(MENAFN- QNA) Civilians in Syria's second city of Aleppo are suffering unthinkable atrocities, Amnesty International says. A new report alleges that government forces and many rebel groups are committing war crimes on a daily basis.
The government has reportedly stepped up its bombardment of Aleppo in recent weeks in response to a rebel offensive, the (BBC) reported. President Bashar al-Assad categorically denied that barrel bombs had ever been used by his forces in an interview with the BBC in February.
Amnesty's report says that from January 2014 to March 2015, government aircraft launched continual attacks using barrel bombs - oil barrels, fuel tanks or gas cylinders packed with explosives, fuel, and metal fragments - on rebel-held areas of Aleppo.
According to the Violations Documentation Center, an activist-run monitoring group, barrel bombings killed at least 3,124 civilians in Aleppo province last year. The city has been divided between government- and rebel-held areas since fighting erupted there in 2012. "More than a year ago the UN passed a resolution calling for an end to human rights abuses, and specifically barrel bomb attacks, promising there would be consequences if the government failed to comply," said Philip Luther, director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme. "Today, the international community has turned its back on Aleppo's civilians in a cold-hearted display of indifference to an escalating human tragedy," he added.
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