2. Governorate-level description of the security situation
2.2 Aleppo governorate
2.2.3 Recent security trends and impact on the civilian population
Syrian government following the agreement. As previously mentioned, the SDF and GoS were also in joint control of the Tal Rifaat area.597
2.2.2.4 Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
The CoI reported in January 2019 that HTS together with other anti-GoS armed groups ‘maintained their foothold’ in western Aleppo governorate.598 In early 2019 HTS took over large parts of Idlib and western Aleppo governorate following clashes with other anti-GoS armed groups in the region, including the NLF599, among others.600 The CoI stated in an August 2019 report that HTS control over 90 % of Idlib governorate, alongside adjacent parts of northern Hama and western Aleppo governorates.601 Sources interviewed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands stated ‘the west of Aleppo province is under the control of local opposition groups’.602 HTS presence603, control and military operations in western Aleppo governorate was reported during 2019.604
2.2.3 Recent security trends and impact on the civilian population
or injury of civilians.609 According to August 2019 reporting, Aleppo is so close to the rebel-held areas that the western parts of the city are regularly subjected to missile attacks. In addition, the airport has been restored but was not open for regular flights.610 The UN Security Council noted in December 2019 that ‘the threat of indirect artillery fire affecting the city of Aleppo has increased over the past three months’, reporting more than 150 incidents targeting residential areas of the city between September and November. In one such incident, a building used by UNRWA was damaged.611 In February 2020, following territorial gains by GoS in western Aleppo countryside, internal flights from Aleppo were resumed and the first commercial flight between Aleppo and Damascus took place for the first time since 2012.612
Other security incidents impacting civilians in GoS-controlled areas of the province were reported without identifying the perpetrators. Such illustrative incidents from 2019 and 2020 included the following:
In March 2019, suspected Iranian/Hezbollah weapon storages sites in Aleppo city were hit by Israelian airstrikes, leading to the death of at least seven people.613
On 14 April 2019, six civilians were killed and 11 others were injured as a result of alleged ground-based strikes that hit a local market in the neighbourhood of Khalidiyah and a residential area in Nile Street of Aleppo city.614
On 14 May 2019, 10 civilians were killed and 11 others injured following an alleged ground-based strike that hit the Palestinian refugee camp of Nayrab in Aleppo city, which is located close to a GoS-controlled military base.615
On 16 June 2019, at least 12 civilians were killed and 17 others injured following alleged ground-based strikes that hit a wedding party in southern rural Aleppo.616 The CoI also reported on the incident and attributed the strike to HTS.617
On 21 November 2019, ground-based strikes on several neighborhoods in Aleppo city, including Jamiliyah, A‘zamiyah, Zahra’, Furqan, Sayf al-Dawlah, and Salah al-Din, resulted of seven civilians being killing and at least 29 others injured. 618
609 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [A/HRC/42/51], 15 August 2019, url, p. 9
610 AP, Syria’s Aleppo symbol of Assad’s wins and of enduring war, 13 August 2019, url
611 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/949], 16 December 2019, url, p. 13
612 Arab Weekly (The), Syria's Aleppo airport resumes flights for 1st time in years, 19 February 2020, url
613 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 25 - 31 March 2019, url, pp. 2-3
614 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/508], 19 June 2019, url, pp. 20-21
615 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/508], 19 June 2019, url, pp. 20-21
616 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/674], 21 August 2019, url, p. 19
617 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [A/HRC/42/51], 15 August 2019, url, p. 9
618 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/949], 16 December 2019, url, p. 17
On 12 January 2020, four civilians were killed and three injured when ground-based strikes hit several residential neighbourhoods in Aleppo city. One of the reported strikes damaged a building at the Ittihad Private University.619
2.2.3.2 Conflict between GoS forces and anti-GoS armed groups
In January 2019, HTS took over territory held by other anti-GoS groups, particularly the NLF, its military expansion into western Aleppo and Idlib leading to at least 200 incidents during the first two weeks of the month, as recorded by the Carter Center.620
