Syrian pro-government forces deliberately starved civilians in Ghouta siege, UN says
A UN commission of inquiry has slammed the use of sieges throughout the war as a ‘medieval form of warfare’ that has caused suffering for hundreds of thousands
Geneva — Forces loyal to Syria’s government committed what amounted to crimes against humanity, including deliberately starving civilians, during the siege of Eastern Ghouta, UN investigators said on Wednesday. The five-year siege, on the outskirts of the capital, ended in April when Damascus regained control of the rebel enclave. "Following the end of the longest-running siege in modern history … the UN commission of inquiry (for human rights in Syria) has condemned this method of warfare in Syria as barbaric," the UN investigators said. The commission of inquiry, tasked by the UN Human Rights Council in March to urgently investigate recent events in Eastern Ghouta, released a 23-page report filled with horrific details of civilian suffering. "It is completely abhorrent that besieged civilians were indiscriminately attacked, and systematically denied food and medicine," commission head Paulo Pinheiro said in Wednesday’s statement. As pro-government forces dramatically escalated the...
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