Syrian opposition backed by Western powers are calling on the United States to give "an appropriate response" to the genocide in Aleppo by the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, according to Reuters.
The head of Syria's National Coalition Ahmad Jarba rejected accusations that rebels had targeted Christians and desecrated holy sites in the province of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dated April 8, Reuters reported.
"In the last weeks, the Assad regime has been conducting a particularly intense bombing campaign on Aleppo ... with crude barrel bombs, indiscriminately killing and maiming scores of civilians ... destroying entire neighborhoods and causing a new mass exodus of refugees," Jarba said in the letter, according to Reuters.
"We are still waiting for an appropriate and proportionate response to these massive crimes against humanity, and urge the leaders of the international community, especially the United States and its allies, to take position on this genocide of the Syrian people," Jarba wrote, Reuters reported.
Aleppo was once Syria's commercial hub and remains partly rebel-held since the three-year-old civil war, which has killed 150,000 people, began, according to Reuters.
In December the assault on the city intensified with the Syrian military hitting civilian areas with barrel bombs, which are oil drums packed with explosives and shrapnel, Reuters reported. The attacks drew international condemnation but no action.
Islamist rebels, including fighters from al-Nusra Front, launched an offensive in Latakia taking the border crossing with Turkey and the Armenian Christian village of Kasab, according to Reuters.
The U.N. Security Council has been unable to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court because Russia, which as a permanent member has veto power, is opposed to the move, Reuters reported. Russia is also supported by China, who has shielded ally Syria from Security Council action during the ongoing civil war.
