France: Indiscriminate bombing of Syria’s Idlib could be war crime

France: Indiscriminate bombing of Syria’s Idlib could be war crime
France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday (Sep. 12) that the indiscriminate bombing of Syria’s Idlib region by Russian, Assad regime and Iranian militias could amount to war crimes.

“The hypothesis of war crimes cannot be excluded ... once one begins to indiscriminately bomb civilian populations and hospitals,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers.

 “The situation is extremely serious. We are on the eve of a considerable humanitarian and security catastrophe,” Le Drian said, Reuters reported.

He said that efforts should be made immediately to prepare for a mass humanitarian crisis should thousands of people be displaced by the fighting.

In 2016, the government of former president Francois Hollande said it was working to find a way for the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes that it believed had been committed by Assad regime and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo.

Little came from the French initiative as the court has no jurisdiction for crimes in Syria since Damascus has not signed up to the Rome treaty establishing the ICC.

An estimated 3 million people live in Idlib - the last major stronghold of active opposition to Bashar al-Assad. Assad has vowed to retake the province, backed by his Russian and Iranian allies.

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