An international human rights group is calling on the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government following airstrikes on a rebel-held suburb that killed more than 100 people.
Many of those killed in the Aug. 16 attacks that targeted Douma's popular markets and residential areas were civilians. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a press release Thursday that the U.N. should also refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at HRW, says bombing a market full of shoppers and vendors shows the Syrian government's "appalling disregard for civilians."
He says the Security Council should bring the same commitment to ending indiscriminate strikes on civilians as it has to chemical attacks.