France terms bombing in Syria's Aleppo 'war crimes', calls for humanitarian truce

United Nations: France on Monday called for an immediate humanitarian truce in Aleppo after four hospitals were bombed in the besieged Syrian city and civilians were killed by barrel bomb attacks. French Ambassador Francois Delattre compared Aleppo’s plight to that of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war and said “the Security Council simply cannot accept such war crimes — yes war crimes — to repeat again.” Delattre spoke to reporters ahead of a council meeting to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Syria, in particular Aleppo where regime forces this month seized the only remaining supply route to the city. [caption id=“attachment_2915136” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  People gather at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel-held town of Atareb in Aleppo province, Syria, 25 July, 2016. Reuters [/caption] Syria and its allies are “determined to besiege, starve and bomb Aleppo until they reach their military goal — eradicating the opposition — this is what the siege is all about,” said Delattre. “France calls for an immediate humanitarian truce in Aleppo and the Ghouta, 20 years after the siege of Sarajevo,” he added, referring to the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus. Over the weekend, four hospitals were bombed in Aleppo, jeopardising medical care for more than 200,000 desperate civilians. “Enough is enough now,” British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said. Rycroft said the council was looking at possible action to address the crisis in Aleppo, but did not provide details. On Monday, air strikes and barrel bombs killed 16 civilians in Aleppo, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. More than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began, and more than half the country has been displaced.