UNITED NATIONS, December 27, /ITAR-TASS/. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the escalating violence in Syria would only benefit those who were seeking armed interference in the conflict.
“Further escalation of violence will only serve the agendas of those who see military means as the only way forward, at the expense of the Syrian people who have suffered enough already,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.
He urged all parties to the conflict to “adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law.”
“All civilians must be protected in any situation,” the statement said.
Ban spoke out against the use of so-called “barrel bombs” - oil drums filled with explosives and shrapnel and dropped by aircraft - which he said are adding “yet another appalling dimension to the fighting.”
He voiced grave concern about the continued and indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and mortar shelling in the ongoing conflict, most recently in hard-hit Aleppo which has been the site of a “barrel bomb” campaign.
More than 100,000 people have already been killed in Syria and 8 million driven from their homes, with 2 million of them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, since the conflict first erupted in March 2011.