Saturday, August 11, 2012

Syria: Aleppo Civilians at Great Risk


Government, Opposition Forces Should Respect Laws of War

August 10, 2012

".....The laws of war prohibit attacks that do not distinguish between military targets and civilians, or attacks on military targets in which the anticipated harm to civilians is disproportionate to the anticipated military advantage. The government’s use of heavy artillery with a wide blast radius and other indirect-fire weapons without adequate spotters against military targets in populated areas raise serious concerns about indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch’s investigation found no evidence to support Syrian government claims that Free Syrian Army forces are preventing civilians from fleeing Aleppo. To the contrary, all of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that FSA soldiers had encouraged them to leave the areas under attack, and helped them to flee the city by providing cars, gasoline, and advice on safe routes....."

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