight testimonies, some of them are direct with witnesses, and others via Skype and WhatsApp.
According to the witnesses testimonies, regular forces and their allies’ warplanes targeted different locations that are populated by civilians and free of military targets in Al Mayadin city. These air raids resulted large-scale casualties among civilians, houses, and shops. This is prohibited according to rule 1 and rule 9 in the study of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the International Humanitarian Law.
JFL demands to ensure conducting independent and impartial investigations in the detailed cases that are stated in this report and others, where information is available that indicates the violations of international humanitarian law, and alleged perpetrators of serious crimes must be brought to trials in accordance with the international standards.
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