The United Nations political chief has charged the Assad regime with serious crimes in its bombing of Aleppo and demanded that perpetrators be brought to justice.
“Let me be absolutely clear once again: intentional and direct attacks on hospitals are war crimes,” Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday. “Using starvation as a weapon during conflict is a war crime.”
Feltman added that the Assad regime’s bombing campaign in Aleppo over the last two weeks is among “the worst” in the five-year war.
Feltman demanded the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court for war crimes prosecution.
“Those responsible for war crimes must be held to account,” Feltman said.
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in Aleppo said on Tuesday that regime forces were behind the blast outside the Dabbit Hospital located in the regime-held parts of Aleppo, calling for the UN to investigate the incident as well as to investigate the attack on Al-Quds Hospital which was earlier bombed by regime jets.
A statement by the FSA groups on Tuesday said that regime forces orchestrated the blast that targeted the Dabbit Hospital in the western side of Aleppo to blame the FSA and justify the regime’s ongoing massacres in Aleppo.
The statement denied responsibility for the attack, stressing that the location of the hospital and the distribution of front lines clearly show that the FSA groups could not launch such an attack.
The Assad regime’s media outlets accused the FSA of hitting the hospital building with rockets, while all indicators show the explosion outside the hospital was a car bomb. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
