A/HRC/39/65 Annex II Attacks on Damascus city and Rif Damascus by armed and terrorist groups 1. On 22 January, at approximately 1:30 p.m., members of Faylaq al-Rahman and/or Haya’t Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) based in Jobar (eastern Ghouta) launched improvised mortar shells towards the Bab Toma borough of the Old City of Damascus. The attacks struck the Old Gate Square, where buses were gathered to await children from al-Riay’ah al-Khasa’ school in nearby Bab Sharqi. One shell landed in the main Bab Toma roundabout, killing at least nine civilians, including women and girls, and wounding 29 others. Victims, the majority of them students, were taken to the nearby Saint Louis “French” Hospital. Hundreds of students began exhibiting signs of trauma after the attacks, whereafter schools in Bab Toma were closed for at least three weeks. 2. Members of Ahrar al-Sham, on 1 February, at approximately 4:30 p.m. in Harasta (eastern Ghouta) launched mortars on the impoverished, predominantly Alawite populated Esh al-Warwar neighbourhood of Damascus city, situated approximately three kilometres from Harasta. Beginning in the late afternoon, witnesses recalled hearing a series of explosions, and described an average of one shell exploding “every five to ten minutes.” Most shells struck the Hay al-Deiriyah (Deir al-Zour Quarter), a few hundred metres from Tishreen Military Hospital. The attacks killed at least seven civilians, and injured 13 others. 3. Later that week, on 6 February, members of Faylaq al-Rahman and/or HTS in Ayn Tarma (eastern Ghouta) launched mortars on al-Homsi neighbourhood in Jaramana (Rif Damascus). The attacks killed two boys aged 6 and 9, both of whom were students in Badi’ Radwan school. Adjacent to Jaramana, Ayn Tarma served as the closest armed group held position to Damascus at the time. The boys’ father recalled finding his children bloodied and covered in shrapnel wounds, and recounted the trauma suffered by his wife who often woke at night, hallucinating and calling out for her sons. 4. Through the use of unguided mortars, the abovementioned attacks carried out by Faylaq ar-Rahman and/or Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham killed and maimed hundreds of civilians, amounting in each documented instance to the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks. The attacks seriously contravened the most basic human rights of persons, including the right to life, liberty and security of person. Numerous similar attacks were documented during the period under review (A/HRC/38/CRP.3, paras. 53–57). The repeated, indiscriminate shelling of Damascus city and Rif Damascus by these groups further amounted to the war crime of intending to spread terror among civilians residing in Government-held areas. 1 Moreover, even if carried out with the purpose of inducing Government forces to cease their unlawful attacks, armed and terrorist groups did not have the right to resort to countermeasures against persons not taking a direct part in hostilities. 1 21 International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Prosecutor v. Stanislov Galić, Appeals Judgment, IT-98-29-A, 30 November 2006, at paras. 99-109.