Secretary-General of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Haitham Rahma, stressed that the dark chapter in the modern history of Syria began on this day in 1963, when the Baath Party seized power through a military coup and ended democratic life and pluralism in the country.
Rahma said that the Baath Party coup reduced the state to a totalitarian party that soon ended up in the rule of one individual who passed power to his son. He said that Assad the son gave free rein to corruption gangs which looted Syria’s resources, then made it a hostage to the Iranian and Russian occupation who aid him in his war against the Syrian people. He also said that Assad the son squandered Syria’s sovereignty and independence, as well as killed and displaced its people.
Rahma added that the suffering of the Syrian people has worsened since the Baath Party hijacked the civil authority of the state. He pointed out that the Assad regime of terrorism and tyranny is based on the authority of the security services, the suppression of Syrians, and the seizure of their political and economic freedoms. In 2011, the murderous Assad regime waged the fiercest war in its history against the Syrian people, with hundreds of thousands of civilians arrested, killed and displaced.
Moreover, Rahma stressed that the Assad regime has long lost legitimacy, which consolidated military and security rule following a civil democratic era in Syria. The regime also transformed the country into a one-party rule state through a series of military coups that began with the Baath coup and ended with the coup of Hafez al-Assad and the transformation of Syria into hereditary rule.
Rahma stressed the need for positive international action to bring about political transition in Syria in accordance with UN resolutions and hold the murderous Assad regime and its symbols accountable. He also stressed the need to seek the release of detainees and disclose the fate of the missing, stressing that the Syrian people are continuing their revolution until building a state that is based on the rule of law and whose people live in freedom, dignity and equality.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
