A/HRC/44/61 Nu’man, Ariha, Atarib and Darat Azza, pro-Government forces may have perpetrated the crime against humanity of forcible transfer.52 81. In the context of the overall offensive as described above, pro-Government forces also likely perpetrated the war crime of spreading terror among the civilian population,53 and may have further committed murder and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity.54 VI. Attacks by armed groups and terrorist organizations 82. The foregoing attacks were often met with acts of brutal violence by armed groups, including Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which affected civilians in Government-controlled parts of western Aleppo. Coinciding with the above-mentioned renewed offensives by proGovernment forces, civilians recounted increasing incoming fire emanating from armed groups who controlled adjacent Rashideen, Dawwar El-Maliyyeh and Lairamoun in western rural Aleppo. Armed groups utilized long-range artillery systems that could reach positions in parts of western Aleppo controlled by the Government. Information obtained by the Commission indicated that at least 202 civilians were killed, including 56 women and 53 children, and 456 others injured, including 117 women and 121 children, in attacks by armed groups on Government-controlled areas between November 2019 and 1 May 2020.55 From 6 February onwards, the data also include casualties from improvised explosive devices. 83. On 21 November, for example, armed groups carried out a mortar attack on a market area in the Salah el-Din neighbourhood, in Aathamiyyeh, western Aleppo. The attack damaged at least five shops, and killed five civilians, including one woman and one 8-yearold boy, and injured 12 others. A 14-year-old girl, who was injured along with her mother, later perished from her wounds. 84. In response to the escalated campaign on Saraqib, armed groups also intensified attacks on Government-controlled parts of western Aleppo. On 16 January, at around 3 p.m., at least four mortar bombs struck a local market in the Sukhari neighbourhood in western Aleppo, striking numerous commercial shops. Interviewees described witnessing dead bodies scattered on the ground, while civilians were desperately looking for wounded relatives in the ensuing chaos. Eight civilians were killed, including three women and a child, and at least 15 were injured. On 21 January, a 9-year-old boy was reportedly killed in the Zahra neighbourhood of Halab al-Jadida, in a mortar attack likely emanating from the parts of Aleppo, including Lairamoun, Dawar el-Maliyyeh or Rashideen, that are controlled by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. 85. Interviewees described how, subsequently, civilians in the Hamdaniya, Zahraa, Halab al-Jadida and Shahba neighbourhoods of Aleppo were compelled to remain in their homes and opted to venture outside only in cases of absolute necessity. School exams throughout Aleppo, Shahba and Qurdoba were cancelled, while schools in Zahraa, Halab al-Jadida, Shahba, Masakin el-Sabil, Khalidein, Tishreen and Neil also closed down. 86. In one particularly violent attack on 5 February, at around 7.30 p.m., armed groups fired three rockets, striking a densely populated area in the Government-controlled Hamdaniya neighbourhood of western Aleppo. One witness described how she heard three consecutive explosions, originating from the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham-controlled Rashideen neighbourhood, which shattered the windows of her home. One of the rockets hit a residential home, while two others impacted near a local hospital and an adjacent agricultural field. Interviewees recalled seeing ambulance vehicles evacuating dismembered bodies of the 52 53 54 55 Prosecutor v. Gotovina et al., IT-06-90-T, paras. 1743–1745. Prosecutor v. Galić, IT-98-29-T, para. 594. See also A/HRC/42/51, para. 43; and https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/A_HRC_38_CRP_3_EN.pdf. Prosecutor v. Galić, IT-98-29-T, paras. 598–600. See also https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/A_HRC_38_CRP_3_EN.pdf. Commission interview code 10/793; S/2020/74; and S/2020/447. Other data provided in a briefing by the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, 27 February. 15