Reuters, 21 Oct. 2016- The United Nations ‘ top human rights official says that the siege and bombing of eastern Aleppo in Syria constituted ‘crimes of historic proportions’ that have caused heavy civilian casualties amounting to war crimes.
The UN Human Rights Council later voted to launch an independent inquiry into events in Aleppo to identify and hold accountable anyone responsible for alleged violations.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein did not specifically name Russia, whose war planes have carried out weeks of air strikes on the rebel-held part of Aleppo along with the Syrian air force, but his reference was clear.
‘ Indiscriminate air strikes across the eastern part of the city by government forces and their allies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties,’ Mr Zeid said in a speech to a special session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Such violations constituted war crimes and if there was intent to commit them as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians, they would amount to crimes against humanity, he said.
Mr Zeid called for major powers to put aside their differences and refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).