EU condemns deadly attack on hospital in Afrin, Syria

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Union on Monday condemned a deadly attack on a hospital in Afrin, northwestern Syria.

“The European Union condemns the attack on Saturday 12 June, on the al Shifaa Hospital in Afrin in northwestern Syria, killing many civilians, including patients and medical staff,” Peter Stano, spokesperson of bloc’s diplomatic service, wrote in a statement on behalf of the EU.

“This attack is a serious breach of International Humanitarian Law, especially since the coordinates of the hospital had been shared by the United Nations,” he added.

The statement also called for the respect of international humanitarian law and the national cease-fire.

The EU statement did not refer to the perpetrators, but according to Turkish officials, the attack was carried out by the terror group YPG/PKK.

Saturday’s attack on the hospital in opposition-held northwestern Syria killed at least 14 civilian patients and injured more than 32, said officials in southern Turkey.

In a statement, the governor’s office in Hatay, just across Syria’s border with Turkey, said that grad missile and artillery shells fired by the YPG/PKK from the Assad regime-controlled Tal Rifat region hit the emergency department of the private hospital in the center of the Afrin district.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terror organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.