I. Introduction
1. The present report is the twenty - third submitted pursuant to paragraph 17 of Security Council resolution 2139 (2014), paragraph 10 of Council resolution 2165 (2014), paragraph 5 of Council resolution 2191 (2014) and paragraph 5 of Council resolution 2258 (2015), in which the Council requested the Secretary - General to report, every 30 days, on the implementation of the resolutions by all parties to the conflict in the Syrian Ara b Republic.
2. The information contained herein is based on the information available to United Nations agencies on the ground, from the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, other Syrian sources and open sources. Data from United Nations agencies on the ir humanitarian deliveries have been reported for the period from to 31 December 2015. More recent data have been included, where available.
II. Major developments
A. Political/military
3. Widespread conflict and high levels of violence contin ued throughout the Syrian Arab Republic in December. Indiscriminate and disproportionate aerial bombings and ground attacks by Government forces and indiscriminate shelling by non - State armed opposition groups and designated terrorist groups continued to k ill, injure and displace civilians. The conduct of hostilities by all parties continued to be characterized by a widespread disregard for the rules of international humanitarian law and the obligation of all parties to protect civilians.
4. In December, deaths of civilians were reported by different actors. The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented the killing of 1,446 civilians, while the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reported that 222 civilians had been killed and 585 injured. The United Na tions received reports of the alleged use of barrel bombs by Government forces, reportedly resulting in the deaths of 76 individuals, including 12 children in December. The United Nations was not able to independently verify those numbers.
5. Heavy fighti ng continued to be reported in Damascus and Rif Dimashq in December. Government forces carried out several offensives. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between 4 and 16 December, some 72 civilians in Duma, including 19 children, were reportedly killed in air strikes and ground offensives. OHCHR also received reports of air strikes hitting the Souk al - Tijari market in Jisreen on 4 December, reportedly killing 26 civilians, including six children. On th e same day, the main square in Kafr Batna was reportedly hit, killing 15 civilians, including four children. On 25 December, the leader of the Army of Islam, Zahran Alloush, and five other members of the group were killed in an air strike on Duma, which, a lthough publicly claimed by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, was attributed to the Russian Federation by the Army of Islam.
6. On 22 and 23 December, Syrian Government forces reportedly attacked a rebel - held town south - west of Damascus, in Moadamiya, with artillery fire and helicopters dropping barrel bombs. Local activists, opposition groups and monitors accused the Government of using chemical weapons in the operation, alleging that five people, including one civilian, died of suffocation following a missile attack on 22 December. It was not possible to verify that claim.
7. Non - State armed opposition groups continued to launch mortars and shell Damascus city during the reporting period. According to sources on the ground, on 2 December, 3 civilians were reportedly killed and 26 others injured, including students at the Al - Sham Higher Institute in the Rukn al - Din neighbourhood, which was hit by mortars. On the same day, a mortar struck the Civil Engineering College in the Baramkeh neighbo urhood of Damascus city, injuring two students and a professor. According to reports by the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, on 3 December, 14 mortars and rockets hit the capital, killing 3 persons and injuring 26 others. Later, on 8 December, 12 ro ckets and missiles hit a school, a hospital and sports facilities, injuring seven persons. On 12 and 13 December, 91 rockets and missiles hit mainly civilian areas, kil ling 15 persons and injuring 56 others. On December, the Permanent Mission of the Syr ian Arab Republic to the United Nations in Geneva informed OHCHR that the “Beiruni” and “French” hospitals in Damascus had been hit on 8 December by rocket fire, killing one staff member and injuring another.
8. On 19 December, Lebanese militant and membe r of Hizbullah , Samir Kuntar, was killed by an explosion that destroyed a six - story residential building in Jaramana, south - east of Damascus.
The explosion also reportedly killed eight others, including Hizbullah commanders, and injured several more. Accor ding to official Syrian sources, Samir Kuntar was killed by a “rocket attack”. Hizbullah alleged that two Israeli jets had penetrated Syrian airspace to carry out the attack. The United Nations is not in a position to confirm or deny that assertion.
9. Du ring the reporting period, intensive fighting continued in different parts of Aleppo governorate. Pro - Government ground forces, supported by Government and Russian air strikes, hit areas controlled by non - State armed opposition groups close to the Turkish - Syrian border, including several villages close to the Bab al - Hawa and Bab al - Salam border crossings. In southern Aleppo, Government forces made advances, seizing the towns of Khan Touman, Karasna and surrounding areas from non - State armed opposition group s and the Nusrah Front on 20 December. Government forces also continued to advance in eastern rural Aleppo towards the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) strongholds of Deir Hafir and Bab. On 29 December, ISIL reportedly started to withdraw from B ab town and surrounding villages north - east of Aleppo. On 11 December, non - State armed opposition groups made advances against ISIL, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, along its remaining stretch of border with Turkey, and seized Hamzat village.