Friday, July 26, 2019

Syrian civilian slaughter continues


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More than 100 people, including 26 children, have died in air strikes on hospitals, schools, markets and bakeries in north-west Syria in the past 10 days, a top UN official says.
Human rights chief Michelle Bachelet blamed the attacks in rebel-held areas on the government and its allies. But the attacks were met with "apparent international indifference", she said. Bachelet criticised the "failure of leadership by the world's most powerful nations". The rising death toll in Idlib had been met with a "collective shrug" and the conflict had fallen off the international radar.
She said the civilian targets were unlikely to have been accidental and warned that those carrying out the attacks could be charged with war crimes.
"Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes, and those who have ordered them or carried them out are criminally responsible for their actions," Bachelet said.
Last week, the UN said more than 350 civilians had been killed and 330,000 forced to flee their homes since fighting escalated on 29 April. But that figure has now been revised, adding 103 extra deaths in the past 10 days alone. The estimate for the number displaced stands at more than 400,000.

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