In the first half of 2019 the CoI reported an escalation of military hostilities in anti-GoS controlled areas, including western Aleppo governorate. Between February and July, armed groups HTS and Jaysh al-Izza attacked GoS positions in Aleppo countryside using rockets, reportedly killing scores of civilians. The attacks were described by the CoI as ‘indiscriminate, indirect artillery fire into densely populated civilian areas, with no apparent legitimate military objective’.621
Reporting on February – March 2019, the UN Security Council stated that civilian casualties were recorded following ground-based strikes and airstrikes between GoS forces and HTS.622
In April and May, air and ground-based strikes by GoS and affiliated forces, and sporadic ground-based strikes by anti-GoS groups in Aleppo governorate led to ‘large number of civilian deaths and injuries’
as well as significant damage to infrastructure, public services such as medical and educational facilities, and housing.623 HTS bombardments and assaults were concentrated against areas west (Al Warida, Rashideen, Tishreen, and Aqrab) and north-west (Al Khalidyah, Hamadaniye and Jumeliyah) of Aleppo city.624 HTS bombardments of GoS positions in Aleppo continued during May 2019.625 Lower levels of HTS attacks on GoS controlled areas in Aleppo were recorded between August and September 2019. Clashes between Hurras al-Din and GoS forces were recorded in the Zmar area of Aleppo governorate.626 From 1 October to 22 November, OHCHR recorded 136 civilian deaths within the de-escalation zone in Idlib and Aleppo, attributing them to alleged airstrikes by GoS and affiliated forces as well as to ground strikes exchanged with anti-GoS armed groups.627 Military confrontations between GoS forces and HTS continued in December 2019.628
In late January 2020, ICRC stated that ‘the violence in the city of Aleppo has reached an intensity not seen there since 2016, with shelling affecting several neighbourhoods. In rural western Aleppo and across Idlib governorate, meanwhile, fierce fighting is resulting in increased levels of suffering for
619 UN Security Council: Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018), 2449 (2018) and 2504 (2020); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2020/141], 21 February 2020, url, p. 16
620 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 21 – 27 January 2019, url, p. 2
621 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [A/HRC/42/51], 15 August 2019, url, pp. 4, 8-9
622 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/321], 16 April 2019, url, p.
4
623 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/508], 19 June 2019, url, p.
3
624 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 15 - 21 April 2019, url, p. 2
625 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 13 - 19 May 2019, url, p. 3
626 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 23 - 29 September 2019, url, p. 2
627 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/949], 16 December 2019, url, p. 5
628 Al Masdar News, Breaking: Syrian Army, jihadist rebels trade attacks in Aleppo, 16 December 2019, url
families there’.629 By mid-February 2020, the Syrian state agency SANA reported that GoS forces recaptured 30 villages and towns around Aleppo city in the western part of the governorate.630
2.2.3.3 Afrin district and other areas under Turkish-armed groups control
Since the capture of Afrin by Turkish forces and affiliated armed groups in March 2018, YPG and other armed groups were reported to having conducted ‘IED attacks, roadside ambushes, kidnappings and executions’ against the Turkey-backed groups that control the area and suspected collaborators. YPG, together with two other linked armed groups - Ghadab al-Zaytoun and Hezen Rizgariya Efrine [Afrin Liberation Forces] - claimed to have carried out about 220 attacks between late March 2018 and end January 2019. While no reliable data on the number casualties was available, Bellingcat estimated that at least 100 members of Turkish military and Turkey-backed groups were killed as a result of the attacks. The attacks also caused civilian casualties.631
In the first half of 2019, the security conditions in Afrin and adjacent districts were reported to be
‘dire’, largely as a result of infighting between rival Turkish-backed armed groups and ‘an insurgency campaign directed against the Turkish presence and supporting armed factions in the north-west of the country’ carried out by YPG-linked actors operating out of Tal Rifaat and the surrounding areas.632 In Afrin the YPG is reported to wage ‘a low-level insurgency against the Turkish military and its Syrian rebel allies’.633 According to a June 2019 report published by the Dutch Institute of International Relations, in Afrin Turkey has struggled to ‘establish a basic level of control through tactics of suppression, confiscation and expulsion of the area’s Kurdish population and its leaders which, in turn, has triggered a YPG-led insurgency’.634 The CoI report of August 2019 noted that YPG-associated Kurdish armed groups, Ghadab al-Zaytoun and Hezen Rizgariya Efrine, ‘have engaged in asymmetric warfare against factions operating under the Syrian National Army’.635
