Saudi Arabia urges trial of war criminals in Syria

By Ahmed al-Masri

RIYADH (AA) - Saudi Arabia has called for the trial of war criminals in war-ravaged Syria before international tribunals.

During a session Monday, the Saudi Cabinet called on the international community to take “practical steps with a view to halting bloodshed of civilians and protecting women and children from abuses committed by the Bashar al-Assad regime and allied militias”, according to the official SPA news agency.

It went on to underline the need “to refer war criminals in Syria to international justice”.

Saudi Arabia is a main backer of Syrian opposition groups fighting the Assad regime.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests - which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings - with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.