Member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Mohammed Jojah said that the mass forced displacement operations carried out by the Assad regime, which amount to war crimes, risk causing an all-out sectarian war with unpredictable and dire consequences on the security of the entire region. He said that these operations are being carried out with political and military cover by Russia, with Iran benefiting from the situation and sending more and more militias to Syria.
The Assad regime, backed by Iranian-backed foreign militias, continues to intensify the bombing and killing in besieged Damascus suburbs, especially in Moadamiya and Qudsaya with the aim of forcing civilians out of their homes.
The Assad regime looks poised to deploy the same tactics in the town of Khan Alsheeh in southern rural Damascus as regime forces escalated the barrel bombing on the town as well as on the nearby town of Zakiya on Wednesday. Regime forces also shelled the roads linking the two towns with heavy artillery, killing six civilians, including three women and a child. Russia’s air force also raided the area using white phosphorous and incendiary bombs. The Assad regime helicopters dropped leaflets on Khan Alsheeh ordering the FSA fighters to lay down their weapons in preparation of an evacuation deal.
Jojah criticized the international community’s failure to take action against the Assad regime’s policies. He said that apart from shy calls by some friendly countries to end the conflict, the international community has not yet assumed its responsibility to put an end to crimes of the Assad regime and its allies.
Jojah called on the FSA and rebel fighters in eastern and western Ghouta as well as in the Southern Front to ‘ignite frontlines’ against the Assad regime to stop the mass forced displacements and demographic change operations by the Assad regime, especially in the western Damascus suburbs. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
