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Iran condemns as 'unacceptable' French raids on Syria village

Wednesday, 20 July 2016 5:11 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 20 July 2016 5:53 PM ]

This picture taken on February 1, 2016 by the French Defense Audiovisual Communication and Production Unit (ECPAD) shows a Rafale fighter jet taxiing on an undisclosed base purportedly used for raids against Daesh. ©AFP

Iran has denounced as “unacceptable” the recent airstrikes by the French jets on a Syrian village that killed dozens of civilians.

“Bombing and killing defenseless people, especially women and children, with any aim or under any pretext is unacceptable, condemned and against international law,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, said on Wednesday.

French warplanes targeted the village of Tukhar near the city of Manbij in the province of Aleppo, killing at least 120 civilians, according to the Syrian Foreign Ministry, which added that scores of other civilians remain unaccounted for following the attack.

According to the ministry, the fatalities came a day after a US airstrike killed at least 20 civilians in Manbij.

Following the raids, the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN, calling for a Security Council resolution to condemn the deaths, state-run news agency SANA reported.

In the letter, Syria said “illegal” US-led airstrikes pointed their weapons at “innocent civilians and infrastructure, instead of pointing them to terrorist groups.”

“Syria stresses that whoever wants to battle the terrorists must coordinate with the Syrian government,” read the letter.

'Largest loss of civilian life'

Meanwhile, Amnesty International said scores of men, women and children were killed in their homes in the village on July 18-19.

The bombing of the village “may have resulted in the largest loss of civilian life by coalition operations in Syria. There must be a prompt, independent and transparent investigation to determine what happened, who was responsible, and how to avoid further needless loss of civilian life,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, the interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.

“Anyone responsible for violations of international humanitarian law must be brought to justice and victims and their families should receive full reparation,” the Amnesty official added.

The latest deaths add to what are estimated to be hundreds of civilians killed in Syria as a result of airstrikes by US-led coalition forces against purported Daesh positions there since September 2014. Media have also reported civilian casualties stemming from the coalition’s operations in Iraq.

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