5 June 2015 – Amid surging violence in Aleppo, the United Nations Security Council today expressed “outrage” at all attacks against civilians in Syria, as well as indiscriminate attacks, the AFP reported.
“The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern at the continued high level of violence in Syria and condemned all violence directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities,” according to a press statement issued this afternoon.
John Ging, Operations Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), briefed Council members today about the recent upsurge of violence in Aleppo and other areas in the country, where “shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the use of barrel bombs, have reportedly been used extensively in recent days, leaving many dead and injured civilians, including children.”
On May 31, at least 70 civilians were killed in Syria’s northern Aleppo province by barrel bombs dropped from government helicopters.
The Council’s statement recalled that all obligations under international humanitarian law must be respected in all circumstances by all parties, in particular “the obligation to distinguish between civilian populations and combatants, and the prohibition against indiscriminate attacks, and attacks against civilians and civilian objects.”