PARIS: France's foreign minister said Wednesday that the indiscriminate bombing of Syria's Idlib region by Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces could amount to war crimes.
"The hypothesis of war crimes cannot be excluded ... once one begins to indiscriminately bomb civilian populations and hospitals," Jean-Yves Le Drian told lawmakers.
An estimated 3 million people live in Idlib – the last major stronghold of active opposition to President Bashar Assad. Assad has vowed to retake the province, backed by his Russian and Iranian allies.
Syrian government and Russian warplanes began air strikes in Idlib last week in a possible prelude to a full-scale offensive and aid organizations said several medical facilities have already been targeted.
It is not the first time France has warned Assad, Russia or Iran that their aggression could amount to war crimes.
In 2016, the government of former president Francois Hollande said it was working to find a way for the International Criminal Court's prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes that it believed had been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo.