'}}

Al-Marsad Condemns the Assassination of Medhat Al-Saleh

October 24, 2021

20 October 2021

On Saturday morning, 16 October 2021, Medhat Al-Saleh, 54, was assassinated by the Israeli occupation army sniper. According to Syrian sources* and the media, the sniper shot 11 bullets at Medhat while he was working next to his house in Ain Al-Teeneh, opposite occupied Majdal Shams, hundreds of meters from the ceasefire line. Ain Al-Teeneh consists of houses inhabited by dozens of Syrians from the occupied Syrian village of Majdal Shams who were forcibly transferred during 1967.

Medhat Al-Saleh, who spent 12 years in the Israeli prisons, and was released in 1997, left the occupied Golan to Syria in 1998 and has been living there since then. During his time in Syria, Medhat was a member of the Syrian Parliament for eight years. He was later appointed as the director of the “Occupied Golan Affairs Office” in the Syrian Presidential Office.

Medhat is not the only civilian from the occupied Golan who was assassinated. In 2015, two young brothers: Thaer Mahmoud and Nazih Mahmoud, at the time 31 and 22 years old, were assassinated by an Israeli drone, according to the testimonies of their families and other sources. On 16 May 2021, their young brother Tahrir Mahmoud, 29, was assassinated by an Israeli drone while working in his agricultural land, located near the ceasefire line in the occupied Golan, according to his family and friends’ testimonies.

Although no official statement has yet been issued by the Israeli authorities regarding the assassination of Medhat Al-Saleh, Israeli political analysts* who were interviewed by the Israeli media did not deny this possibility and explained the possible motives and justifications that might have prompted the decision to carry out the assassination.

The targeting of civilians from the occupied Syrian Golan, while they are in their homes or cultivating their lands along the ceasefire line is a blatant violation of the right to life and international law, constitutes a systematic policy, and amounts to a war crime. The provisions and rules of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, prohibit the deliberate attack and killing of civilians not participating in hostilities. As such, the Israeli occupation forces must immediately stop the assassination policy of Syrian civilians, which violates international law, spreads terror among civilians, and forces them to abandon their homes.

Such assassinations, which are carried out as extrajudicial and arbitrary executions by deliberate and targeted killing by the occupying power without any judicial or legal procedures, further flagrantly violate the right to life guaranteed by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966. The right to life is an inherent and non-derogable right, even in times of armed conflict or states of emergency. In this sense, exceptional circumstances, including a state of war or the threat of war, may not be invoked to justify extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. To this end, the international community must urge Israel, as the occupying power in the occupied Syrian Golan, to immediately stop the policy of assassination, and to fulfil its obligations stipulated in international human rights and international humanitarian law. The international community should also urge Israel to ensure transparency and accountability for such violations.

*http://www.sana-syria.org/?p=1499323

* Jacky Hugi, Middle East editor for Israeli news Radio @glzradio - Doron Kadosh, correspondent for military and security affairs - Giora Island, former Chief of Staff for National Security. https://glz.co.il

Releated Posts

'}}
More Shadows than Lights – Local Elections in the Occupied Syrian Golan
Al-Marsad has published a new report on Israel’s recent attempt to hold municipal elections in the occupied Syrian Golan (“Golan”). On 30 October 2018, Israel held municipal elections in the occupied Syrian villages of Majdal Shams, Buqata, Masada and Ein Qynia for the first time since it invaded the Golan in 1967.
READ MORE
'}}
Letter from Al-Marsad to Frederica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy.
In April 2019, Al-Marsad wrote to Frederica Mogherini to ask the EU to stop applying a double standard to Israel’s illegal settlement expansion policies and to condemn them uniformly for what they are, egregious violations of international law.
READ MORE
'}}
“New Ways of Seeing” Field Visit to Haifa
"New Ways of Seeing" Field Visit to Haifa - Al-Marsad, in cooperation with the Fateh Moudarres Centre for Arts & Culture, recently hosted a new interactive youth workshop within its innovative cultural project, "New Ways of Seeing."
READ MORE
'}}
Al-Marsad Rejects New Illegal Settlement Plan for the Occupied Syrian Golan
Al-Marsad – Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights (“Al-Marsad”) is extremely concerned by reports of a new Israeli government plan to transfer illegal settlers into the occupied Syrian Golan. This reported plan, which comes just one week after the United States (“U.S.”) acknowledged Israel’s claimed “sovereignty” over the occupied Golan, conflicts directly with international law.
READ MORE
'}}
Al-Marsad Denounces U.S. Recognition of the Occupied Syrian Golan as Israel
Al-Marsad – Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights (“Al-Marsad”) denounces and condemns the United States of America’s (“U.S.”) recognition of the occupied Syrian Golan as part of Israel. The decision sets a dangerous standard that glorifies systematic human rights abuses, legitimizes illegal aggression and occupation, and endangers peace in the Middle East.
READ MORE