A/HRC/34/5 36. New Zealand remained concerned at the grave and deteriorating human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, which had both helped cause the current conflict and was exacerbated by it. 37. The delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic rejected the lessons in human rights offered by Israel, given that country’s long record of violating all human rights, as documented in many United Nations reports. Israel had been exploiting the current situation in the region to consolidate its occupation of the Golan, in flagrant violation of relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly 497 (1981), and by supporting Nusrah Front terrorists along the disengagement zone. 38. The Syrian armed forces had complied fully with the obligation to protect civilians from the atrocities committed by armed terrorist groups. The situation in Aleppo afforded conclusive evidence of those heinous crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of residential neighbourhoods, markets, schools and hospitals in western parts of the city by terrorist groups, keeping a hold on some parts of the city and using civilians there as human shields. 39. Concerning humanitarian assistance to the so-called besieged areas, the sieges were not imposed by the Government but by the armed terrorist groups. The Government had cooperated with the United Nations in the delivery of assistance to all areas. According to the available data, relief had been provided on a monthly basis, under the response programmes and in cooperation with humanitarian agencies, to about 4.5 million beneficiaries in all parts of the country without exception. Since the beginning of 2016, the Government had facilitated the implementation of additional monthly response plans aimed at providing assistance to unstable areas, in cooperation with United Nations humanitarian agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). According to the most recent high relief committee data, humanitarian and health-care assistance had been provided to 1,553,402 beneficiaries in 79 districts during the period from January to August 2016. 40. As for Aleppo, the Government had complied with its obligations under the agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States on the cessation of hostilities, while the groups supported by the United States had continued to attack army positions and residential areas. Six safe passages had been created for humanitarian relief and two such passages had been created for the evacuation of militants. However, the armed groups had targeted the passages and threatened those attempting to flee. 41. The State had ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Act No. 11 of 2013 had amended the Criminal Code to criminalize the recruitment of children. A national committee had been established to document violations of children’s rights, to combat the recruitment of children by armed groups and to treat those children as victims. 42. The Government was prepared to cooperate with those Human Rights Council mechanisms that were interested in securing a consensus but not with those whose approach was conducive to polarization. The results of the votes in the Council on resolutions pertaining to the work of the Commission of Inquiry demonstrated the scale of the discord concerning its mandate. 43. Responding to Luxembourg, the delegation stressed that so-called barrel bombs did not exist in the Syrian army records and that the army used conventional weapons, targeting only terrorists who threatened civilians. 44. The Government invited the United Nations to conduct an inquiry into the first incident involving chemical weapons, which had occurred in Aleppo in 2013, and noted that the Governments currently raising concerns had delayed the inquiry at the time. The 7