United Nations war crimes investigators on Tuesday said that the Assad regime committed war crimes in the besieged Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta through indiscriminate attacks affecting civilian and protected objects, the use of chemical weapons and cluster munitions, starvation, and the routine denial of medical evacuations.
In a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday, the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria launched a report which covered the human rights situation in the country during the period between July 2017 and January 2018.
Chairman of the Commission Paulo Pinheiro said they have received many reports confirming the use of chlorine gas in eastern Ghouta and Idlb province.
Pinoiro added that the Commission had conducted investigations into the alleged use of chlorine gas in Serqib in Idlib and Douma in eastern Ghouta, expressing concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the two liberated areas.
Pinero pointed out that the current situation in eastern Ghouta does not only represent a humanitarian crisis. The Assad regime’s blocking of relief aid, the siege and starvation of the civilian population are a clear violation of international law and constitute war crimes., he added.
The Syrian Coalition said that stopping the genocide in eastern Ghouta requires measures bypassing Russia’s attempts to disrupt the Security Council and preventing the achievement of international justice, including military measures.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Coalition underscored that the indecisiveness and inaction of the international community are to blame for the current situation in Syria and the region.
Regime forces late on Tuesday dropped barrel bombs filled with chlorine gas on residential neighborhoods in the towns of Hammouriya and Beit Sawa in eastern Ghouta, resulting in 40 cases of asphyxiation among civilians. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
