Minister al-Zoubi said that the ‘armed terrorist groups’ who broke into the headquarters of al-Ikhbariya perpetrated a heinous crime executing the journalists, employees and civil guards, telephone operators, exploding the studios, looting some of the Channel technical sets, state television SANA reported.

Minister al-Zoubi said, “This massacre won’t go unpunished and the broadcast of the Syrian al-Ikhbariya Satellite Channel will not stop and we hold the EU, Arab and International organizations responsible for this massacre.”

Minister al-Zoubi added that the EU decision in Luxembourg to impose sanctions on Syrian TV and Radio Syria “had been crowned today with this terrorist attack against al-Ikhbariya Satellite Channel”.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday his country was in a state of war and ordered his newly appointed government to direct all policies towards winning this war.

United Nations investigators said on Wednesday that growing numbers of Syrians are being targeted in the country’s conflict on account of their religion.

“Where previously victims were targeted on the basis of their being pro- or anti-government, the Commission of Inquiry has recorded a growing number of incidents where victims appear to have been targeted because of their religious affiliation,” said a report delivered to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Investigators also blamed Syrian government forces of committing human rights violations, including executions, across the country “on an alarming scale” during military operations over the last three months, according to Al Arabiya.