UN-backed inquiry: Syria gov't, ISIS commit crimes against humanity
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UNITED NATIONS - War crimes in Syria's five-year-old conflict are widespread and Syrian government forces and Islamic State militants continue to commit crimes against humanity in the face of inaction by the international community, a UN-backed panel said on Monday.
"Flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law continue unabated, aggravated by blatant impunity," the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in its latest report.
"The stipulations of relevant Security Council resolutions ... remain largely unheeded and unimplemented," it said. "Crimes against humanity continue to be committed by government forces and by ISIS (Islamic State). War crimes are rampant."
The UN inquiry, composed of independent experts, has long denounced the use of starvation by both sides in the Syrian conflict as a weapon of war, and has a confidential list of suspected war criminals and military units from all sides which is kept in a UN safe in Geneva.
The report said that Russian-Syrian aerial bombardments had caused the displacement of tens of thousands of men, women and children.
