UN Secretary-General says about ‘horrendous’ and ‘ghastly’ attitude toward civilians in Syria

Parties to the conflict in Syria show “horrendous” and “ghastly” attitude toward the civilian population of Syria.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated this, Radio Liberty reports.

He stressed that deliberate starvation in besieged cities was a war crime.

“Let me be absolutely clear: the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. Calling the civilian population hostages would be too soft as the hostages are fed. The terrible images of starving people in the city of Madaya evidence the moral degradation during the war already showing terrible depths of human cruelty,” Secretary-General said.

The meeting of the UN Security Council will be held on January 15 at the demand of France, Britain and the United States. The report on 400,000 Syrians in the besieged cities will be presented there. Of them, 200,000 people are in the areas controlled by the Islamic State, another 180,000 are in places controlled by the government while the rest are in the towns controlled by the opposition.

The civil war in Syria has been continuing since 2011. The main parties to the conflict are the government led by President Bashar al-Assad, the opposition forces, the Islamists, and the Kurds. The conflict also involves the international coalition against IS led by the USA.

During the conflict, more than 230,000 people have been killed, including almost 70,000 civilians (11,000 children among them). More than 4 million people have become refugees, nearly 8 million have been displaced. There have been numerous reports on war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.