UN panel says evacuation of Syria's Aleppo was a war crime

Paulo Pinheiro, Chairperson of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, speaks to the media during a press conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 1, 2017. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) (The Associated Press)

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Carla del Ponte, Member of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, attends a press conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 1, 2017. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) (The Associated Press)

Paulo Pinheiro, right, Chairperson, Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and Carla del Ponte, left, Member of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, speak to the media during a press conference, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 01, 2017. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP) (The Associated Press)

GENEVA – A U.N. panel says the evacuation of eastern Aleppo in December after months of siege and aerial bombing by Russian and Syrian forces was the latest in a series of war crimes committed in the six-year-old conflict.

The Commission of Inquiry on Syria issued a report Wednesday looking at violations by all parties in the final chapter of the battle for Aleppo. It singled out a "particularly egregious attack" in which Syrian warplanes targeted a humanitarian aid convoy.

The agreement to evacuate rebel-held eastern Aleppo gave civilians no option to remain at the end of the protracted campaign, in which daily bombings left all the hospitals in the area out of service.

The commission said such agreements "amount to the war crime of forced displacement of the civilian population."