Syria's air force deliberately bombed water sources in December, a war crime that cut off water for 5.5 million people in and around the capital Damascus, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria said on Tuesday. The commission said it had found no evidence of deliberate contamination of the water supply or demolition by armed groups, as the Syrian government maintained at the time. "The attack amounts to the war crime of attacking objects indispensable for the survival of the civilian population, and further violated the principle of proportionality in attacks." In a separate incident, aircraft - most likely Syrian or Russian - bombed the longstanding headquarters of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the town of Idlib, Tuesday's report said. The commission also documented the use of lethal chlorine gas on multiple occasions by government and pro-government forces, in the suburbs of Damascus and Idlib province.

Source: Egypt Independent March 14, 2017 10:52 UTC