President of the Syrian Coalition Anas Abdah called upon permanent members of the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in Damascus and its countryside which continues to deteriorate due to the ongoing brutal campaign by the Assad regime and its allied foreign militias.
Abdah’s calls were made in a letter addressed to permanent members of the UN Security Council, Turkey, the Friends of Syria group, the European Union, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday.
Abdah highlighted the military campaign the Assad regime has launched against the eastern suburbs of Damascus, especially Qaboun, Barzah, and eastern Ghouta.
Abdah called on Turkey to exert pressure on the Assad regime’s allies to force it to stop its crimes against the Syrian people in view of its positive role in the preparations for the Astana meeting due to be held on 3-4 May.
Abdah stressed the need to hold the Assad regime accountable for the crimes it is committing in Damascus and its countryside and the other heinous crimes against the Syrian people.
“We believe that the regime has been emboldened by the continued failure by the international community to compel the regime to comply with articles 12, 13, 14 of UNSCR 2254 (2015). No credible political process has any chance to bring the conflict in Syria to an end if the regime is allowed to continue unchecked,” Abdah said.
In addition to the suffocating siege imposed on eastern Damascus and eastern Ghouta, regime forces are relentlessly and indiscriminately bombing the area. The shelling and airstrikes are targeting mainly residential areas and medical facilities. Furthermore, regime forces have targeted a livestock breeding project in the area in a clear deliberate attempt to starve the population, Abdah added.
The Assad regime’s practices violate all international resolutions and the ceasefire agreement and represent a total disregard to ongoing efforts to revive the political process and reinforce the ceasefire, Abdah stressed. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)