Salem Al-Meslet, the President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), delivered a speech on the tenth anniversary of the Ghouta Massacre. This atrocity involved the Assad regime’s utilization of chemical weapons against civilians, resulting in the deaths of over 1,400 individuals in eastern Ghouta. Al-Meslet underscored that even with numerous international reports confirming the regime’s culpability in this heinous act, justice remains elusive. The souls of the victims await justice, while the perpetrator remains unpunished, seated upon the suffering of Syrians.
Al-Meslet highlighted that despite the enormity of the crime, the global response remained tepid. The international community failed to uphold its resolutions, leading to ongoing inaction and delays. The Assad regime continued to employ chemical weapons on 184 occasions post-ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use and Manufacturing of Chemical Weapons in September 2013. Yet, the Assad regime has not been dealt with as stipulated in Article VII of Security Council Resolution 2118.
Pointing to the international community’s failure to hold the Assad regime accountable, Al-Meslet asserted that this failure effectively greenlit further crimes, perpetuating human suffering for more than a decade. He expressed concern for the ongoing plight of displaced Syrians, who endure daily struggles in tents due to displacement and destruction. These tragedies have unfolded due to the allowance of a criminal regime’s unmitigated reign, backed by Russia, Iran, and militias, without genuine deterrence.
Al-Meslet posed poignant questions regarding how a war criminal can evade justice despite orchestrating the deaths of over a million Syrians, displacing millions more, and imprisoning hundreds of thousands. He questioned how the regime could escape accountability for massacres committed with chemical weapons against innocent individuals. Notably, the Ghouta attack stands as the largest such incident since the enactment of the Chemical Weapons Convention on April 29, 1997, not just within Syria, but on a global scale.
Calling upon the international community, the United Nations, and active forces within Syria, Al-Meslet implored them to hold the Assad regime accountable for its multitude of crimes. He emphasized that the Assad regime’s political and military support to Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, alongside its actions in Syria, underscores the urgent need for accountability.
Al-Meslet urged allies and friends to stand by the Syrian people. He warned that any rapprochement with the Assad regime would exacerbate regional instability and propagate its drugs and terror.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