Reporting for the period between April and June 2019, the US Defense Intelligence Agency stated that
‘Turkish forces continued to fight Syrian Kurdish forces in the northwestern Syrian enclave of Afrin’.636 Bomb attacks, including IED637 and vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attacks638, but also machine gun fire639 and mortars640 were used by armed groups operating in Afrin. Civilians were
‘regularly caught in the crossfire of rival factions or insurgent activity’ and casualties were recorded.641
629 ICRC, Syria: A spike in civilian casualties, mass displacement in country’s northwest, 31 January 2020, url
630 AP News, Assad’s forces make advances, further securing Aleppo region, 16 February 2020, url
631 Bellingcat, Wrath of the Olives: Tracking the Afrin Insurgency Through Social Media, 1 March 2019, url; Bellingcat is an open source investigative site.
632 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, 15 August 2019, url, pp. 5, 11
633 DW, Explained: Why Turkey wants a military assault on Syrian Kurds, 9 October 2019, url
634 Clingendael, Turkey in northwestern Syria. Rebuilding empire at the margins, June 2019, url, p. 4
635 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, 15 August 2019, url, p. 5
636 USDOD, Operation Inherent Resolve. Lead Inspector General Report to the US Congress, April 1, 2019‒June 30, 2019, 6 August 2019, url, p. 27
637 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 8-14 July 2019, url, p. 3
638 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [A/HRC/42/51], 15 August 2019, url, p. 11; UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/674], 21 August 2019, url, pp. 18-19
639 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 8 - 14 April 2019, url, p. 3
640 UN Security Council: Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/820], 15 October 2019, url, pp. 17-18
641 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [A/HRC/42/51], 15 August 2019, url, p. 11
According to the Carter Center, ‘IED activity targeted local armed groups and civilians in Turkish-backed area of Aleppo Governorate’.642
In October 2019, IED attacks on areas controlled by Turkish-backed armed groups increased, with seven being recorded in a single day.643 Armed attacks against Turkish-backed armed groups in Afrin and surrounding areas, as well as infighting between rival SNA factions continued through November 2019.644 Human Rights Watch stated in its annual report on Syria (covering 2019) that security conditions in areas surrounding Afrin ‘deteriorated considerably’.645
List of illustrative incidents:
On 20 January 2019, an IED attack near Afrin city on a bus transporting civilians left three civilians dead and seven other injured.646
On 28 May 2019, two civilians were killed in Jinaryris, Afrin district, during an exchange of fire between two factions of the SNA.647
On 12 July 2019, a VBIED was detonated near a checkpoint in Afrin city, killing at least eight civilians, including women and children, and injuring at least another 20.648
On 13 September 2019, a VBIED attack on a local market in Afrin city was followed by a mortar attack that hit a residential area of the city. At least 11 civilians were injured.649
On 31 October 2019, a VBIED attack on a marketplace in Afrin city led to seven civilians killed and 15 injured.650
In areas controlled by Turkish-backed armed groups IED activity was reported to have increased during 2019, registering an average of 14 IED attacks per month.651 According to ACLED and the Carter Center data for the period between January and October 2019, IED activity increased steadily from May to October, with the highest number of attacks being registered in June, August and October (see Figure 21).652
642 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 23 - 29 September 2019, url, p. 2
643 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 28 October – 3 November 2019, url, p. 3
644 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 4 – 10 November 2019, url, p. 3
645 HRW, World Report 2020 - Syria, 14 January 2020, url
646 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/157], 19 February 2019, url, p. 14
647 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [A/HRC/42/51], 15 August 2019, url, p. 11
648 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/674], 21 August 2019, url, pp. 18-19
649 UN Security Council: Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/820], 15 October 2019, url, pp. 17-18
650 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/949], 16 December 2019, url, p. 17
651 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 28 October – 3 November 2019, url, p. 3
652 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 28 October – 3 November 2019, url, p. 4
Figure 21 © Carter Center, IED activity in Turkish backed areas of northern Aleppo governorate in 2019. Data from ACLED and the Carter Center.
