NEW YORK
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power sharply condemned Thursday the Syrian regime's ongoing indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including barrel bombings.
"The Assad regime has apparently grown reliant on the repugnant use of barrel bombs as an instrument of terror against innocent Syrian civilians," Power said in a written statement.
The statement came a week after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution setting up an investigative panel tasked with determining who is to blame for toxic weapons attacks in Syria.
Power said the regime's use of barrel bombs had been widely documented by independent sources and media, adding that the regime forces had dropped more than 2,000 barrel bombs across the country since the first week of July.
"It is long past time for the international community to come together to end the deplorable use of barrel bombs and all other forms of attacks against civilians in Syria," she added.
Barrel bombs are improvised containers typically packed with shrapnel and explosives. Their rudimentary nature means they are unguided. They are believed to have killed thousands of Syrians.
The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed at least 250,000 people and made the country the world's single-largest driver of displacement, according to the UN.
