A/HRC/22/59 Annex XI [English only] Unlawful attacksa 1. This reporting period has been characterised by increasingly violent and indiscriminate attacks on densely populated urban areas, with Damascus suffering aerial bombardment for the first time since the beginning of the conflict. The intensification of shelling and aerial bombardments has caused significant civilian casualties. 2. The conflict in Syria has evolved into a war of attrition that has increasingly put civilians at risk. Anti-Government armed groups conduct their operations from within densely populated civilian areas, putting civilians in the line of fire and causing them to flee their homes. By using civilian objects, such as schools for military purposes, antiGovernment armed groups subject civilians to the dangers of war. 3. Government forces conduct their military operations in flagrant disregard of the distinction between civilians and persons directly participating in hostilities. 4. The dynamics of the conflict have become increasingly complex. The war has become coloured by veins of sectarianism, permeated by opportunistic criminality, and aggravated by the presence of foreign fighters and extremist groups. 5. Extensive aerial and long-range mortar and artillery capabilities remain in the hands of Government forces. One hundred and seventy-eight interviewees spoke about shelling and aerial bombardments by Government forces. One third of all victims recorded by the commission are children. 6. Anti-Government armed groups have gained some artillery and mortar capability, which have so far been recorded as utilised only in attacks against military objectives such as airfields and bases. Lack of access to Syria has significantly hampered the investigation into the conduct of hostilities by anti-Government armed groups. I. Government forces and affiliated militia A. Aleppo governorate Aleppo city 7. In the first days of Ramadan, starting 20 July, FSA and other anti-Government armed group fighters entered Aleppo city. Soon thereafter, the city was subjected to heavy shelling and aerial bombardment by Government forces. Mash-had, Salah Al-Din, AlShaar, and Al-Sukri neighbourhoods whose residents were supportive of the opposition, were heavily shelled by mortar and artillery from army bases in Al-Zahra, Al-Ramousi, Nayrab airport and Masakin Hananou. Syrian military airplanes and helicopters were reported as having indiscriminately dropped “barrel bombs” on civilian objects causing loss of life and significant destruction of civilian property, failing to take the necessary precautions in attack. Interviewees consistently cited the danger and destruction caused by indiscriminate shelling as the reason they fled Aleppo. a 88 See A/HRC/21/50, Annex II for the applicable law. GE.13-10627