Militants used civilians as human shields in the course of the fighting against government forces in the eastern part of Syria’s Aleppo, says a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria published in Geneva on Wednesday. The report focusses on events in Aleppo in July-December 2016.
“Some armed groups also committed the war crimes of withholding the distribution of humanitarian aid from the besieged population under their control, and actively denied civilian freedom of movement, used civilians as human shields, conducted arbitrary arrests and used civilian buildings for military purposes,” the document reads.