Britain, France decry Russia”s role in Syria after ”war crimes”

Britain and France criticized Russia’s role in Syria’s war on Tuesday and said Moscow must stop the conflict rather than fuelling it, after missile strikes killed dozens of civilians on Monday. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed Russia for at least one of the missile strikes, when civilians and children were killed in a school […]

Britain and France criticized Russia’s role in Syria’s war on Tuesday and said Moscow must stop the conflict rather than fuelling it, after missile strikes killed dozens of civilians on Monday.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed Russia for at least one of the missile strikes, when civilians and children were killed in a school and hospital in the town of Azaz, calling it an “obvious war crime”.
“The reported air strikes conducted on hospitals in northern Syria in recent days could amount to war crimes and must be investigated,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement.
France’s new Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who on Monday accused Syria’s government and its backers of carrying out war crimes, told lawmakers that the immediate urgency was to protect civilians.
“All bombings must stop. It’s unacceptable that hospitals and schools are targeted. These acts are flagrant violations of international law,” he said.
Russia, however, rejected the accusations of war crimes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “those who make such statements are not capable of backing them up with proof”.