UN special envoy slams air raids in Syria

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Monday condemned Sunday's air raids on a market place in Douma, located northeast of Damascus.

According to preliminary reports, the attack claimed scores of lives and injured significant numbers of people. The death toll is still being determined.

"The government's bombing of Douma yesterday is devastating. Attacks on civilian areas with aerial indiscriminate bombs, such as vacuum bombs, are prohibited under international law. Hitting crowded civilian markets killing almost one hundred of its own citizens by a government is unacceptable in any circumstances," Mistura said.

Sunday's attack came on the heels of indiscriminate shelling of Damascus last week by armed opposition groups and the cutting off of water supplies, all measures which affect civilians and are also unacceptable.

The special envoy's office said the "latest attack is yet another illustration of the brutality of the ongoing conflict."

Mistura said humanitarian access must be allowed unconditionally and the killing must stop, adding a solution to the conflict would not be achieved through military means, as had been proven over the recent years.

The special envoy called on all Syrian parties to urgently cease all acts of violence and start dialogue to find a political solution to this crisis. Endit