UN finds no evidence proving Damascus’ role in strikes on Idlib hospitals

World April 07, 2020, 0:52

The commission handed over its findings to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

UN, April 6. /TASS/. The UN Board of Inquiry into certain incidents involving civilian facilities in Syria has been unable to find sufficient evidence of the Syrian government's involvement into strikes on UN-supported hospitals in Idlib, according to a summary of the board’s report published on Monday.

"In the light of the information available to it, the Board found that it was highly probable that the strikes had been carried out by the Government of Syria and/or its allies. However, the evidence at its disposal was not sufficient for the Board to each a conclusive finding on the attribution of the incident to any individual or entity," the report says in its section, devoted to a strike on a hospital in Kafr Nabl.

Similar wording is used with regard to five other incidents at UN-controlled facilities.

The commission says that terrorist groups are with a high degree of probability responsible for one incident - an attack on a refugee camp.

The commission handed over its findings to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The report served as a basis for the secretary general’s recommendations to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) regarding its further work in Syria.

In late July, the United Nations Secretary General established an inquiry board to investigate air attack on civil infrastructure facilities in Syria’s Idlib. An inquiry for such a probe was issued by ten members of the UN Security Council, namely the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Peru, Poland, Kuwait, the Dominican Republic, and Indonesia.

The Russian foreign ministry described this decision as provocative. Moreover, it called to question the secretary general’s competences for taking such decision without the UN Security Council’s approval. Meanwhile, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said that Moscow would share all information it had on incidents in Idlib with the United Nations.

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