Syria and Security Council Criticized by Rights Panel

The New York Times reports that a U.N. commission of inquiry to investigate human-rights abuses in Syria singles out the government and its militias for “systematically committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance, while pointing a sharp finger at the Security Council for allowing both sides in the three-year-long war to continue breaking international laws with impunity.”

The report also said that “the warring parties do not fear being held accountable for their acts.”

It listed “jails and government offices where people were detained and tortured, and accused the government of using sieges as part of its strategy, withholding water, food and medical care in violation of international law. While it did not blame anyone in particular for a chemical attack on Ghouta, a Damascus suburb, last August, the report said, ‘The perpetrators likely had access to the chemical weapons stockpile of the Syrian military, as well as the expertise and equipment necessary.’”

Hezbollah’s ‘Mini-Vietnam’ in Syria Escalates with Beirut Bombs

Bloomberg News reports on Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria, which is increasingly unpopular on its Lebanese homefront. “A stalemate in the war and the spread of violence in Lebanon leave the group mired in an enduring conflict and struggling to protect its supporters at home,” writes Donna Abu-Nasr.

“Syria is turning into an open-ended mini-Vietnam for the party,” one analyst tells her. “The party is now a prisoner of this, and it’s a prisoner of its alliance with Bashar.”

The spillover from the war in Syria had already hit the economy in Lebanon, the most indebted Arab country. Gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in each of the last three years, the slowest pace since 2006 and compared with 7 percent in 2010.”

U.S. Restricts Movement of Syria’s U.N. Envoy

Reuters reports that the U.S. State Department is reigning in the Syrian government’s U.N. ambassador Bashar Ja’afari , restricting his movement by ordering him to remain within a 25-mile radius of New York City. The order is similar to restrictions applying to the Iranian and North Korean envoys.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “We have delivered a diplomatic note to the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Mission to the United Nations in New York informing him that … he is restricted to a 25-mile travel radius.

“U.N. delegates of certain countries are required to notify us or obtain permission prior to travel outside of a 25-mile radius. So this is not something that is out of the realm of what we’ve done before.”

Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team

Reuters: Amid Carnage of War, Syria Readies for Assad Re-Election

The National: Siege of Syrian Arms Depot Exposes Chemical Weapons Fears

AFP: Five Dead in Blast By Security HQ in Central Syria

Al Monitor: Iran’s Four Part Plan for Political Solution in Syria