Clashes between different armed groups backed by Turkey were also reported throughout 2019.653 In September and October 2019, the Carter Center recorded 17 inter-factional clashes between Turkish-backed armed groups, out of a total of 40 recorded in 2019 (up until late October).654
On 25 November 2019, GoS carried out several airstrikes against areas controlled by Turkish-backed groups near Al Bab, targeting oil infrastructure. Syrian state media claimed that the strikes were intended to prevent ‘Kurdish organizations’ from smuggling oil into Turkey.655
Enab Baladi noted that in areas of northern Aleppo governorate the main threat for civilians is not the military operations but rather ‘booby traps, often hidden in vehicles, killing the civilians’. Turkey has accused the YPG for the attacks while the Kurdish administration in north-east Syria and its military wing has accused the Turkish-backed SNA of being behind the attacks.656
List of illustrative incidents:
On 15 April 2019, three civilian men were injured after an alleged explosion of an IED inside a market in the town of Qabbasin in the Bab area in eastern rural Aleppo. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.657
On 2 June 2019, at least 11 civilians were killed and at least 23 others injured following an IED attack that occurred in the city of A’zaz in northern rural Aleppo.658
653 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 8 - 14 April 2019, url, p. 3; Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 16 - 22 September 2019, url, p. 3
654 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 21 - 27 October 2019, url, p. 4
655 ISW, Syria Situation Report: November 20 - December 3, 2019, 5 December 2019, url
656 Enab Baladi, Car bomb war in northern Syria, 12 December 2019, url
657 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/508], 19 June 2019, url, p.
20
658 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/674], 21 August 2019, url, p. 18
On 15 September 2019, a VBIED attack on the town of Ra’i, Al Bab district killed 12 civilians and injured 15 others, and caused infrastructure damage to the hospital and houses in the area.659
On 14 October 2019, three children were injured in Jabal camp for IDPs near Jarabulus following reported ground-based strikes.660
On 16 November 2019, a VBIED attack on a market in Bab city killed 11 civilians and 57 were injured.661
On 26 January 2020, 1 boy was killed and 46 other civilians were injured after an alleged VBIED was detonated inside a local market in the centre of I‘zaz city.662
2.2.3.4 Areas under Kurdish control
In the Tal Rifaat area armed clashes between the Turkey and allied armed groups on one side and YPG on the other side were reported during 2019. Bombardments on YPG positions663, shelling664 and frontline clashes665 between the two sides were reported between April and October 2019. The YPG reportedly also carried out attacks behind the frontlines of the Turkish-backed armed groups areas of control.666 In December 2019, local sources reported that Tal Rifaat was hit by artillery fire from
‘Turkish-controlled areas’ which killed at least 10 civilians, including children and injured 21 others.667 The Washington Post also reported on the incident which it label it as a Turkish airstrike on Tal Rifaat, further noting that eight of the 10 civilians killed were children.668
Data from ACLED and the Carter Center (see Figure 22) indicates that the number of security events registered in the Tal Rifaat pocket grew steadily in 2019, with the highest number being registered in October (around 80) followed by the months of May, August and November (40).
