UN official calls for inquiry into air strike on Syria refugee camp

[rooster59]

UN official calls for inquiry into air strike on Syria refugee camp



An air strike that hit a camp for internally displaced people in rebel-held northern Syria, could ‘constitute a war crime’, says a top UN official.

Humanitarian affairs chief Stephen O’Brien has called for an immediate inquiry into the attack on the Kamouna camp near the Turkish border which reportedly left 28 people dead and dozens more wounded .

One man at the camp blamed the government forces for the strike, saying that they ‘set tents in a restricted place on fire’.

Joining the condemnation of the attack was US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power.

The strike took place in Idlib province 30 kms to the west of Aleppo which has been subject to a temporary ceasefire since Thursday.

Hostilities continued on the outskirts of the city. Activists reported that opposition forces captured the strategically important village of Khan Touman, situated on the highway to Aleppo.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-05-07

[shirtless]

After the investigation you will do what exactly with the findings , give the offenders another warning.

[craigt3365]

Amazing some still support Assad. Incredible. Not sure if removing him would have made things worse. It's bad already!

[wabothai]

Amazing some still support Assad. Incredible. Not sure if removing him would have made things worse. It's bad already!

Yes, it is as bad as can be, why not remove the assad guy and see if it really can get worse. Doubt it.

[Credo]

This should not be too difficult to figure out, there are limited groups that have air access to Syria. Those would be:

1. Turkey

2. Iraq

3. US/NATO

4. Russia

5. Syria

I very much doubt that either Turkey or Iraq could make a foray into Syrian territory unnoticed. Turkey might, but Iraq much less likely. The US/NATO would have been identified immediately and they would have had to have cooperation from a neighboring country and keeping that quiet would be close to impossible.

These internally displaced camps are largely considered to be enemies of the Assad gov't and they are also suspected of being recruiting grounds for various groups. So, who would have the desire to bomb them. It pretty much appears that Russia or Syria.

The idea of any foreign gov't flying into Syrian territory undetected by the sophisticated radar that the Russians claim to have is ludicrous. The idea that any of the terrorist or anti-Assad groups have air power, it would be interesting to know where their home base is located.

I think the smoking gun points pretty much to Russia or Syria.

That leaves Russia or Syria.

Since this internally displaced camp is generally out of the reach

[Morch]

All main parties have access (in varying degrees) to air traffic surveillance.

It is practically impossible that there is no information regarding which aircraft were operating at the area on a given time.

[craigt3365]

All main parties have access (in varying degrees) to air traffic surveillance.

It is practically impossible that there is no information regarding which aircraft were operating at the area on a given time.

I would think so, as NATO forces have an "eye in the sky" which can monitor every aircraft for hundreds of miles around. From take off to landing. But if the IFF is turned off, would be tough it properly ID the aircraft??? In the end, it's either Russian or Syrian aircraft.

[Steely Dan]

Amazing some still support Assad. Incredible. Not sure if removing him would have made things worse. It's bad already!

I hope and indeed suspect that Assad is a dead man walking.

[Morch]

All main parties have access (in varying degrees) to air traffic surveillance.

It is practically impossible that there is no information regarding which aircraft were operating at the area on a given time.

I would think so, as NATO forces have an "eye in the sky" which can monitor every aircraft for hundreds of miles around. From take off to landing. But if the IFF is turned off, would be tough it properly ID the aircraft??? In the end, it's either Russian or Syrian aircraft.

If you know where the aircraft took off and landed, that's pretty much it. Far as I'm aware the Russians and the Syrians operate from different airfields. There's normally more than one source of data to work with, and not a whole lot of options to choose from, really.

Most times, countries are reluctant to publicly share such data. Main reasons being exposure of capabilities, possible political backlash and knowing that the same could be applied by the other side.