US State Dept. not ready to declare 'war crimes' in Syria

Washington Examiner, 27 Oct. 2016- The State Department said Thursday that it's not prepared to say formally that the Russians or Syrians are committing war crimes against Syrian citizens, even though Secretary of State John Kerry has called for an investigation, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nationssays the attacks may be war crimes.

'It's not up to the State Department to make a determination,' spokesman John Kirby said.

'But as the secretary has said, he does believe that what's going on is worthy of investigation by the international community,' Kirby added. 'The determination of war crimes... it needs to be made by an appropriate judicial process, not by one cabinet agency just... making a definition of it.'

When asked if the U.S. is pushing for a formal determination on war crimes, he indicated there are still ongoing discussions on this with other countries.

Subscribe today to get intelligence and analysis on defense and national security issues in your Inbox each weekday morning from veteran journalists Jamie McIntyre and Jacqueline Klimas.

'We are still having conversations inside the international community about next steps, and I'm not gonna get ahead of that,' he said.

Kerry this month called for a war crimes investigation, and U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said the strikes on residential areas 'may well be war crimes.'

UNICEF, the UN's children's rights organization, said Wednesday that it believes war crimes occurred after a strike on a Syrian school that killed about two dozen children.