France joined the United States today in calling for an international war crimes investigation into Russian and Syrian bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said that the bombing of Aleppo over the past few weeks constituted war crimes, and that he would ask the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to investigate, according to Reuters.
"We shall contact the International Criminal Court prosecutor to see how she can launch these investigations,” Ayrault told France Inter radio.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also reiterated his call for the UN Security Council to refer the case to the ICC. A similar request was blocked in 2014 by Russia and China, but Ban said the council should try again, according to AFP.
"I ask and urge the Security Council to bring this matter to the ICC. I am urging them again," Ban told reporters.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharavoa responded by saying that a war crimes investigation could “also weigh on the shoulders of American officials.”
The United Nations first suggested a war crimes accusation against Syria and Russia after a Red Cross convoy of trucks delivering aid to civilians was bombed in September, ending a tenuous ceasefire. Twenty civilians were killed.
Read More: UN Suspends All Aid Convoys to Syria After Deadly Airstrike Attack
Syria, however, is not a member of the ICC, and so the court does not have jurisdiction over crimes that occur there, according to Reuters.
French officials are trying to find ways the ICC could take the case, including whether the ICC could prosecute the case if a victim had citizenship in a member nation like France, Reuters said.
"It will be complicated, but we are looking for other solutions. Our jurists are trying to find other ways," an unnamed “French diplomatic source” told Reuters.
This weekend, a resolution proposed by France at the United Nations Security Council that would force Russia and Syria to stop bombing East Aleppo was rejected by Russia, which said it was targeting terrorists there.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also called for a war crimes investigation on Friday.
“Russia and the regime owe the world more than an explanation about why they keep hitting hospitals, and medical facilities, and children and women,” Kerry said. “These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes, and those who commit these would and should be held accountable for these actions.”