U.S. Names Syrian Generals Accused of Attacks on Civilians

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, identified a dozen Syrian officials accused of attacks against civilians, saying they would one day face justice, ABC News reported.

Speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting, Power named five major generals, five brigadier generals and two colonels, and accused them of involvement in attacks on schools, hospitals and homes since 2011.

“Today’s atrocities are well-documented and the civilized world’s memories are long,” Power said, adding that “those behind such attacks must know that we and the international community are watching their actions, documenting their abuses and one day they will be held accountable.”

A Million People Now Living Under Siege: U.N.

There are nearly 1 million people living under siege in Syria, the United Nations said on Monday. This figure is nearly double the estimate from six months ago, BBC News reported.

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the U.N. Security Council that people were being “isolated, starved, bombed and denied medical attention and humanitarian assistance in order to force them to submit or flee.”

He added that the deliberate use of sieges as a military tactic is primarily employed by forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. “Those maintaining the sieges know by now that this council is apparently unable or unwilling to enforce its will or agree now on steps to stop them,” he said.

Areas in the Damascus suburbs including Jobar, Hajar al-Aswad and Khan al-Shih have recently fallen under siege, in addition to nearly 275,000 people trapped inside eastern Aleppo since July.

“Let me be clear: We are not just seeing a resumption of violence in Aleppo, this is not business as usual,” O’Brien said, warning that residents besieged in eastern Aleppo are facing “annihilation.” Conditions there are “barely survivable,” he warned, with the final food rations in the city distributed on November 13 under relentless airstrikes and no U.N. aid access.

Fighting Continues in Aleppo, Civilian Casualties on Both Sides

The death toll in Aleppo continues to rise amid heavy government airstrikes and rebel shelling, Al Jazeera reported.

Six members of one family were killed by a barrel bomb laced with chlorine gas in eastern, rebel-held Aleppo on Sunday, according to local medics. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) could not confirm if toxic gas was used in the bombing, and the Syrian government has denied the claim.

Rebel shelling on the western, government-held side of the city hit a school, killing at least 10 people, including eight children, according to SOHR and Syrian state TV.

The Syrian government and allied forces resumed their offensive on eastern Aleppo last Tuesday, with airstrikes reportedly putting all hospitals in rebel-held areas out of service.

“The United Nations is extremely saddened and appalled by the recent escalation in fighting in several parts of Syria and calls on all parties to cease indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure,” said Ali al-Zaatari, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Syria.

Recommended Reads

• The New York Times: Damascus Diary: A Syrian City Filled With Life, and Hints of Brutal Death
• The Washington Post: Wrapping up His Last Foreign Trip, Obama Tries to Make Headway on Syria
• Syria Untold: A Real Estate Market Under Surveillance
• Middle East Eye: Syria War: Rebel Group Supplied With Anti-Air Missiles
• The New York Times: ISIS Used Chemical Arms at Least 52 Times in Syria and Iraq, Report Says