UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay appealed to both Syrian government forces and rebels yesterday to spare civilians in Aleppo, voicing deep concern at the “likelihood of an imminent major confrontation” in the city.
“Civilians and civilian objects — including homes and other property, businesses, schools and places of worship — must be protected at all times. All parties, including the government and opposition forces, must ensure that they distinguish between civilian and military targets,” Pillay said.
She said a “discernable pattern” had emerged as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces attempt — using intense shelling, tank fire and door-to-door searches — to clear areas of Syria’s biggest urban center they say are occupied by insurgents.
“All this, taken along with the reported build-up of forces in and around Aleppo, bodes ill for the people of that city,” Pillay said, adding that such attacks were also continuing in two other major cities, Homs and Deir al-Zor.
Pillay cited unconfirmed reports of atrocities, including the execution and shooting of civilians by snipers during recent fighting in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Her office had also been receiving an increasing number of reports of opposition fighters torturing or executing prisoners.
“Murder and wilful killing, whether committed by government or opposition forces, may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes. Torture, likewise, is prohibited under all circumstances,” said Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge.
She believed that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been, and continue to be, committed in Syria.
“Those who are committing them should not believe that they will escape justice,” Pillay said.
She also voiced concern at reports that unarmed prisoners had been killed in the central prisons of Aleppo and Homs during uprisings in the past week, in violation of international law.
Pillay called for an investigation by independent experts into the incidents, echoing an appeal by Human Rights Watch.
The New York-based group yesterday quoted “Samir,” an inmate in Homs central prison, as saying that after a prisoner riot on July 21, government forces surrounded the facility and fired live rounds and tear gas, killing at least seven inmates.
International mediator Kofi Annan is still trying to forge a political solution to the Syria crisis despite being made a scapegoat for the failure of the two sides to agree, a source close to the mediation effort said yesterday.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of