Why Syrian President Assad is considered a war criminal

Tuesday’s chemical attack that killed at least 86 people, including 27 children, is the latest in a series of atrocities linked to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The United Nations previously accused his government of committing war crimes against the Syrian people during a brutal six-year-long civil war that continues without end.

Here are other actions Assad has been accused of taking that have triggered global condemnation:

Chemical weapons

In 2013, Assad’s military launched a nerve gas attack in the suburbs of Damascus that killed hundreds of people. Under international pressure, he agreed to a plan to destroy his chemical weapons stockpiles. Since then, however, his regime has been linked to attacks using chlorine, which is more easily made from industrial sources. Most countries ban the storage or use of chemical weapons. Nerve gas is suspected in this week's attack.

Barrel bombs

Assad’s military has regularly used these improvised explosives against rebels. But the regime has used them in cities where their destruction is indiscriminate. The bombs are packed with explosives and shrapnel that cause wide areas of damage and commonly are dropped from helicopters. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said in a report that the Syrian regime helicopters dropped nearly 13,000 barrel bombs in 2016, killing hundreds of civilians, including children.

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Torture

The civil war broke out in March 2011 after teenagers were arrested and tortured for painting revolutionary graffiti. Human Rights Watch has reported many other incidents of torture by the regime. A U.N. report detailed inhumane conditions inside many of Syria’s prisons.

Starvation

Syrian military forces have laid siege to rebel-held cities in Syria, depriving residents of food, water and medicine — and bombing humanitarian aid convoys trying to reach the trapped Syrians. The result has been starvation and rampant disease, according to Amnesty International. Deliberately targeting civilians and indiscriminate bombings is considered a war crime under international law. “Most of the sieges are imposed and maintained by forces loyal to the government of President Bashar Assad,” Amnesty International reported.

Destruction

The civil war has forced the displacement of about 9 million Syrians, nearly half the country's pre-war population, according to Amnesty International. Some remain inside the country and most live in deplorable conditions because the destruction of homes and other buildings is so extensive.

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