The United Nations has issued a report placing most of the blame for the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria on the government of President Bashar al-Assad. An anonymous American official told Reuters:

What the report shows is that the magnitude and frequency of violence committed by the Assad regime far outstrips that of the armed groups in Syria. The Syrian government’s massive and indiscriminate use of violence is the single most important factor driving the humanitarian crisis. The report is very clear on this and in pointing to the government’s failure to implement the resolution’s provisions.

The report, issued by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, documents the lack of progress in implementing the unanimously approved Security Council Resolution 2139 passed in February, demanding that both sides, but especially the Syrian government, “promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for UN humanitarian agencies.”

Despite this consensus the report says that 175,000 people remain under siege by the Syrian government. 45,000 are under siege by rebel groups.

The Security Council is set to discuss the report this Friday, but a number of diplomats told Reuters that Russia is expected to block any efforts to punish Syria for its non-compliance.

Despite February’s resolution, Syria has continued what columnist Michael Gerson calls, “the most transparent campaign of mass atrocities in history.”

In the March, 2014 issue The Tower magazine Brooklyn Middleton argues in Yes, We Really Can Stop the Slaughter in Syria for invoking the doctrine of Right to Protect to intervene because “The people of Syria cannot wait for the bureaucrats and panjandrums in New York.”

[Photo: Freedom House / Flickr ]