Assad regime and Russian airstrikes in rebel-held areas have killed 230 civilians in the past week in some of the conflict’s worst violence that may also constitute war crimes, said Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The top UN human rights official on Saturday said that that his office had received reports including video footage of possible use of “toxic agents” on Feb. 4 in the rebel-held town of Saraqeb, Idlib province.
“After seven years of paralysis in the (UN) Security Council, the situation in Syria is crying out to be referred to the International Criminal Court, as well as for a much more concerted effort by States to bring peace,” Zeid said in a statement.
Last week, the UN Security Council failed to agree on a declaration of a humanitarian truce in Syria. Sweden and Kuwait on Friday presented a draft resolution in light of the rapidly deteriorating situation in several areas across Syria, most notably in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta and rural Idlib.
Member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee, Salah al-Din al-Hamawi, said the Syrian people have been disappointed by the failure of the UN Security Council to agree on a temporary truce in Syria that is needed to put an end to the killings and crimes being committed by Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime. He noted that that these crimes have sharply increased following the failure of the Sochi Conference.
The ongoing bombing campaign by the Russian and Assad regime forces has killed over 500 civilians and wounded thousand more as the last week in eastern Ghouta has been described as the deadliest since 2015. According to unofficial figures, over 250 civilian were killed in eastern Ghouta alone in less than a week. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
