France on Tuesday said that the bombings on eastern Ghouta by the Assad regime and its allies “constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
“These indiscriminate attacks deliberately target inhabited areas and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities. They constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” read a statement by the French Foreign Ministry.
“These actions are the responsibility of the Syrian regime, but also of Russia and Iran who are its main supporters and who, under the Astana agreement, have guaranteed a cease-fire that is supposed to apply to Ghouta.
“France calls on all its partners in the United Nations Security Council to take responsibility for finally reaching a humanitarian truce,” concluded the statement.
The Syrian Coalition on Tuesday stressed that the military escalation in many areas across Syria, especially in eastern Ghouta is clearly aimed at undermining all chances of reaching a political solution. It said that there is no denying the fact that Russia wants to bury the UN-led political process altogether.
The UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, earlier warned that the current situation in Syria is the worst in four years, calling for protection of Syrian civilians.
The United Nations on Tuesday called for an immediate end to the targeting of civilians in eastern Ghouta.
“The humanitarian situation of civilians in East Ghouta is spiraling out of control. It’s imperative to end this senseless human suffering now. Such targeting of innocent civilians and infrastructure must stop now,” Panos Moumtzis, the UN’s regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Rights groups warned of the collapse of the “de-escalation zones,” agreements after hundreds of civilians were killed and wounded in an intensifying bombing campaign on eastern Ghouta by the Assad regime and its allies in recent weeks.
The bombing campaign on eastern Ghouta, one of the areas covered by the “de-escalation zones,” agreements, killed at least 120 civilians in the past 24 hours. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
