The people of al-Bab town in northeastern rural Aleppo declared a general strike on Saturday to mourn the victims of the shelling that was carried out by the Assad regime and PYD militia on Friday, leaving more than 45 civilian casualties.
The Assad regime and the PYD terrorist militia targeted a crowded popular market with rockets, killing 15 civilians, including five children, and wounding 30 others, including at least 11 children.
The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) said that the massacre that the PYD terrorist militia and Assad regime forces committed in the town of Al-Bab constituted a war crime.
In a press release issued on Saturday, the SOC said that “the suffering of the Syrian people cannot end or be reduced as long as the Assad regime and its allied militias are there. This criminal alliance is based on terrorism, murder, repression and genocide, which is being manifested against our people in the liberated areas on a daily basis.”
It called for an immediate international action, clear condemnation of this heinous crime, and accountability for the perpetrators who have a track record of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It also called for providing international protection for the liberated areas so as to avoid deepening of the human tragedy that affects the Syrian people.
The SOC stressed that these crimes will not discourage the Syrian people from pursuing their goals. It said that the Syrian people have been making tremendous sacrifices for eleven years in order to get rid of the Assad regime and the occupations it brought to Syria, and to regain freedom, dignity and security. It called upon the Syrian National Army to confront these terrorist forces and deter them from targeting civilians.
“The daily killings of Syrian civilians in the liberated areas are due to the criminality of the Assad regime and its allied militias, and the inaction of the international community which has so far failed to advance the political process and ensure the implementation of relevant UN resolutions, especially UN Resolution 2254, to achieve a political transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people.”
(Source: SOC’s media department)
