Secretary-General of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC), Haytham Rahmeh, stressed that the international community’s failure to hold the Assad regime accountable for its crimes encouraged it to commit many massacres in blatant disregard for international reactions over the past 11 years.
Rahmeh made these remarks on the sixth anniversary of the chemical attack that the Assad regime carried out in eastern rural Hama in 2016. The attack targeted the villages of Uqayrbat, Hammadi Omar, al-Qastal, al-Salaliya, and Joruh, killing at least 70 civilians, including 35 children and 14 women, and injuring about 100 others. He stressed that this massacre, along with the countless other atrocities, has exposed the criminal nature of the Assad regime and its approach in dealing with the Syrian people who demanded freedom and a decent life.
Rahmeh pointed out that the Assad regime has so far used chemical weapons in 217 occasions, killing 1,510 Syrians, including 205 children and 260 women, and injuring 12,000 others, in full view of the entire world. He said that, however, the Assad regime is still ruling Syria without any real efforts to bring it to international courts, in addition to the fact that it enjoys international platforms in which it spread lies and falsification of facts.
Rahmeh called on the international community to assume its responsibility in Syria, stop ignoring the Syrian tragedy, take effective action that do justice to the Syrian people, and enforce UN resolutions, especially Resolutions 2118 and 2254, to achieve a political transition and meet the Syrian people’s aspirations.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
