UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2019) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should make public the results of the United Nation's board of Inquiry probe into airstrikes against civilian infrastructure in Syria's Idlib, US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said on Thursday.
"We stand ready to support the Board's work and encourage all member states to do the same," Craft told the UN Security Council. "Additionally, we call for the Secretary-General to make the Board's final report public."
Craft said the intentional targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, especially in de-conflicting zones such as Idlib, represents a violation of international humanitarian law, and issuing a public report would help to establish accountability for the attacks.
The Board of Inquiry is set to begin investigating on September 30 the series of incidents in which UN-supported facilities in a dozen locations in northwest Syria have been destroyed or damaged in airstrikes since late April.
On August 1, Guterres launched the probe after two-thirds of the UN Security Council members expressed concern over the lack of an inquiry into the incidents in Syria.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the United Nations probe as provocative and promoted by countries that are hostile to the Syrian government and the joint counterterrorism efforts it has undertaken with Russia.
