DHAKA: All sides in Syria’s civil war are using shelling and siege tactics to punish civilians and big powers bear responsibility for allowing such war crimes to persist.

UN human rights investigators said on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.

In their latest report documenting atrocities in Syria, they called again on the UN Security Council to refer grave violations of the rules of war to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.

‘The Security Council bears responsibility for allowing the warring parties to violate these rules with impunity,’ the report by the UN commission of inquiry on Syria said.

‘Such inaction has provided the space for the proliferation of actors in the Syrian Arab Republic, each pursuing its own agenda and contributing to the radicalisation and escalation of violence.’

BDST: 1750 HRS, MAR 05, 2014