BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch sharply criticised the Syrian air force yesterday for intensifying strikes on Aleppo, despite a UN Security Council resolution ordering all sides in the conflict to stop indiscriminate attacks.
The New York-based group also rapped the Security Council for inaction over the violence in Syria in a statement issued ahead of a meeting of the UN body.
“The Syrian government is raining high explosive barrel bombs on civilians in defiance of a unanimous United Nations Security Council resolution,” HRW said, referring to resolution 2139 from February.
The resolution banned the indiscriminate use of barrel bombs -- widely used by Syrian government forces on rebel-held towns and cities -- and all other weapons in populated areas.
“Month after month, the Security Council has sat idly by as the government defied its demands with new barrel bomb attacks on Syrian civilians,” HRW’s Sarah Leah Whitson said.
The group also urged two key backers of President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and China, to allow the Security Council to implement the resolution.
HRW said it has documented “over 650 major new damage sites consistent with barrel bomb impacts” in opposition-held areas of Aleppo city.
AFP
