Cut off from humanitarian assistance for months and now exposed to a hail of bombs once again, the people in Aleppo are enduring a truly catastrophic situation. Reports of intense fresh attacks and brutal violence are reaching us not only from Aleppo, but also from other parts of the country such as Idlib and Homs, in the course of which further hospitals and medical facilities were either damaged or destroyed in recent days.

I condemn these recent violent excesses in the strongest possible terms.

With each additional innocent victim, each school that is hit and each hospital that is destroyed, the logic of violence is merely intensified, and without an end to the madness or even a solution coming the slightest bit closer.

This much must also be clear to those who may consider themselves to be in a strong position right now. Victory will not be won on the battlefield; only a political settlement promises an end to the violence. Further military escalation will only make matters even more difficult.