UN: Aleppo convoy ‘war crime’ could go to UNSC

If investigators identify who was to blame for the deadly 19 September attack on a UN aid convoy in Syria, the “war crime” could be brought to the Security Council, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said today.

The United States has said it believes two Russian aircrafts carried out the strike near Aleppo, which killed 20 people, destroyed a warehouse and 18 trucks, and shattered a one-week truce. Russia has denied involvement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched an independent board of inquiry into the attack, which UN satellite imagery experts have said was an airstrike.

“We now have a three-person board of inquiry. And they are in the area, I believe, and were already a couple of days ago, even last week I think, and are working on it,” Eliasson told a news conference.

“Of course we know that it’s a difficult mission because it’s a mission where access is very difficult,” he added.

“We know of course that manipulation of evidence can take place and evidence can disappear and so forth.”

Such an attack against a humanitarian convoy carrying food and medical supplies for civilians “constitutes without any doubt a war crime”, Eliasson said.

It was absolutely crucial to gather as much information as possible. “We would like to see as much as possible if we can identify who was behind this attack,” he said, adding that the results should be “out in the open”.

“This issue is an issue which probably will be of interest to bring to the Security Council and then we’ll see what happens in the Council,” he said.