The UN
Commission of Inquiry's report released on Wednesday said Syrian
government and allied Russian forces "pervasively used" unguided
munitions to bomb densely populated areas in rebel-held eastern Aleppo between
July and its fall on December 22, amounting to the war crime of indiscriminate
attacks.
These included aerial bombs, air-to-surface
rockets, cluster munitions, incendiary bombs, barrel bombs, and weapons
delivering toxic industrial chemicals.
But investigators could not say whether both
Syrian and Russian forces had used them in Aleppo or only one had. Neither did
they attribute any specific war crime investigated to Russian forces.
"Throughout the period under review, the
skies over Aleppo city and its environs were jointly controlled by Syrian and
Russian air forces ... (They) use predominantly the same aircraft and weapons,
thus rendering attribution impossible in many cases," the report said.
Aleppo, once Syria's largest city and former
commercial hub, had been divided into rebel and government parts since
2012.
syrian helicopters unleashed toxic chlorine
bombs "throughout 2016" on Aleppo, a banned weapon that caused hundreds
of civilian casualties there, the report said.
At least 5,000 pro-government forces also
encircled eastern Aleppo in a "surrender or starve" tactic, it said.
In a major new finding, the investigators
also accused the Syrian government of a "meticulously planned and
ruthlessly carried out" air strike on a UN and Syrian Red Crescent convoy
at Orum al-Kubra, in rural western Aleppo on September 19 which killed 14 aid
workers.
President Bashar al-Assad's government has
fiercely denied responsibility for the convoy's bombardment and a separate UN
probe in December said it was impossible to establish blame.
But after analysing satellite images,
forensic evidence and other material, the inquiry determined that "Syrian
air forces targeted (the) humanitarian aid convoy".
"By using air-delivered munitions with
the knowledge that humanitarian workers were operating in the location, Syrian
forces committed the war crimes of deliberately attacking humanitarian relief
personnel, denial of humanitarian aid, and attacking civilians," the
report said.
During the recapture of eastern Aleppo,
pro-government forces arrested doctors and aid workers and committed reprisal
executions, the report said.
"Even though this is being documented, even though the world knows this is going on ... UN investigators said the fact of the matter is no side in this conflict feels that they are accountable when it comes to committing these atrocities," he said.
"The bigger question now is, if this is documented, what is going to happen?" he said.
"What the press was told was that the UN is preparing a dossier so if there is a tribunal that eventually happens, the evidence is ready to try to prosecute those who are accused of doing war
credit: Aljazeera
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