659 UN Security Council: Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/820], 15 October 2019, url, p. 18
660 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/949], 16 December 2019, url, p. 17
661 UN Security Council, Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018) and 2449 (2018); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2019/949], 16 December 2019, url, p. 17
662 UN Security Council: Implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018), 2449 (2018) and 2504 (2020); Report of the Secretary-General [S/2020/141], 21 February 2020, url, p. 16
663 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 29 July – 4 August 2019, url, p. 3
664 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 30 September – 6 October 2019, url, p. 3
665 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 29 July – 4 August 2019, url, p. 3; Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 30 September – 6 October 2019, url, p. 3
666 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 29 July – 4 August 2019, url, p. 3
667 VOA, Children Among 10 Kurdish Civilians Killed in Shelling from Turkish-Controlled Area in Syria, 3 December 2019, url
668 Washington Post (The), Separate airstrikes by Ankara and Damascus kill at least 20 in northwestern Syria, 2 December 2019, url
Figure 22 © Carter Center, Conflict levels in Tal Rifaat in 2019. Data from ACLED and the Carter Center669
USCENTCOM assessed that ISIL maintains a small, clandestine presence in Manbij, but it didn’t register an increase of ISIL operatives since the retreat of US troops from the area [October 2019].670 The International Crisis Group reported that ISIL used underground cells in Manbij to carry out ‘hit-and-run’ attacks and bombings during the first months of 2019.671 ISIL claimed suicide vest (SVEST) and car bomb attacks in Manbij in the first half of 2019 which led to deaths of SDF fighters672, American soldiers and civilians.673
2.2.3.5 Security incidents
In 2019, there were 2 370 security incidents recorded by ACLED in Aleppo governorate, of whom 1 600 were coded as explosions/remote violence, 563 battles and 207 incidents of violence against civilians.
Aleppo recorded the third highest number of security incidents in 2019 after Idlib and Hama governorates.
669 Carter Center, Weekly Conflict Summary, 25 November – 8 December 2019, url, p. 3
670 USDOD, Operation Inherent Resolve. Lead Inspector General Report to the US Congress, October 1, 2019‒December 31, 2019, 4 February 2020, url, pp. 34, 40
671 International Crisis Group, Squaring the Circles in Syria’s North East, Report 204 / Middle East & North Africa, 31 July 2019, url, pp. 16–17
672 AP, 7 US-backed Kurdish fighters killed in ISIS attack in Manbij, 26 March 2019, url
673 New York Times (The), ISIS Attack in Syria Kills 4 Americans, Raising New Worries About Troop Withdrawal, 16 January 2019, url; USDOD, Operation Inherent Resolve. Lead Inspector General Report to the US Congress, April 1, 2019‒June 30, 2019, 6 August 2019, url, p. 20
Figure 23. Evolution of security events coded battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against civilians in Aleppo governorate in 2019, based on ACLED data674
Security incidents were recorded in all Aleppo governorate districts during 2019, with the highest number of overall incidents being recorded in Jebel Saman, A’zaz and Afrin. The largest number of battles took place in Jebel Saman, A’zaz, and Al Bab, while most incidents involving explosions/remote violence were documented in Jebel Saman, A’zaz and Afrin. Incidents of violence against civilians were particularly prevalent in Afrin. In the district of As-Safira, ACLED data recorded only one security incident in 2019.
Aleppo governorate – Security incidents District Battles Remote
violence
Violence against civilians
Afrin 71 138 124
Ain Al Arab 12 29 9
Al Bab 76 87 13
As-Safira - 1 -
A’zaz 157 277 13
Jarablus 9 29 7
Jebel Saman 170 1000 31
Menbij 68 39 10
Total 563 1600 207
Figure 24. Security events coded battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against civilians in Aleppo governorate in 2019. Breakdown by district based on ACLED data.675
In the first two months of 2020, ACLED recorded 861 security incidents of which 195 were battles, 640 explosions/remote violence and 26 incidents of violence against civilians. Most of them occurred in the districts of Jebel Saman (617), A’zaz (120) and Afrin (74).
674 EASO analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Curated Data Files, Middle East (14 March 2020), url
675 EASO analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Curated Data Files, Middle East (14 March 2020), url