A/HRC/27/60 (c) Kurdish armed groups 97. Instances of recruitment of children under the age of 18 by YPG were documented in document A/HRC/25/65. Pursuant to their pledge on 5 July to abolish such practices, YPG have demobilized child soldiers from their ranks and undertaken to monitor adherence to their commitments. IV. Violations concerning the conduct of hostilities A. Unlawful attacks 1. Government forces 98. Government forces have systematically targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure, demonstrating the intent to kill, wound and maim. Targets have included markets, shops, hospitals, schools, places of worship and public spaces where civilians gather in large numbers. The apparent objective of the Government’s military operations is to render life unbearable in areas out of its control. 99. In addition to incrementally employing local and foreign irregular forces, the Government has relied on highly destructive firepower. The military has escalated its tactics, techniques and procedures in combating armed groups, progressively introducing heavy artillery, air force combat assets, including vacuum and barrel bombs, and ballistic missiles. Lacking sufficient manpower and mobility to conduct ground offensives on all fronts, Government forces have adopted a strategy that uses minimal manpower in favour of heavy bombardment during offensive and defensive operations. 100. During offensives on Qalamoun (Rif Damascus) between February and April, Government forces relied on superior weaponry, subjecting armed group-held areas to sustained indiscriminate aerial and ground bombardment in preparation for ground assaults. Consistent accounts from civilians who fled towns in Qalamoun described how the shelling followed them as they were displaced towards the border. Thousands of civilians fled by car and on foot, from Rankus to Hawsh Arab to Ain Al-Jaouza to Assal al-Ward. The assault on Yabroud, which culminated with Government forces entering the city on 16 March, involved indiscriminate shelling by the 18th Brigade stationed at Nabak, the 155th Missile Regiment and the 67th Brigade. Fighter jets and helicopters fired air-to-surface missiles, vacuum bombs and barrel bombs on the town, often in consecutive attacks aiming at areas where civilians gathered in large numbers, such as funeral processions. 101. Since its onset in December 2013, the military campaign on Aleppo has had a devastating human cost. Rather than targeting the military capabilities of specific armed groups and facilities, the Government’s airstrikes and ground shelling have mostly targeted towns and neighbourhoods over which armed groups gained control, such as AlMouwassalat, Myasser, Al-Sha’ar, Qadi Askar, Al-Maadi, Al-Sakhour and Masakin Hanano in eastern Aleppo and Al-Sukkari, Al-Zabedia, Sayf al-Dawala, Jisr al-Haj, AlAnsari al-Sharqi, and Al-Kallasa. The timing and duration of the attacks, the choice of weapons and the locations targeted, such as markets, intersections, schools and hospitals, demonstrate intent to cause maximum civilian casualties. The ongoing aerial assault on Aleppo has caused immeasurable suffering and loss of life. According to medical personnel, most victims of barrel bombs had multiple wounds and experienced burns, loss of eyesight and peripheral vascular injuries from blunt trauma to extremities, often leading to amputations. 102. Government forces increasingly relied on barrel bombs to reduce the cost of a protracted aerial campaign and expand the fleet of aircraft used in assault operations to 16