Geneva, Sep 10 (EFE).- The civil war in Syria is intensifying across “multiple frontlines” due to rising regional tensions stemming from the Gaza conflict, leading to increasing attacks in Syria, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Syria warned on Tuesday.
“Syrian war is intensifying amid continuing patterns of war crimes and fear of large-scale regional conflict,” the commission said in a report to be presented to the Human Rights Council next week.
The UN mission reported a rise in Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian officials and Iranian-backed militias across Syria, resulting in civilian casualties on at least three occasions.
“In turn, Iranian affiliated groups have attacked US bases in east Syria more than 100 times since the start of the Gaza war (…), followed by US counter-attacks,” the mission said, adding that six foreign militaries remain involved in the Syria conflict.
In Syria’s northwest, attacks by regime forces, some using cluster bombs, have killed or injured over 150 civilians, including women and children. These “indiscriminate attacks” could constitute “war crimes,” the commission warned.
The mission also denounced Russian airstrikes causing civilian casualties in Idlib region and Turkish forces’ operation in the northeast, which last winter damaged medical and power plants, affecting essential services for over a million people.
In southern Syria, violence continues unabated. The commission has launched an investigation into an April massacre in Daraa region, where 10 civilians were executed by a pro-government militia, many executed “with knives or point-blank gunshots in acts that may amount to war crimes,” it said.
“Government forces stationed just meters from the massacre failed to intervene and protect civilians, displaying how Syria is descending deeper into lawlessness,” said Hanny Megally, a member of the commission.
“Predatory security forces and factions use violence, detention and threats to extort money from civilians. You are liable to be arrested, tortured, raped, die in custody, or disappear in all areas of the country if you run afoul of authorities,” Megally added.
The commission said that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the US against the regime, continue to hold around 30,000 children in the Al Hawl and Al Rawj camps in appalling conditions, for their parents’ alleged affiliation to the Islamic State.
“Shockingly, Yazidi women, girls and boys – survivors of the Yazidi genocide and other ISIL crimes – have been locked up alongside their persecutors (…) now over five years,” said commission member Lynn Welchman.
The ongoing violence has deepened Syria’s humanitarian crisis, with 13 million people—half the population—facing food insecurity, including 650,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition, the UN report concluded. EFE
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