The United Nations will investigate attacks on its humanitarian facilities in northwest Syria, the international body’s secretary general said, only days after two-thirds of the UN Security Council (UNSC) called for an inquiry.
The investigation will cover destruction of, or damage to, facilities on the deconfliction list and UN-supported facilities in the area since September 2018, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a board was being established to lead the investigation. “The investigation will cover destruction of, or damage to facilities on the deconfliction list and UN-supported facilities in the area,” Dujarric said in a statement, adding that it will “ascertain the facts of these incidents and report to the secretary-general.”
Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Peru, Poland, Kuwait, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia delivered a formal diplomatic petition to Guterres earlier this week asking him to launch the probe.
The Syrian National Coalition earlier stressed the importance of holding accountable all perpetrators of war crimes in Syria. The Coalition said that the Assad regime and Russia’s insistence on bombing medical facilities and vital civilian facilities indicated that they were seeking to undermine all chances of reaching a political solution in Syria.
Human rights organizations have documented dozens of attacks on medical facilities in Syria, including MSF which said that regime forces have bombed medical centers it supports in Idlib province. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
