Watchdog Slams ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ in Syria’s Aleppo
The rights watchdog said the “relentless” aerial bombardment of Syria’s former economic powerhouse had made life for civilians “increasingly unbearable,” with many residents forced “to eke out an existence underground.”
Amnesty said the evidence suggested that the air campaign in Aleppo had deliberately targeted civilians and civilian objects. It was particularly critical of the Syrian regime’s indiscriminate use of barrel bombs – containers packed with explosives and projectiles that are dropped from helicopters.
“More than a year ago the U.N. passed a resolution calling for an end to human rights abuses, and specifically barrel bomb attacks, promising there would be consequences if the government failed to comply,” said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program.
“Today, the international community has turned its back on Aleppo’s civilians in a cold-hearted display of indifference to an escalating human tragedy,” Luther said.
Regime barrel bomb attacks killed more than 3,000 civilians across Aleppo province last year, Amnesty reported.
Despite extensive documentation of the government’s use of barrel bombs by rights groups and activists on the ground, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly denied that his forces use the weapons.
The rights watchdog also accused armed opposition groups in Aleppo of committing war crimes by using imprecise weapons such as improvised rockets fitted with gas canisters called “hell cannons” in attacks that killed hundreds of civilians in 2014.
“Continued inaction is being interpreted by perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a sign they can continue to hold the civilians of Aleppo hostage without fear of any retribution,” it concluded.
Major Hospital in Syria’s Aleppo Shuts Down Because of Airstrikes
On Monday, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) NGO said one of two major hospitals in Aleppo had been forced to suspend its operations after it was bombed at least twice last week, AP reports.
Aleppo is at the heart of clashes between government forces and insurgents that include Jabhat al-Nusra, Islamist brigades and Western-backed rebels.
Evidence suggests that government warplanes regularly drop explosive-filled barrel bombs on opposition-held territory in Aleppo, while Syrian rebel groups have shelled residential areas in government-held parts of the divided city.
MSF said that hospitals and medical infrastructure inside the war-torn city are often purposely targeted to make civilian populations suffer.
Activists claim government aircraft dropped barrel bombs in the rebel-held district of Sakhur on Thursday.
The affected hospital, which is in Sakhur, provides critical services for over 400,000 people, according to MSF. In March alone, it performed more than 300 trauma surgeries, the group said.
“It is unclear if or when the hospital will be operative again,” Doctors Without Borders said.
“These new attacks on medical infrastructures are intolerable,” said Raquel Ayora, MSF’s director of operations.
The same hospital was forced to close for several weeks in 2014, following damage from similar strikes.
Syria’s healthcare system has collapsed amid deliberate targeting and destruction of medical facilities by government and opposition forces, loss of medical personnel and resulting health consequences in the country.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the center of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Monday, the BBC reports.
Syrian state media reported that troops had foiled an attack by a “terrorist group” in the Rukn al-Din neighborhood, an area that is home to a number of senior officials and where branches of Syria’s intelligence apparatus are based.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate, had carried out the attack on a military supplies and logistics headquarters.
“A major general who heads the munitions and supply division of the Syrian army was injured and one of his companions killed and two hurt in the rebel attack,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Observatory, though the military denied the report.
One of the targets was Major General Mohammad Eid, who is responsible for logistics and arms supplies for the Syrian army.
The heavily defended heart of government-controlled Damascus city has seen several major bombings over the past four years.
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