HRW to UN: Block flow of arms to Syria

An international rights group has called on the UN Security Council to block the flow of weapons to Syria.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday the UNSC should impose an arms embargo on “any groups implicated in widespread or systematic human rights abuses.”

HRW’s statement said that “at least some of the improvised weapons used (by rebels fighting an offensive on government areas in Aleppo) are prone to indiscriminate effects when used to attack populated residential areas.”

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. Damascus says the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — have been fuelling the unrest by providing militants with money and weapons.

Reports say the conflict has killed more than 150,000 people and displaced millions more.