A/HRC/31/68 heritage is located.” The cultural heritage of the Syrian Arab Republic continues to be erased, publicly and with impunity. V. Devastation of a nation A. Tearing of the social fabric 94. Syrian society, in all its diversity, has demonstrated remarkable resilience as it endures the brutal toll exacted by years of armed conflict. Syrians increasingly live in starkly different realities. The belligerents currently in control of an area determine not only the laws under which civilian life operates but also the frequency, scale and means of attack by opposing parties. 95. Communities countrywide have been fragmented, separated from one another by checkpoints, front lines or ongoing clashes. When displaced by violence or the fear of violence, religious and ethnic communities have tended to cluster together. In seeking safety, their flight has aligned the geographic divisions with differences in real or perceived political loyalties. There is a danger of such geographic divisions becoming entrenched. 96. In some cases, warring parties have separated residents and communities. In midAugust, government forces raided the homes of families of armed groups in areas around Zabadani, including Bloudan and Bqine, to check residents’ registration cards. Individuals determined to be originally from Zabadani were forcibly displaced to Madaya. Government forces tightened their siege around Madaya in September. 97. Reports emerged alleging the forced displacement of Arab and Turkmen communities in the villages in southern Hasakah and Tall al-Abyad (Ar Raqqah) once control had been gained in these areas by YPG forces, in June 2015. Some interviewees described having fled in advance of clashes between ISIS and YPG owing in part to fear of coalition air strikes. Others stated they were told to leave for their own security. The Commission notes the indiscriminate presence of mines, improvised explosive devices and booby traps left by ISIS in civilian areas, including in their houses and vehicles, as part of its withdrawal strategy. In many towns and villages in Tall al-Abyad and in southern Hasakah, residents have returned. Civilian deaths due to undiscovered explosive devices, as well as the detonation of car and motorcycle bombs in civilian areas, continue nonetheless to be documented. Such a threat to the security of civilian residents may justify ordering their temporary displacement, but only for the time needed for YPG to take steps to safeguard their security. Investigations are continuing. 98. Ethnic differences between the predominantly Kurdish YPG and the largely Arab residents of the areas captured from ISIS underpin distrust in the motivations of YPG. It is essential that residents from towns (such as Suluk) who have not yet been allowed to return to their homes be given detailed information about the reasons for their displacement, and a timeline for return. 99. Kidnapping, hostage-taking and prisoner swaps committed by various parties to the conflict contribute further to the division of families. Some civilians have been separated from their families for years, including a majority of the approximately 60 women and children who were kidnapped by Jabhat al-Nusra and anti-government armed groups in September 2013 as they left Nubul and Zahra (Aleppo). Only some of these abductees have been released in prisoner swaps with government forces. 100. Several other prisoners continue to be exchanged between government forces and anti-government armed groups, while others are released in exchange for the bodies of dead government soldiers. In Nawa (Dar’a), civilian women and family members of armed 14