NEW YORK, Dec. 22 (UPI) — The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to begin a war crimes inquiry into Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s government in its prosecution of a bloody six-year civil war.
The resolution, proposed by Liechtenstein and Sunni-led Qatar, passed the general assembly 105-15 with 52 abstentions.
Syrian diplomats, along with ally Iran, expressed outrage at the resolution, arguing the fighting is aimed at quashing terrorists loyal to the Islamic State. In reality, the array of forces aligned against Assad run the gamut of terrorist sympathizers and rebel groups seeking to end Assad’s iron grip on Syrian society.
The resolution calls on the U.N. Syria Commission to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses” in preparation for criminal proceedings, USA Today reported.
Syria’s U.N. ambassador called the measure a “flagrant violation” of Syrian sovereignty.
While the world grappled with its response to the worsening crisis, the evacuation of eastern Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, was expected to be completed Thursday night, a day after freezing weather hampered efforts by the International Red Cross.
Aid workers said the most critically injured and sick people who required medical treatment have all been taken out of the city in thousands of buses and private vehicles. The Red Cross said an estimated 34,000 people, including civilians and rebel fighters opposed to Assad, have been evacuated over the past week.
On Wednesday, evacuation efforts were halted due to freezing weather and a snow storm that made roads impassable. The effort resumed Thursday morning as conditions improved and was expected to continue until nightfall.
NPR reported families have been waiting near the line of evacuation vehicles in freezing temperatures without food for days, afraid to return home or seek shelter and miss their opportunity to evacuate the war-torn city.
Aleppo has been the epicenter of the bloody nearly six-year Syrian civil war and a month ago, Assad’s all-out assault on the rebel-held eastern portion of the city broke through amid a relentless bombing campaign. Government ground forces followed and were able to reclaim much of the territory amid international calls for a cease-fire to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
Over the past week, Assad’s forces have alternately abided and ignored cease-fire deals while aid workers rushed to evacuate an estimated 50,000 people who remained in the rebel-held portion of the city to towns and villages across the country.
