Mouaffaq Nyrabia, the Syrian Coalition’s Representative to Benelux and the EU, said that “protecting Syrian civilians will make a political solution more likely by pressuring the regime and Russia to negotiate seriously, and making compromise on all sides more possible.”
Following the 2nd of December vote by the UK Parliament supporting British airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, Nyrabia stressed that the fight against ISIS will not succeed until it tackled the root causes of the extremist threat in Syria: the indiscriminate killing of civilians.
Nyrabia added: “A comprehensive and effective approach that includes a guarantee of civilian protection from indiscriminate aerial bombardment is an essential component in the fight against ISIS. This will enable moderate groups to focus more resource on ISIS, to hold territory that they take from ISIS without facing inevitable bombardment by Syrian regime or Russian forces, and will remove a core radicalizing factor—the indiscriminate bombardment of civilian areas.”
Nyrabia underlined that “civilian protection will also slow the exodus of innocent Syrians, who continue to arrive on Europe’s shores hoping for a better life. Protection is what Syrians want, need and deserve. But it is also the essential core of any functioning strategy that can actually defeat ISIS.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)