A/HRC/39/65 Mowat mosque in Zardana. Roughly 30 minutes later, pro-government forces launched a “double-tap” attack against the same area, killing and wounding first responders. The attacks led to the death of 48 men, women and children, and the wounding of up to 80 civilians. The impact of the weapons employed destroyed whole buildings, and created craters up to 10 metres deep and 10 to 15 metres wide. 60. Throughout Idlib, armed groups and terrorist organizations continued to interfere with civilian life in both the public and private spheres, with the majority of violations attributed to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorists. In areas under the group’s control, its selfstyled “Salvation Government” operates as the quasi civil/administrative authority delivering services, including civil registration, education and health care, and exerting control over civilians through committees established with the stated aim of fighting vice and ensuring “moral” conduct. 61. In areas under the control of armed groups, local councils and structures of their interim government remain functional (for example, the directorate of health is based in Maarat al-Numan). The Commission received numerous allegations of the arbitrary arrest of civilians and the kidnapping of teachers and health-care workers by armed groups. These allegations are under investigation. Witnesses described how areas taken over from armed groups by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham experienced even worse living conditions, with the terrorist group’s edicts having a disparate impact on women and girls. 20 62. Members of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham have been issuing decrees demanding, for example, that women and girls over 9 years of age wear a black or dark brown jalabiya, a wide-cut, loose-fitting garment, when venturing outdoors. They may not wear dresses with bright colours, must cover their hair, and cannot wear makeup. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham has been issuing similar decrees in schools in Idlib, emphasizing that female students who do not abide by the dress code will be banned from attending classes. 63. The Commission finds that pro-government forces committed the war crimes of deliberately attacking protected objects, intentionally attacking medical personnel (see paras. 54 and 56 above) and using prohibited weapons (see para. 55), and that, on four occasions, pro-government forces did not direct attacks at a specific military objective, which amounted to the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas (see paras. 53 and 57-59 above). IV. Displaced persons 64. The fierce battles in Aleppo, northern Homs, Damascus, Rif Damascus, Dara’a and Idlib governorates collectively displaced more than 1 million Syrian men, women and children in six months. In the majority of cases documented by the Commission, displacement was directly induced by the unlawful behaviour of warring parties. Such conduct included both unlawful attacks, which caused civilians to flee their homes in fear and desperation, and forced displacements pursuant to “evacuation agreements” negotiated between warring parties and reached as part of local truces. 21 While the Commission continues to document aerial and ground offensives that kill and maim scores of civilians countrywide, it notes that, after seven years of war, more than 5.5 million refugees have fled the country and more than 6.5 million civilians live displaced inside the Syrian Arab Republic. 65. The fear of returning to an area where the unlawful conduct of belligerents caused residents to flee their homes will also have a devastating impact on the future demography of a now severely fractured Syrian society. In numerous instances, the Commission received accounts from individuals who were too afraid to return to areas recently 20 21 12 For an analysis of how Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham strictly interprets the tenets of Islamic law (sharia) in a manner that systematically discriminates against women and girls, see A/HRC/37/CRP.3, footnote 6. See the report of the Commission “Sieges as a weapon of war: encircle, starve, surrender, evacuate”, 29 May 2018, available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/ PolicyPaperSieges_29May2018.pdf.