The United Nations humanitarian chief has painted a disturbing picture of savagery in Syria and urged the Security Council to take collective action to put an end to the bloodshed.
Valerie Amos has cited an aerial bomb attack on a market in Darkoush last month which killed between 40 and 50 civilians and referred to reports of I-S militants executing civilians after capturing the city of Palmyra.
"For more than four years, we have watched Syria descend into deeper depths of despair surpassing even what the most pessimistic observers thought possible."
That's U-N Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos in her final briefing to the Security Council before handing over the post to Stephen O'Brien.
Fighting in Syria has expanded beyond its five-year civil war to include the activities of the self-proclaimed Islamic State fighters.
In the past five years more than 220,000 people have been killed.
Around half of the country's 23 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, including five million children.
Ms Amos says aid workers were unable to access many of the people under siege in Syria in April.
She accused the Syrian government of introducing new rules and regulations, causing unnecessary delays in delivery of urgently needed aid.
Syria's UN Ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, dismissed her criticism of his government.
He says the real problem is terrorist groups - by which he means opposition forces - getting support from the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Describing her despair at the savagery that has overwhelmed Syria, Ms Amos says the situation appears to be getting worse.
"In the past weeks, we have seen more and more heinous acts. Innocent men, women and children killed, maimed, displaced, and subjected to a savagery that no human should have to endure."
The historic city of Palmyra in Syria is the latest city to come under the control of I-S.
Earlier this week the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said I-S militants shot dead around 20 men in the city's ancient amphitheatre.
This follows reports of a further 217 people killed since I-S moved into the Palmyra area 10 days ago.
Another 300 soldiers were also killed before the Syrian city was captured.
There are concerns also about the threat posed by I-S to ancient Roman relics in the city which for now appear to be unharmed.
Islamic State has destroyed antiquities in neighbouring Iraq, and Syria's antiquities chief has voiced fears that Palmyra's ruins may be next.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has adopted a resolution to save Iraq's cultural heritage, after an appeal by Iraq to save antiquities from further destruction by IS.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson says it's not just Iraq that has something at stake.
"That this is taking place today in Iraq, the cradle of Mesopotamian civilisation, represents a loss not only for the Iraqi people, but truly for all of humanity. The international community must do everything in its power to halt the destruction of Iraq's cultural heritage and to hold perpetrators to account."
IS is only one of the threats currently facing Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Ariha, the last remaining government-held city in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib has been overrun by al-Qaeda-linked rebels and their allies.
Home to 40,000 people before the conflict began, the city was the last remaining government-held city in the province of Idlib, which borders Turkey.
The international response to the conflict in Syria is progressing, says Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has been in high level talks with United States officials.
"Indeed, I think our positions with the United States are getting closer, first and foremost in regard to statements that there can be no alternative to a political solution in Syria."
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