A/HRC/42/51 the time of writing, both aerial and ground offensives throughout the demilitarized zone continue with devastating effects.12 40. Between February and July, members of the Levant Liberation Organization and Jaysh al-Izza militants situated in the demilitarized zone launched a barrage of rockets towards government-held areas in the countryside surrounding Aleppo and Hama, in attacks that terrorized, killed and maimed scores of civilians (see, e.g., S/2019/462). Levant Liberation Organization terrorists simultaneously employed unmanned aerial vehicles (or “drones”) to attack the military positions of pro-government forces in Ladhiqiyah Governorate, including the Humaymim Air Base. 13 41. On 7 April, for example, members of the Jaysh al-Izzah armed faction positioned on the Ghab plain (northern Hama) launched rockets towards Masyaf district (Hama), striking the National Hospital. The attack killed 6 civilians, including a child, and injured some 20 others, including medics, patients and children. A second rocket simultaneously struck a private home next to the National Hospital. 42. Similarly, on 16 June, at approximately 11.00 p.m., Levant Liberation Organization terrorists based in Khan Toman (Aleppo) launched at least a dozen 120 mm Grad rockets towards Al-Wadihi village located in the southern countryside around Aleppo. The attack killed 13 civilians including 4 women, 5 men and 4 children, all of whom were celebrating a wedding at the time. 43. The foregoing attacks were characterized by indiscriminate, indirect artillery fire into densely populated civilian areas, with no apparent legitimate military objective, the effect of which terrorized the inhabitants of the countryside surrounding Hama and Aleppo. In each instance, there are reasonable grounds to believe Jaysh al-Izzah and Levant Liberation Organization militants committed the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in the death or injury of civilians,14 as well as the war crime of intending to terrorize civilians living under government control. 15 44. To oust the Levant Liberation Organization and its affiliates from the demilitarized zone, government forces launched concerted aerial offensives in mid-February, beginning in Ma‘arrat al-Nu‘man district (Idlib). In early March, and in response to attacks against Humaymim Air Base, the Russian Aerospace Forces joined the campaign. Shortly thereafter, hundreds of thousands of civilians throughout the demilitarized zone and its environs were caught in a devastating human rights and humanitarian catastrophe, as progovernment forces began striking dozens of hospitals, educational facilities, markets, schools, bakeries and agricultural lands. By mid-May, up to 200,000 civilians were displaced from the demilitarized zone, while 15 health facilities, 16 schools and three settlements for internally displaced persons reportedly were affected by hostilities. 45. For example, on 9 March, between approximately 6.40 and 8.30 p.m., government forces carried out an aerial attack in northern Saraqib, launching four missiles, which caused damage to Al-Hayat women’s and children’s hospital, a blood bank and an ambulance response unit providing services to approximately 80,000 residents. Al-Hayat hospital was included in the United Nations deconfliction mechanism and the progovernment forces were aware of its coordinates at the time of the attack. One witness described that, at around 6.40 p.m., a first missile struck a residential area in the vicinity of the hospital, killing one man and one girl. Minutes later, a second missile hit a blood bank in northern Saraqib, located some 300 metres from Al-Hayat hospital, damaging vital equipment and medical supplies and rendering the building unusable for at least four days. 12 13 14 15 Upon capturing dozens of towns and villages from rival armed groups in January 2019 (see A/HRC/40/70), Levant Liberation Organization terrorists assumed control over more than 90 per cent of Idlib Governorate, alongside adjacent strips of northern Hama and western Aleppo. While the Commission was unable to determine which side first attacked the other, the presence of the Levant Liberation Organization and their heavy weapons in the demilitarized zone was, in and of itself, in violation of the terms of the memorandum on the stabilization of the situation in the Idlib deescalation area signed by the Russian Federation and the Turkey in Sochi on 17 September 2018. See Henckaerts and Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law, rule 156. Prosecutor v. Stanislav Galić, Case No. IT-98-29-A, judgment of 30 November 2006, paras. 99–109. 9