The situation in Syria and in Baghdad

We will have a session on Idlib now, because the UK and France asked for this session. First, the situation in Idlib is deteriorating day after day, despite all the commitments which have been taken by some of the main stakeholders in the recent months. So we need to take stock on where we are. The situation is really bad.

Second, we formally condemn indiscriminate air bombing by the regime and its allies. It’s targeting civilian facilities, schools, hospitals, and it should stop.

And third, humanitarian access must be preserved in this part of Syria, but also in the rest of Syria, in the North East as well. In the region of Idlib we have around 300 000 people who need humanitarian relief. We need humanitarian relief in the rest of Syria as well, and this is why in the days to come we really hope that the Council can unite and make sure that cross border humanitarian relief is provided to the Syrian people.

Q: Can we ask you about the attack in Baghdad? What is France’s reaction? Is this a violation of the Charter?

We will just call for de-escalation, this is what we need now. We need de-escalation. We need stability in the region and we will really encourage everybody to work on de-escalation.