559 explosive barrel in April 2016 and the use is still ongoing
SNHR issued its own monthly report documenting the use of explosive barrels by government forces during April.
The report also stated that despite the statement of the cessation of hostilities, but the Syrian regime did not stop the bombing of large areas using explosive barrels.
The report also confirmed that the frequency of use and the death toll has dropped its descendants, one day after the declaration of the Supreme Commission for negotiations to postpone its participation in the Geneva talks on 19 / April, where government forces have resumed dumping the explosive barrels on the areas that are not controlled by the Syrian regime to return to the pace of killings and attacks on vital civilian centers to what it was before the statement of the cessation of hostilities.
The report noted that each explosive barrel is a random weapon, has the effect of massive destruction. This impact does not just stop at the killing of civilian casualties, but also affects the displacement and terror of the people of the target area. Thereby displacing and terrorizing the residents of the target area. The throwing of the explosive barrels from the airplane is considered as a savage way that leads to war. Thus, it is possible to consider each explosive barrel is a crime of war.
Through the SNHR archives that is specialized in documenting violations, it has been shown that the first prominent use of explosive drums forces, was on Monday 1 October 2012 against the people of the city of “Siqleen” in Idlib province. The barrel is used by government forces due to the fact that it costs much less than the cost of the rocket and it has a large-destructive impact. It is a random weapon par excellence, and if it killed a gunman it would be a matter of coincidence. The index upon that is the fact that 99% of the victims are civilians, and the proportion of women and children ranging between 12% and up to 35% in some cases.
the report documented statistical indications of the number of explosive barrels used by the government in April, which amounted to 559 barrels explosive, the largest number of them were in the provinces of Aleppo and the countryside Damascus then Idlib, the bombing has led to the deaths of 24 civilians, including 7 children, 3 women.
The report stressed that the Syrian government had violated the Security Council Resolution 2139, and used explosive barrels systematically, and also violated the cross-murder of Article VII of the Rome Statute; what constitutes crimes against humanity, in addition to the violation of many provisions of international humanitarian law, committed dozens of crimes that considered to be war crimes, through indiscriminate shelling.
The report recommended that the Security Council ensures serious steps in order to implement its resolutions which have become ineffective and thus lost all of its credibility and purpose.
It also called for imposing an arms embargo on the Syrian government and prosecutes anyone who supplies the Syrian government with money and weapon considering that those resources are being used to perpetrate crimes and serious human rights violations.