Syria and Islamic State Committing War Crimes and Atrocities, says UN

United Nations investigators in a report published Wednesday said that both the Syrian government and the Islamic State militants were committing war crimes and other atrocities.

The Syrian Army has used bombs which contain chemical agents like chlorine in civilian areas, investigators said.

The  Syrian army used such bombs eight times in Western Syria during April and May, said the UN report, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Under international law, using chemical weapons is a war crime and is prohibited. The 1992 convention held in Geneva made it clear that chlorine gas is a chemical weapon.

The Syrian army has carried out missile and barrel bomb attacks in civilians areas between January and July,  resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people.

Prisoners also undergo terrible torture and sexual assault in the state prisons, according to BBC.

Regarding the Islamic State, the report said the militant group instills fear among the public by conducting amputations, public-executions and whippings.

"In areas of Syria under [Isis] control, particularly in the north and north-east of the country, Fridays are regularly marked by executions, amputations and lashings in public squares," the independent commission of inquiry on the human rights situation in Syria said, according to The Guardian.

The Commission said that bodies of the dead people are put on display for many days in order to create fear among the locals.

Investigators have also prepared four confidential lists of suspects who they think should be brought before the International justice system. The investigators also asked the UN Security Council to refer the cases of crimes and atrocities in Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

"Accountability must be part of any future settlement, if it is to result in an enduring peace. Too many lives have been lost and shattered," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the panel, said, reports The Guardian.