UN to investigate attacks on humanitarian sites in northwest Syria

The United Nations will investigate attacks on UN-supported facilities and other humanitarian sites in northwest Syria, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday (August 1), two days after two-thirds of the Security Council pushed for an inquiry.

Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Peru, Poland, Kuwait, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia delivered a demarche - a formal diplomatic petition - to Guterres on Tuesday over the lack of an inquiry into attacks on some 14 locations.

“The investigation will cover destruction of, or damage to facilities on the deconfliction list and UN-supported facilities in the area,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, adding that it will “ascertain the facts of these incidents and report to the Secretary-General.”

“The Secretary-General urges all parties concerned to cooperate with the board once it has been established,” he said.

The locations of the UN supported facilities and other humanitarian sites like hospitals and health centers had been shared with the warring parties in a bid to protect them. However, the United Nations has questioned whether it made them a target.

Based on Reuters