By Ben Kerrigan-
The siege and bombing of eastern Aleppo in Syria constitute “crimes of historic proportions” that have caused heavy civilian casualties amounting to “war crimes”, according to the top United Nations human rights official.
Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein’s comments on Friday were made during a special session of the UN human rights council called by Britain to set up a special inquiry into violations in Aleppo’s rebel-held east where an estimated 275,000 civilians are besieged by a Syrian government offensive backed by Russia.
Speaking via video link, Zeid said Aleppo is a “slaughterhouse” and called for major powers to put aside their differences and refer the situation in Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Armed opposition groups continue to fire mortars and other projectiles into civilian neighbourhoods of western Aleppo, but indiscriminate air strikes across the eastern part of the city by government forces and their allies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties,” Zeid told the session.
The “collective failure of the international community to protect civilians and halt this bloodshed should haunt every one of us”, he added. “Every party to this conflict must know they will be held accountable for the war crimes they’ve committed” , Zeid declared.
Once Syria’s largest city, Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012.
With hundreds of civilians lives lost in Syria and Russian air strikes since the collapse of the latest cease-fire, the killings are being seen to be war crimes of historic proportions. This means the killings must be shown to be either very reckless, deliberate, or a combination of both.
Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the UN commission of inquiry on Syria also told the panel they would continue to document war crimes in the northern city. While rights council resolutions. Russia and China have disapproved the draft.
CONDEMNATION OVER BOMBING
AFTERMATH OF BOMBING
The European Union strongly condemned Russia and the Syrian government for causing “untold suffering” and suggested their actions in the city may amount to “war crimes”.
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“The deliberate targeting of hospitals, medical personnel, schools and essential infrastructure, as well as the use of barrel bombs, cluster bombs, and chemical weapons, constitute a catastrophic escalation of the conflict … and may amount to war crimes,” the European Union and foreign ministers said in a joint statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the EU would take measures against the Syrian government and Russia if the “barbaric” campaign continued.
“We demand an end to the attacks. We have not only said that we could not only impose sanctions against Syria but also sanctions against all who are allied with Syria. This applies to Russia,” Merkel said in Brussels.
On Monday, France announced that it would ask the ICC to investigate possible war crimes committed in Aleppo.
CEASE FIRE
The Russian Defence Ministry has confirmed the announcement of a ceasefire, which has been extended to 16:00 GMT on Saturday.
However, Rebels claim the goal of Moscow and Assad is to empty opposition-held areas of civilians so they can take over the whole city.
Later on Friday, the UN said medical evacuations from eastern Aleppo had not begun on Friday as it had hoped, as a lack of security guarantees and “facilitation” prevent aid workers taking advantage of the pause in the bombing announced by Russia”.
With the urgency of a cease-fire high on the list, it remains to be seen whether the violence will actually cease, and even so, for how long.