“As warring parties agreed to the evacuation of eastern Aleppo for strategic reasons – and not for the security of civilians or imperative military necessity, which permit the displacement of thousands - the Aleppo evacuation agreement amounts to the war crime of forced displacement,” the report said.
The UN probe also said that Assad regime aircraft "deliberately" bombed and strafed a humanitarian convoy during the battle for Aleppo, killing 14 aid workers and halting relief operations, which amounts to war crimes.
“Syrian air forces targeted a humanitarian aid convoy in Aleppo countryside,” the United Nations Commission of Inquiry said referring to the September 19 attack in Urem al-Kubra, adding that the raid “was meticulously planned and ruthlessly carried out”, to destroy the aid.
"By using air-delivered munitions with the knowledge that humanitarian workers were operating in the location, Syrian forces committed the war crimes of deliberately attacking humanitarian relief personnel, denial of humanitarian aid, and attacking civilians," Reuters quoted the report as saying.
Survivors "consistently described" three stages of attack.
"First helicopters dropped barrel bombs, which struck the warehouse and a family home nearby ... Subsequently, planes, described by several witnesses as Sukhoi jets, carried out attacks, killing several aid workers. Lastly the aircraft fired machine guns at survivors."
The UN Commission of Inquiry’s report - released as Syrian peace talks continue in Geneva - covers the July-December period and is based on 291 interviews with victims and witnesses, as well as analysis of forensic evidence and satellite imagery.
Assad and Russia conducted "daily air strikes" on rebel-held eastern Aleppo between July and its fall on December 22, killing hundreds and destroying hospitals, they said in their latest report.
The inquiry said Assad regime deliberately targeted medical facilities in eastern Aleppo with "repeated bombardments".
"In none of the incidents investigated by the commission were military targets identified as being present in or around the vicinity of a hospital, nor were warnings given prior to any given attack as required by international humanitarian law."
"The lack of warnings and the absence of military presence in the vicinity of the healthcare facilities strongly suggest the deliberate and systematic targeting of medical infrastructure as part of a strategy to compel surrender."
The report focused on the M10 hospital, in al-Sakhour district, which it said was hit four times between late September and mid-October, putting it completely out of service, Middle East Eye reported.
The Atlantic Council and researchers from Goldsmiths University are reconstructing the destruction of M10, after releasing a report and reconstruction about its sister hospital M2 which was "completely destroyed" in repeated air attacks.
The researchers used CCTV footage from inside M2 to piece together the effects of the attacks.
Cluster munitions were "pervasively used" and air-dropped into densely-populated areas, it said, amounting to the war crime of indiscriminate attacks.
But investigators could not say whether both Assad and Russia had used them in Aleppo or only one had. They also did not attribute any specific war crime investigated to Russian forces.
"Throughout the period under review, the skies over Aleppo city and its environs were jointly controlled by Syrian and Russian air forces ... (They) use predominantly the same aircraft and weapons, thus rendering attribution impossible in many cases," the report said.
Assad helicopters unleashed toxic chlorine bombs "throughout 2016" on Aleppo, a banned weapon that caused hundreds of civilian casualties there, Al Jazeera quoted the report as saying.
At least 5,000 Assad regime "forces" also encircled eastern Aleppo in a "surrender or starve" tactic, it said.
Assad and Russian warplanes dropped unguided munitions, known as indiscriminate "dumb bombs" rather than smart bombs that have electronic sensors to find their targets, Reuters quoted the report as saying.
These included aerial bombs, air-to-surface rockets, cluster munitions, incendiary bombs, barrel bombs, and weapons delivering toxic industrial chemicals.
During the recapture of eastern Aleppo, Assad regime arrested doctors and aid workers and committed reprisal executions, the report said.
“Hundreds of men and boys were separated from their families and forcibly conscripted by the Syrian army.”
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