Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani described Assad’s chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed dozens of civilians including children “a new war crime that requires the intervention of the international community to assume its responsibilities.”
Al-Thani expressed Qatar’s strong condemnation of the Assad regime’s and its allies’ blatant violation of international law and the UN Security Council resolution 2118, stressing that “there is no solution in Syria without the departure of Bashar al-Assad.”
Al-Thani made his remarks during a speech delivered at the International Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference held in Brussels on Wednesday.
The Qatari top diplomat said that “these terrible and disturbing facts place us as an international community in the face of a historic responsibility that obligates us to work with determination to end this humanitarian catastrophe that is threatening international peace and security.”
Al-Thani called for Assad’s departure and urgent action towards criminal procedures in accordance with international law. He added that silence on war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in Syria sends encouraging messages to perpetrators to continue to commit more crimes.
Al-Thani stressed the need to achieve justice, redress the victims, put to practice the General Assembly resolution 71/248 to establish an independent and impartial international mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for crimes committed in Syria since 2011.
Al-Thani stressed that the State of Qatar has spared no effort in providing humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people either individually or through bilateral channels with host countries and the United Nations. (Source: Syrian Coalition Media’s Department + Agencies)
