Members of the European Parliament strongly condemned all attacks against civilians and hospitals in Syria, including a recent attack on a humanitarian relief convoy and a Red Crescent warehouse near Aleppo, which constitutes a war crime. They called for those guilty of committing such crimes to be held to account.
In a resolution voted on Thursday in Strasbourg, MEPs called upon “all parties in the conflict, and especially Russia and Assad regime, to stop all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including water and electrical infrastructure […] to lift all sieges and to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian agencies to reach people in need.”
The resolution urged all International Syria Support Group members “to resume negotiations to facilitate the establishment of a stable truce” and to find a lasting political settlement in Syria. The EU should play “a more pronounced role in mediating a peace deal in Syria”, it added.
The Coalition’s legal committee on Thursday urged the Arab League to force the regime to stop its massacres against the Syrian people through calling on the UN Security Council to assume its responsibilities towards Syrian civilians and hold an emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in Syria, especially the situation in Aleppo.
The committee stressed the need for the Arab League to call on the UN Security Council to take immediate, concrete action to protect civilians and enforce its resolutions on Syria, especially resolutions 2139, 2042, 2254 and 2268. These resolutions called for ending military operations as well as stopping the use of heavy weapons, the indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas, and barrel bomb attacks. They also called for lifting the blockades on the besieged areas and allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in need. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)