A/HRC/34/64 97. In one of the most egregious attacks conducted during the period under review, a humanitarian convoy was hit by an air strike, which killed 15 aid workers and destroyed much-needed aid supplies. The means and methods employed and the circumstances in which the attack was carried out indicate that Syrian forces sought to deliberately obstruct the delivery of humanitarian aid. Under international humanitarian law, aid workers enjoy protection and may not be made the object of attack. By using air-delivered munition with the knowledge that humanitarian workers were operating in the location, Syrian forces committed the war crimes of deliberately attacking humanitarian relief personnel, denial of humanitarian aid, and attacking civilians. 98. An alarming number of allegations of the use of chlorine were reported during the siege of eastern Aleppo. In at least two incidents, chlorine bombs were airdropped by Syrian forces, resulting in civilian casualties, many of them children. The use of chlorine, regardless of the presence of a valid military objective, is prohibited by customary international humanitarian law as well as by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, to which the Syrian Arab Republic is a party. The continued use of chlorine by Syrian forces evinces a blatant disregard for international legal obligations, and also amounts to the war crime of indiscriminate attacks against a civilian population. 99. Syrian and/or Russian air forces pervasively used cluster munitions, which killed and injured civilians. Given the large number of sub-munitions that each cluster bomb releases, their use in such a densely populated area as eastern Aleppo city amounts to the use of an inherently indiscriminate weapon, constituting the war crime of indiscriminate attacks in a civilian populated area. 100. Shortly after government forces laid siege to eastern Aleppo city, armed groups in western Aleppo countryside and eastern Aleppo city bombed Sheikh Maqsoud with the expressed intent of taking revenge on its majority Kurdish population. A series of intentional attacks resulted in the death and injury of civilians, amounting to the war crime of deliberately directing attacks against a civilian population. 101. Throughout the siege of eastern Aleppo, armed groups continuously shelled western Aleppo using mostly unguided and imprecise weaponry, such as improvised rockets and mortars. One of the most commonly used weapons were so-called “hell canons”. The nature of the weapons used and the absence of a military presence in the majority of cases reviewed terrorized residents of western Aleppo in violation of the international humanitarian law principle of distinction. These attacks therefore amount to the war crime of indiscriminate attacks against a civilian population. 102. Some armed groups also committed the war crimes of withholding the distribution of humanitarian aid from the besieged population under their control, and actively denied civilian freedom of movement, used civilians as human shields, conducted arbitrary arrests and used civilian buildings for military purposes. 103. The recapture of eastern Aleppo was characterized by reprisals, the most serious of which were executions by members of pro-Government forces of hors de combat armed groups fighters and the murder of their civilian family members. Arbitrary arrests of persons suspected of supporting armed groups, including doctors and humanitarian workers, were made, and men and boys were subjected to forced conscription. 104. After the recapture of eastern Aleppo, the Government and armed groups reached an agreement that led to the evacuation of the remaining population. Under the terms of the agreement, which follows previous similar agreements, including 20