President of the Syrian Coalition Abdurrahman Mustafa called on Russia to press Bashar al-Assad to step down to allow the initiation of a genuine political process leading to full political transition in line with the Geneva Communiqué of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254.
“We have always called on Moscow to be a neutral party and help ease the violence and transition the country to safety by seriously engaging in the political process aimed at the formation of a Transitional Governing Body (TGB) with full executive powers as was stipulated in international resolutions,” Mustafa said on Saturday.
“Russia has chosen to side with the Assad regime and encouraged him to kill more Syrians and commit various war crimes as well as shielded it against the consequences of the repeated use of chemical weapons,” Mustafa said. He stressed that “Moscow must change course and cooperate with members of the UN Security Council to put an end to the tragedy unfolding in Syria by forcing Assad to step aside and in engage in the political process.”
Regarding the missile strikes that targeted the Assad regime’s military positions at dawn on Saturday, Mustafa underscored that the Assad regime is not killing Syrian civilians with chemical weapons only, but also with conventional weapons. He noted that attacks with conventional weapons have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Mustafa urged the United States, Great Britain and France to expand the military operation to include all the military positions of the Assad regime which have been used to bomb the Syrian civilians and kill their children and women over the past seven years.
The expansion of the missile strikes will force the Assad regime to seriously engage in the political process and to comply with the international resolutions forming the basis of political solution, Mustafa said. He also stressed the importance of holding Assad accountable for war crimes against civilians, especially after his involvement in the use of chemical weapons was confirmed. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
