UN blames both sides in Aleppo for war crimes

Both sides in the battle for Aleppo committed war crimes, including Syrian government aircraft that “deliberately” bombed and strafed a humanitarian convoy, killing 14 aid workers and halting relief operations, UN investigators said on Wednesday.

Syrian and Russian forces conducted daily air strikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo between July and its fall on December 22, killing hundreds and destroying hospitals, they said in their latest report.

Orphanages, schools and homes were “all but obliterated”, panel chairman Paulo Pinheiro told a news conference.

Opposition groups shelled state-controlled western Aleppo, killing and injuring dozens, the report said. They prevented civilians from fleeing eastern Aleppo, using them as human shields — a war crime.

“The scale of what happened in Aleppo is unprecedented in the Syrian conflict. Much of Aleppo, once Syria’s biggest city and its commercial and culture centre and a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage site, has been reduced to rubble,” Pinheiro said. He called for ensuring that “those responsible for this ruinous situation one day are brought to justice”.

His team was ready to share its confidential list of suspected war criminals on all sides with a new UN body on Syria being set up in Geneva to prepare criminal prosecutions.

“It cannot pass without having this step toward justice, because of the great numbers of victims,” panel member Carla del Ponte said. Cluster munitions were “pervasively used” and airdropped into densely populated areas, the report said, amounting to the war crime of indiscriminate attacks.

But investigators could not say whether both Syrian and Russian forces used them in Aleppo or only one had because of similarities in the weapons and aircraft used.

They also did not attribute any specific war crime investigated to Russian forces, but Pinheiro said they would assign responsibility “if and when we can prove it”.

Syrian helicopters unleashed toxic chlorine bombs “throughout 2016” on Aleppo, the report said.