Response Coordinators Group calls on the international community to hold responsibilities and provide protection for civilians

The Syria Response Coordinators team strongly condemned the targeting by the Syrian Democratic Forces of Al-Shifa Hospital in the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, which caused great damage to the hospital, causing dozens of casualties and injuries among civilians, including cadres working within the hospital.

The team stressed that members of the international community, and in particular the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, are required to stand up to their responsibilities and obligations to provide protection to civilians, facilities and infrastructure, and to intervene immediately and urgently to stop the series of crimes against civilians.

The team stressed that the international community’s continued silence is an open invitation to all parties to continue defying the rules of international law, to act above the law, and to commit more crimes against civilians.

The team called on the United Nations to form an independent and urgent investigation committee into the recent targeting, in addition to the previous targeting by the Assad regime and its Russian ally on all areas of northwest Syria, given that all the previously formed committees did not achieve the desired goal and did not specify the exact responsibility of the concerned parties for those targets.

Yesterday, the Syrian Democratic Forces targeted the residential neighborhoods of Afrin with artillery shells, which led to the death of 15 civilians, including women and medical staff in Al-Shifa Hospital in the center of the city.

The bombing also wounded more than 20 people, including 3 Syrian Civil Defense volunteers.

The escalation of the bombing operations against the liberated areas in northern Syria comes within the framework of its project aimed at disturbing the peace of the region, creating a state of chaos and preventing stability, thus seeking to impede the growth of the social, economic and military aspects in northern Syria.