First we told Assad that killing civilians with chemical weapons is unacceptable.
Now we are saying that barrel bombs rolled out of helicopter doors over civilian neighborhoods are wrong.
And now the UN Secretary General says that heavy artillery is a problem:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern over use of heavy weapons and mortar shelling in the conflict in Syria.
He brought up the barrel bomb issue, too.
We can gradually limit what Assad kills civilians with, I suppose. If Assad cooperates.
Eventually, we might get him down to grenades, rifles, and machetes. That's not a problem, right?
UPDATE: Thanks to Stones Cry Out for the link.
Although it is a good point that rebels who dress as civilians bear responsibility for mistaken killings of civilians by the counter-rebel force--and one I've made often enough about our campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan--Assad is deliberately trying not to discriminate between combatants and civilians. Indeed, targetting civilians is deliberate. Which is a war crime separate from rebel failure to wear uniforms to distinguish them from civilians.
Given that the rebels hold territory, it really wouldn't be much of a problem for them to wear distinctive dress and avoid this problem.
But Assad targets civilians, regardless of rebel guilt in looking like civilians.
