‘Stop massacre’

Manama : Bahrain described the ongoing events in Syria’s Aleppo as a “massacre” and called for an immediate solution to the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the war-torn city.

This came during the Kingdom’s participation in the 25th special session of the Human Rights Council over the Syrian crisis on yesterday.

Held in Geneva, the session was organised as per the request of 19 member countries, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and the United Kingdom.

Bahrain’s representative at the session conveyed the Kingdom’s condemnation of the excessive use of force against civilians in Aleppo and the terrible humanitarian massacres and barbaric crimes committed there, according to reliefweb.int, a United Nations website dedicated to providing information to humanitarian relief organisations.

Agreeing with the statements of the League of Arab States Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Bahrain said that what was happening in Aleppo was a real massacre. The Kingdom supported the GCC countries’ joint condemnation of the Syrian regime’s attacks on Aleppo and their calls to ensure that humanitarian assistance reached besieged civilians, the report added.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said “the responsibility for halting the Syrian crisis rested primarily with the Security Council, but not exclusively. So the General Assembly might also have a role.” He urged the Human Rights Council members to “cast aside political disagreements and focus on suffering civilians.”