France ‘firmly’ condemns attack on Syrian hospital

France’s new foreign minister has issued a statement in which he has “firmly” condemned the bombing of a hospital in northern Syria run by Doctors Without Borders.

Jean-Marc Ayrault said Monday that attacks like these, in which six patients and a hospital employee were killed, are “unacceptable and must stop immediately.”

He said that they “could constitute war crimes.” Ayrault, who was given the post of foreign minister last week following the departure of Laurent Fabius, said that countries should work to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian assistance in all troubled areas of Syria.

Meanwhile, The United Nations said nearly 50 civilians were killed Monday in missile strikes on five hospitals and two schools in northern Syria, just days before a proposed brokered truce is to begin.

The United States and aid groups blamed the Syrian government and Russian allies for the airstrikes.

Doctors Without Borders said a hospital it funds in Maarat al-Numan, in Idlib province, was hit by four rockets in attacks that were minutes apart, killing seven people and leaving eight staff members missing and presumed dead. The international charity said about 15 buildings in the area were hit.

The Doctors Without Borders hospital in Maarat al-Numan had 54 staff members, two operating theaters, 30 beds, an outpatient department and an emergency room, the charity said.

“This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,” said the agency's Head of Mission, Massimiliano Rebaudengo. “The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict.”

The Iranian regime has provided major military support for the Assad regime over the past few years, sending in its own troops and fighters from its proxy Hezbollah.

The clerical regime in Iran has considerably ramped up its criminal dispatch of forces to Syria amassing tens of thousands of its Revolutionary Guards and non-Iranian mercenaries around Aleppo to cruelly slaughter the deprived people of villages, townships and towns in this region in tandem with the brutal bombings of the civilians.

Speaking to families of Iranians killed in Syria fighting for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said if his regime had not gone abroad to “fight the enemy”, it would have to fight them inside Iran.

Khat-e Hezbollah (Line of Hezbollah), a publication distributed by Khamenei’s official website, Khamenei.ir, published the comments by the regime’s Supreme Leader during a meeting with the families of Iranians killed both in Syria and Iraq.

Khamenei was quoted as saying: “If your martyrs had not gone to fight the enemy, the enemy would have come to enter our country. We would have to fight the enemy here in Kermanshah and Hamedan and other provinces…”

Hassan Rouhani made similar remarks on February 8, admitting to the fact that there is no difference between Hassan Rouhani, Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the regime and the revolutionary guards and the Quds Force as far as the issue of Syria and is concerned.

In paying homage to those involved in the nuclear negotiations on February 8, Hassan Rouhani said: “Had it not been for our armed forces who guarded the security of this country and if our valiant commanders were not steadfast in Baghdad, Samara, Fallujah and Ramadi…, had they not helped the Syrian government in Damascus and Aleppo, and were it not for the valor of the army, the IRGC, the Basij, and the Islamic Republic Security Forces, we would not have enjoyed the security that we needed to conduct such good negotiations.”