Vladimir Putin’s warplanes are accused of dropping NAPALM in Syria – as Boris Johnson claims Russia could be guilty war crimes
Foreign Secretary risks diplomatic war as he condemned the Putin regime over the 'barbaric' attacks on Aleppo
BORIS Johnson claimed Russia could be guilty of war crimes in Syria as he risked a diplomatic war with a withering assault on the Kremlin.
The Foreign Secretary condemned the Putin regime for their actions in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the “barbaric” attacks on Aleppo.
And he said Russia would be in the dock if it was proven they deliberately targeted an aid convoy in strikes that killed 20 last week
He said: “A war crime is defined as when you attack something, attack a civilian target in the knowledge that it is a civilian target.
“Now Putin’s regime is not only as it were handing Assad the revolver. He is in some instances actually firing the revolver himself.
"The Russians themselves are actually engaged.”
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Russian and Syrian warplanes were today accused of dropping napalm, cluster bombs and ground-penetrating bunker buster munitions to try to destroy rebel resistance.
An emergency meeting of the UN security council, called by the US, UK and France, heard that Russia and Syria launched 150 airstrikes in 72 hours.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, reported that 213 civilians had died in Aleppo since the ceasefire collapsed last week.
A statement from more than 30 rebel groups, including the faction backed by the West, said the bombing campaign which killed dozens of people in the past few days was “unprecedented”.
It also cast doubt on future peace deals, saying they could not accept “Russia as a sponsor because it was a partner with the regime in its crimes against our people.
"Russian-backed Syrian forces were also using napalm and chemical weapons without censure by the international community, the statement said."
The comments came as the Foreign Ministers of the UK, France, Italy, Germany and the US issued a joint statement urging Russia to salvage a cease fire and a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
And they urged the United Nations Security Council to take “urgent further steps to address the brutality of the conflict”.
The statement added: “We reaffirm our commitment to the destruction of Da’esh in Syria and Iraq and urge Russia to follow through on its pledge to focus on this group.”
In March, Boris praised Assad and Vladimir Putin for saving Palmyra from the hands of ISIL, saying: “No matter how repulsive the Assad regime may be – and it is – their opponents in ISIL are far, far worse.”
Yesterday he said the Russians actions now were “protracting” the conflict – as he branded the West’s response “impotent”.
He said: “We have an absolutely tragic situation now in Aleppo which is being bombed and repeatedly bombed in a way that is absolutely barbaric.
“There’s one thing that the Russians respond to and that is the idea that it is they who are in the dock in the court of international opinion, they are guilty of protracting this war and making it far more hideous.
“And yes, I think when it comes to instances such as the bombing of civilian apartments – in Aleppo.
“We should be looking at whether or not that targeting is done in the knowledge that those are wholly innocent, wholly innocent civilian targets, that is a war crime.”
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