Aussies end war-torn Syria's World Cup hopes in extra time

Omar al-Soma's free kick crashed into the post with moments to go, ending war-torn Syria's World Cup hopes and allowing Tim Cahill's Australians to squeeze into the final playoff for a spot in Russia.

Australia's Tim Cahill, left, attempts to head the ball past Syria's keeper Ibriham Alma during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The 37-year-old Cahill delivered again for Australia with both goals in a dramatic 2-1 extra-time win over Syria on Tuesday that clinched the Asian playoff series 3-2 on aggregate.

Syria's improbable run toward a first World Cup attracted global attention, which heightened after it salvaged a 1-1 draw in the first leg last week at its adopted home ground in Malaysia.

Syria's chances grew dramatically after it took a 1-0 lead in the return match after al-Soma's goal in the 6th minute, but Cahill's powerful headers in the 13th minute and in extra time secured Australia's place in a playoff next month against the fourth-place team from North and Central America.

Australia's Tim Cahill, left, celebrates after scoring against Syria during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

"I don't know why we have to make it so hard — it shouldn't be that difficult for us," Australia coach Ange Postecoglou said. "We left it late and we had to work awfully hard, but I think we deserved to get through. The players showed tremendous character."

Postecoglou singled out Cahill, who has been a star of Australia's World Cup campaigns since scoring against Japan in Germany in 2006, for his composed performance.

"Timmy is Timmy, that's why he's a great Australian sportsman." Postecoglou said. "He's got real belief in himself. He's just a unique, extraordinary individual and he led from the front tonight."

But for a matter of inches, it could have been Syria striker al-Soma getting all the accolades. After returning to the national team from a self-imposed five-year absence amid the war in his country, al-Soma played a vital role in Syria's surge to third spot in the third round of Asian qualifying — including the late equalizer against Iran in the last game which set up the playoff series against Australia.

Syria's Omar Al Somah, left, jumps up after scoring against Australia during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

He converted an 85th-minute penalty last week to secure the draw in Malaysia, and he opened the scoring in the return leg to silence a parochial 42,136 crowd at Sydney's Olympic stadium. The crowd was silent again when al-Soma stepped up in the last minute of extra time with a chance to make it 2-2 — a result that would have allowed Syria to advance to the next stage on away goals — but his free kick missed by the narrowest of margins with keeper Mat Ryan beaten.

The crowd burst into victorious chants and celebrations. But the outcome stunned millions of Syrians watching the broadcast, and some of the disconsolate players who slumped to the ground.

The Syrian team has been on a remarkable run despite being forced to play all its games in other countries. But in a reflection of the massive divisions among Syrians amid an ongoing 7-year-old war, the country's World Cup run was opposed by many Syrians opposed to President Bashar Assad, who accused him of exploiting the team.

Syrian players react to their loss to Australia in their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

There's no doubt, though, that the team's progress was closely followed, with cafes crowded and schools and universities closed to allow students to watch the broadcast of the game far away in Australia.

Syria coach Ayman al-Hakim was full of praise for his team, which finished with 10 men after Mahmoud Almawas was sent off in the fourth minute of extra time after picking up a second yellow card.

"I am very proud of my boys with what they have achieved," al-Hakim said through a translator. "At the end there are mistakes in soccer. The players followed instruction very, very well. But the Australian goal happens because of the pressure of the Socceroos."

Australia's Tomi Juric, center left, and Milos Degenek celebrates their win over Syria in their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The Australians had to wait for qualifying in CONCACAF to conclude later Tuesday to learn whether they would next play Honduras, Panama or perhaps even the United States.

"You've got to write your own script," Cahill said of his ability to score goals under extra pressure. "It's a responsibility when I play. This is my passion."

The Syrian team certainly didn't lack passion, chasing the win right to the end.

With the score locked at 1-1 and an hour gone, Hakim sent in star playmaker Firas al-Khatib — who recently returned to play for the national team after a prolonged absence — to create the goal-scoring chance.

Australia's Tim Cahill, tops, celebrates with teammates after scoring against Syria during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Al-Khatib created opportunities almost immediately, but the Australians also wasted chances and forced good saves from inspirational goalkeeper Ibrahim Alma to ensure the match was still 1-1 at the end of regulation time.

It took another incisive run from Cahill, powering home his 50th international goal from Robbie Kruse's cross to finally give Australia the edge, as he has so often has in an international career spanning 103 games.

"I will run to the end for this manager and these players," Cahill said. "I'm proud of everything we have done together."

Australia's keeper Mathew Ryan dives at a ball that hit the post from a Syria free kick during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Syria's Mardek Mardkian yells out after missing a chance on the Australian goal during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Australia's Tim Cahill, right, scores from a header against Syria during their Soccer World Cup qualifying match in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Syria fans cheer before the start of the Soccer World Cup qualifying match between Australia and Syria in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

BEIRUT (AP) — Amnesty International said Wednesday it has documented widespread abuses, including torture and deprivation of medical care, in detention facilities holding thousands of suspected Islamic State members and their relatives in northeast Syria.

The centers and camps hold about 56,000 people — the majority of them children and teens — and are run by local authorities affiliated with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF and its allies, including U.S.-led coalition forces, defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019, ending its self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.

What to do with the suspected IS fighters and their families has become an intractable issue. Many countries whose citizens traveled to Syria to join IS have been reluctant to repatriate them, as have local communities in Syria.

"People held in this system are facing large-scale violations of their rights, some of which amount to war crimes,” Nicolette Waldman, Amnesty’s senior crisis advisor, told journalists.

The United States is also responsible for the alleged violations because it played a key role in establishing and maintaining the detention system, providing hundreds of millions of dollars to the SDF and affiliated forces and regularly interrogating detainees, Waldman said.

The human rights group interviewed 126 people accused of IS affiliation currently or formerly detained, along with representatives of the local administration and aid workers.

The Amnesty report said the vast majority of detainees are being held “indefinitely, without charge or trial, in violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” while those who have been tried were, in many cases, convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture.

The alleged abuses include “beating, stress positions, drowning, electric shocks and gender-based violence,” including a male detainee who said he and others had been sodomized with broomsticks by guards, the report said. Detainees were also deprived of food, water and medical care and subjected to extreme cold and heat in overcrowded cells, with some allegedly dying of suffocation, it said.

The report added that many of the approximately 14,500 women and 30,000 children held had been victims of human trafficking, including women who were forced to marry IS fighters and minors who were forcibly recruited by the group, and that local authorities had failed to set up a “mechanism to identify trafficking victims” and protect them.

The report also criticized the practice of forcibly separating adolescent boys — some as young as 11 or 12 — from their mothers and placing them in rehabilitation centers indefinitely.

Amnesty called on local authorities, the U.S. government and other allies to bring the detention system into compliance with international law and urged the United Nations to work with them to establish a screening process to release all who are not “reasonably suspected” of having committed a serious crime.

The Autonomous Authorities of the North and East Syria Region, the civilian administration affiliated with the SDF, wrote in response to the Amnesty findings that it had not received any official complaints regarding torture in detention facilities and “if this happened, they are individual acts.”

The administration said it would take action against employees who committed violations if evidence is provided. It denied allegations that inmates were deprived of food, water and medical care. It acknowledged overcrowding in the facilities, which it attributed to lack of financial resources to secure larger centers.

The local authorities took issue with the allegation that people were arbitrarily detained, asserting that most detainees “are members of a terrorist organization and were arrested during the battles" and that many had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The U.S. State Department said in its own response that “we share many of (Amnesty’s) concerns” and it has been working to address them. It called on the international community to “aid local entities’ management of these challenges” and for countries with citizens held in detention in Syria to repatriate them.

Waldman said she believes Washington "very likely knew about these poor conditions from the beginning."

She added: “We think that it may not be the case that they are doing everything they can. They need to accept a much greater responsibility, especially since they played such a key role in establishing the situation in the first place."

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. Amnesty International said Wednesday, April 17, 2024 it has documented widespread abuses, including torture and deprivation of medical care, in detention facilities holding thousands of suspected Islamic State members and their relatives in northeast Syria. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

FILE - Women residents from former Islamic State-held areas in Syria line up for aid supplies at Al-Hol camp in Hassakeh province, Syria, March 31, 2019. Amnesty International said Wednesday, April 17, 2024 it has documented widespread abuses, including torture and deprivation of medical care, in detention facilities holding thousands of suspected Islamic State members and their relatives in northeast Syria. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)