U.N. Officials Warn of Potential Slaughter of Innocents Unless Aid Reaches Yarmouk Refugee Camp

United Nations officials warned on Wednesday of a potential “slaughter of innocents” unless civilians living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria receive urgent humanitarian aid, Reuters reports.

The Islamic State launched an offensive on Yarmouk last week and has since seized control of 90 percent of the camp while the Syrian army surrounds the district.

Deteriorating conditions inside the camp have prompted the U.N. to seek greater access to some 18,000 civilians, including 3,500 children, trapped between intruding ISIS militants and the government forces that have besieged the area.

As fighting intensified in and around the camp, the remaining civilians have been left without access to food, water and medical supplies.

According to Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Agency has been unable to enter the camp since fighting escalated last week.

“We are facing a potential slaughter of the innocents and the world cannot stand by and watch that happen,” said Gunness.

“The level of inhumanity that Yarmouk has descended to is frankly unimaginable. We have tragic pictures of children and others scooping up water out of holes in the streets,” he added.

Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp has been besieged by fighting between Syrian government forces and rebel groups since 2012. Thousands of Palestinian refugees are trapped inside the camp, facing starvation, malnutrition and disease and with inadequate access to clean water and electricity.

Jabhat al-Nusra Confirms Death of Emir, as Car Bombs Kill at Least 32 in Syria’s Aleppo Province

Two car bombs allegedly set off by Islamic State militants killed at least 32 people in Syria’s Aleppo province, including a senior rival fighter from al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, AFP reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the first bomb left 23 dead in the village of Hawar Kilis, near the border with Turkey.

Three commanders were among nine killed when a joint rebel headquarters building was hit in the town of Marea.

Marea and Hawar Kilis, located north of the provincial capital, Aleppo City, are both under the control of groups opposed to the Islamic State.

Among those killed were two commanders belonging to the Islamist rebels groups Jabhat al-Shamiya and Jaish al-Mujahideen, and a local “emir” of Jabhat al-Nusra.

Jabhat al-Nusra confirmed the death of its commander on its official Twitter account.

“Abu Maria, Al-Nusra Front’s emir in Marea, northern Aleppo, was martyred after being targeted by a car bomb by the [Islamic] State group (ISIS),” Jabhat al-Nusra said.

The Observatory claims Wednesday’s bombing appeared to be an attempt by ISIS to “expand its reach” in Aleppo province, where the group already has a considerable presence. Following the attacks, ISIS militants clashed with Islamist groups in and around Marea.

Jabhat al-Nusra, unlike ISIS, has cooperated with other Syrian rebel groups to conduct coordinated attacks against the Assad government. Despite sharing a similar ideology with ISIS, the two groups are at odds in several fronts across Syria.

Chief Prosecutor of the ICC Claims ISIS Out of Its Jurisdiction

A chief prosecutor from the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Wednesday that her office had received reports of “unspeakable cruelty” by Islamic State insurgents in Iraq and Syria but that there was little prospect that their leaders would be investigated by the ICC, the New York Times reports.

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the ICC, said that the court did not have jurisdiction over crimes committed by fighters who were not nationals of ICC member states, and that the Islamic State’s leaders appeared mainly to be from Iraq and Syria, which are not ICC members.

“ISIS is a military and political organization primarily led by nationals of Iraq and Syria,” Bensouda said.

“Thus, at this stage, the prospects of my office investigating and prosecuting those most responsible within the leadership of ISIS appear limited.”

Bensouda said her office had considered alternative avenues to investigate crimes committed by ISIS, including pursuing fighters from countries that are court members.

According to Bensouda, several thousand foreign fighters have joined the ranks of ISIS in the past months alone, including citizens of Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands and Tunisia.

However, most foreign fighters are believed to be low-ranking participants in the violence and therefore unlikely candidates for cases in the international court, whose mandate is “to focus on people most responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.”

The U.N. has detailed a gruesome array of alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes by the Syrian regime, Islamic State fighters and other armed opposition groups over the course of the Syrian conflict.

However, the ICC can intervene in non-member countries only if it receives a U.N. Security Council referral.

Russia and China’s refusal to allow alleged war crimes in Syria to be referred to the ICC has created a standstill at the U.N. Security Council, prompting calls for new ways to bring perpetrators to justice.

Recommended Reads

• Al-Monitor: Syrian Radio Station Examines the Role of Women in War
• The Guardian: A Sledgehammer to Civilization: Islamic State’s War on Culture
• Reuters: U.N. Warns of Impending Slaughter in Palestinian Camp in Syria
• CNN: Canadian Warplanes Carry Out First Airstrike Against ISIS in Syria
• The Financial Times: Closure of Syria’s Last Border Crossing Hits Jordan’s Economy
• Agence France-Presse: Nearly Half of European Jihadists in Syria, Iraq are French
• Reuters: ICC Prosecutor: Slim Chance of IS Leaders Facing War Crimes Inquiry
• The Wall Street Journal: Iran Nuclear Deal Gives Syria’s Bashar al-Assad Reason to Worry