UN launches probe into air strike on Syrian school

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria has launched an investigation into an air strike that targeted a Syrian school in Idlib and killed students and teachers, Anadolu reported on Friday.

The UN committee said that more than 25 civilians were killed in the strike. It called for all parties in Syria to commit to international law. The probe will go ahead, it added, expressing its condolences for the families of the victims. “If we find that the air strike was intentional,” said the committee’s head, “it would be considered as a war crime.”

The UN Human Rights Council established this committee in August 2011 to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in the Syrian Arab Republic since March of the same year.

The foreign minister of France said on Thursday that either Russia or Syria must be “blamed” for the strike on the school. Russia’s defence minister has denied any responsibility.