New York (AFP)

"Shame on the UN", "Shame on Guterres": Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab and human rights activists demonstrated Thursday outside the UN headquarters in New York to denounce the bombing of hospitals in rebel areas Syrian.

The director of "Pour Sama", an autobiographical documentary on life in besieged Aleppo, nominated for the Oscars 2020, briefly spoke, surrounded by a dozen members of the NGO "Physicians for Human Rights" (Doctors for human rights).

In front of three vans carrying messages like "Stop bombing hospitals" or "Save Idleb" - the last great bastion that eludes Bashar al-Assad's forces - she read messages from Syrian doctors testifying to the devastation caused by the bombing of their institutions.

The UN opened an investigation in August 2019 into some of the bombings that hit hospitals in rebel areas: their contact details had been communicated by the United Nations to belligerents, precisely to protect them from air raids.

But the internal report on this investigation, initially expected for the end of January, was postponed until mid-March. It is unknown if it will be made public.

"What we fear most (...) is that it will only add to disinformation, instead of telling the truth about what is happening in Syria," Waad told AFP. al Kateab.

"We do not trust" the United Nations and its secretary general Antonio Guterres, she added. "They are among the principal in helping Russia and the Assad regime to implement their plans," said the documentary filmmaker, now based in London.

"Every day a hospital is bombed, just yesterday a hospital in Ariha (in the province of Idleb) was completely destroyed," she said.

Under pressure from Russia, an ally of the Syrian regime which frequently uses its veto power at the UN over everything related to the Syrian conflict, the scope of the investigation has been limited.

While at least 60 hospitals and medical facilities have been affected since April, the investigation covers only seven, according to the New York Times.

Of these seven, says the daily which published several investigations on the role of the Russian aviation in these bombardments, the Russian aviation is suspected in only one case.

Moscow regularly denies carrying out such strikes.

© 2020 AFP