Secretary-General of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Haitham Rahma, stressed that the Russian and Assad regimes continue to recruit elements of Assad’s militias and Putin’s mercenaries, who fought and killed the Syrian people, in order to send them to fight the Ukrainian people. He called for an international action that criminalizes the criminal behavior of both regimes, which undermines international peace and security and risks spreading terrorism and terrorist militias in the world.
Rahma praised the courage of the friendly Ukrainian people in defending their country, stressing their right to defend their country in the face of the brutal Russian invasion. He said: “Thousands of Ukrainian people have returned to their country to defend it and gained the world’s respect and appreciation. Putin and the Assad regime are a common enemy of both the Syrian and Ukrainian peoples.”
Rahma denied reports that Syrians from the liberated areas are going to fight in Ukraine, whether with or against the Ukrainian people.
Rahma called for providing the Free Syrian Army with advanced weapons to defend the liberated areas and liberate the Syrian people from the Assad regime and to prevent the regime from sending militias to Ukraine.
Moreover, Rahma stressed the need to expel the Assad regime from the United Nations and other international institutions such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Interpol and the Human Rights Council, and to declare the regime a failed regime. He also reaffirmed rejection of attempts to rehabilitate the Assad regime or to re-normalize relations with it under any pretext.
Rahma valued the positive signals issued by the five countries in their statement on the eleventh anniversary of the start of the Syrian revolution, as well as the outcome of the latest Washington meeting on Syria. He stressed the need for the international community to take concrete action, whether in terms of supporting a genuine political transition in Syria in accordance with UN resolutions, or in terms of ensuring accountability for the criminal Assad regime and its symbols.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
