U.N. Probe Shows War Crimes a 'Daily Reality' in Syria, Points to Possible Chemical Weapons Use

Crimes against humanity are happening daily in Syria, a team of U.N. investigators said Tuesday, adding the both sides have committed massacres, engaged in torture and may have used chemical weapons.

"War crimes and crimes against humanity have become a daily reality in Syria," the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a report delivered to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, adding it had "reasonable grounds to believe that chemical agents have been used as weapons."

"Allegations have been received concerning the use of chemical weapons by both parties," it said, adding that "the majority concern their use by government forces".

There are "reasonable grounds to believe that chemical agents have been used as weapons," the investigators said.

It was the first time the commission, which has been tasked with probing rights violations in Syria since the conflict erupted in 2011, added the suspected use of chemical agents to its long list of war crimes committed in the country.

Without providing details, the report lists four chemical attacks: on the Khan al-Asal neighborhood of the northern battleground of Aleppo and Uteibah, near Damascus, both on March 19, on the Sheikh Maqsood district of Aleppo on April 13, and on the northwestern town of Saraqab on April 29.

"It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator," said the report, which covers the period from January 15 to May 15 this year.

A number of diplomats voiced alarm at the possible use of chemical agents, with the EU representative saying: "Any such use would represent a grave violation of international law."

Commission member Carla del Ponte, a high-profile former war crimes prosecutor, warned however that focusing too heavily on chemical weapons could overshadow the overall suffering in a country where more than 94,000 people have been killed in over two years of violence.

"We have so many deaths in Syria now... so please don't make the use of chemical weapons in Syria now the most important issue," she told reporters.

The report said "war crimes and crimes against humanity have become a daily reality in Syria," while the Brazilian head of the commission, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, said: "Syria is in free-fall."

During the four months covered by the report, investigators said 17 suspected massacres took place, out of a total of 30 since the conflict began in March 2011.

Damascus has so far barred the commission from the country, and investigators have instead based their conclusions on more than 1,600 interviews with refugees and exiles, as well as by Skype and telephone with victims and witnesses inside Syria.

The commission also called for Damascus to grant full access for another group of experts tasked by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon with investigating the possible use of chemical weapons but who have been barred by the regime.

Russia's representative echoed Syrian claims that the report was biased, insisting that Damascus had invited the chemical weapons inspectors to probe the Khan al-Asal attack, believed to have been carried out by rebels.

In his speech to the council, Pinheiro said some opposition groups were using children younger than 15 in battle, adding: "This is a war crime that causes unspeakable harm to children and destroys families and entire communities."

According to the report, 86 child combatants have so far been killed in the conflict -- nearly half of them in 2013.

The commission, which has drawn up a confidential list of suspected perpetrators, has repeatedly called on a deadlocked U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Several countries echoed that appeal Tuesday, with U.S. representative Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe insisting perpetrators "should know that the world is watching and they will be identified and held responsible".

The investigators also called on the international community to refrain from shipping arms to Syria.

"It is an illusion that more weapons will tip the balance between the two parties," Pinheiro told reporters, insisting that "more weapons will only lead to more civilian deaths and wounded".

Del Ponte said international arms suppliers "could carry joint criminal responsibility" for violations committed with the weapons.

Tuesday's report accuses the Syrian army and its allies, including foreign fighters like Hizbullah, of suspected "atrocities against women and children," murders, torture, and forced displacements, among other crimes.

It also accuses armed opposition groups of a litany of war crimes, including summary executions and torture, but said they had not reached the scale or intensity of those committed by the regime.