UN panel alleges war crimes in last year's battle for Aleppo

A U.N. panel said Wednesday the evacuation of eastern Aleppo, after months of siege and aerial bombing by Russian and Syrian forces, was one of many war crimes committed by those fighting for control of Syria's largest city.

The findings come amid open-ended peace talks mediated by a U.N. envoy, and could bolster opposition demands for a political transition in which President Bashar Assad would cede power, something the government has adamantly rejected.

The Commission of Inquiry on Syria unveiled a report looking at violations by all parties in last year's battle for Aleppo, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, and the use of chemical agents and cluster munitions. The panel singled out a "particularly egregious attack" in which Syrian warplanes targeted a humanitarian aid convoy.

"The scale of what happened in Aleppo is unprecedented in the Syrian conflict," said the commission's chairman, Paulo Pinheiro.

Aleppo was the economic capital of Syria before becoming a major battleground after rebels swept in during the summer of 2012. The capture of eastern Aleppo in December was a huge victory for Assad and shifted the military balance in his favor.

The agreement to evacuate rebel-held eastern Aleppo gave civilians no option to remain at the end of the protracted campaign, in which daily aerial bombings killed hundreds of people and left all the hospitals in the area out of service.

The commission said the conditions of the agreement amounted to "the war crime of forced displacement."

The report looked at violations committed between July 21, when the rebel-held part of Aleppo was besieged, and Dec. 22, when Syrian troops and allied forces assumed full control of the city.

It drew on the testimony of 291 eyewitnesses, satellite imagery and an array of material including medical reports, forensic evidence and information provided by U.N. member states.

"For months, the Syrian and Russian air forces relentlessly bombarded eastern Aleppo city as part of a strategy to force surrender," Pinheiro said. "The deliberate targeting of civilians has resulted in the immense loss of human life, including hundreds of children."

The commission said it was often difficult to know whether specific strikes were carried out by Russia or the Syrian government. But it said it had determined that Syrian warplanes targeted hospitals on at least two occasions, and deliberately attacked a humanitarian aid convoy on Sept. 19.

"The munitions employed (against the convoy) were particularly appropriate for attacking unarmored vehicles and individuals," the report said. It also found evidence that the Syrian government had used prohibited cluster munitions.

Both sides carried out indiscriminate attacks in densely populated civilian areas, it said, adding that rebels had launched imprecise mortar attacks on government-held neighborhoods. As defeat was near, some armed opposition groups shot civilians to prevent them from leaving, effectively using them as human shields, while government forces forcibly conscripted 200 men.

A Western diplomat in Switzerland meanwhile said the latest talks — dubbed Geneva IV — were an improvement on previous inconclusive rounds. The envoy, who was not authorized to brief reporters so spoke on condition of anonymity, said the opposition had adopted a more pragmatic stance and was unlikely to walk out.

"They will not be provoked regardless of what happens on the ground," the envoy said.

The talks in Geneva seek to capitalize on a cease-fire agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey after the evacuation of Aleppo, but fighting is still underway in different parts of the country.

Pro-government forces have seized the citadel in Palmyra, which is around a mile away from the central town's famed archaeological site, according to media operated by the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which is fighting alongside government forces.

The Islamic State (IS) militants group seized Palmyra in December, months after being driven out by Russian-backed Syrian forces.

In Damascus, government forces pressed on with their offensive to seize the Barzeh and Qaboun neighborhoods from the opposition, the activist-run Qasioun News Agency and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Pro-government forces targeted the area with roughly 18 surface-to-surface missiles Wednesday, according to the Observatory, which said around a dozen Syrian troops and allied militia members were killed during clashes in the eastern suburbs of Damascus over the past 24 hours.

The Barzeh, Qaboun, and Tishreen neighborhoods form one of the last two footholds of the opposition inside the capital.

Elsewhere in Syria, an IS-affiliated militant group clashed with Syrian rebels in the southwest, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Members of the so-called Khalid Ibn al-Walid Army targeted Syrian rebels in Daraa's western countryside, the monitoring group said. Last month the IS-affiliated militants captured several villages and a large town from Syrian rebels in the Daraa countryside

Source: Ahram online