Riad Hijab, General Coordinator of the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC), called upon the new UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to take action to put an immediate end to the indiscriminate attacks by the Assad regime forces and their allied foreign militias against civilians across syria. Hijab also called for forcing the Assad regime and its allies to abide by the ceasefire agreement which entered into force on December 29, 2016.
In a letter sent to Guterres on Wednesday, Hihab said that the regime and its allies must not be allowed to sabotage the truce, which offered the Syrian people a glimpse of hope for a peaceful solution.
Over 322 violations of the ceasefire by the Assad regime and its allies have been recorded since the ceasefire agreement was announced on December 29, Hijab said. He noted that at least 271 people have been killed in these breaches.
Regime forces have hit the Wadi Barada valley with barrel bombs and rockets loaded with poisonous chlorine gas, Hijab said.
Hijab called upon the United Nations to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the situation in Wadi Barada valley, noting that the Assad regime is pursuing a “surrender or starve” policy against over 100,000 residents trapped in the area. Hijab pointed to the continuing deteriorating humanitarian situation in the besieged area.
Regime forces and their allied foreign militias have bombed Ayn Alfija water facility, denying 5.5 million people in Damascus and its suburbs access to clean water, he added.
Hijab warned of the dire consequences of continued breached of the ceasefire by regime forces and their allies, calling upon the UN Security Council to take action to stop these breaches and hold perpetrators to account. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)
