President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Salem al-Meslet, stressed that since the start of the Syrian Revolution in 2011, Russia chose to become an enemy of the Syrian people by helping the Assad regime crush the revolution and by supporting the regime in international forums and in the Security Council.
In an article published by Al-Jazeera on Friday marking the seventh anniversary of the Russian aggression on Syria, al-Meslet said that the Russian political support formed an international shield for the Assad regime, and encouraged it to commit more crimes, especially with the lack of a real international will to punish the Assad regime for its war crimes.
Al-Meslet added that during the past 11 years, Russia used its veto 17 times to block resolutions on Syrian in the Security Council. He said that Russia has blocked all resolutions designed to condemn the Assad for its brutality against the Syrian people since the first day of the Syrian Revolution.
Moreover, Al-Meslet pointed out that Russia’s support for the murderous Assad regime has considerably increased its destructive power, and allowed it to pursue a scorched-earth policy to devastate Syrian cities and towns, displace its people and force the people to surrender. He pointed out that the Russian forces have launched more than 5,500 attacks on the liberated areas since the start of their aggression.
Al-Meslet said that Russia is pursuing a criminal approach in Syria, showing total indifference to the lives of Syrian civilians, hospitals, schools and vital infrastructure. He stressed that Russia’s primary goal has been to bomb the freed territories into submission and to preserve its interests on the Syrian coast. He said that this criminal strategy caused the deaths of more than 12,000 Syrian civilians.
Al-Meslet went on to say that the international community’s inaction in Syria encouraged Russia to use internationally prohibited weapons and test its missiles against Syrian civilians. He cited Russia’s use of cluster bombs, vacuum missiles, drones and Krasnopol artillery, which forced millions of Syrians out of their homes.
Al-Meslet stressed that although the Russian military intervention in Syria has entered its eighth year, the popular demands are still the same. He said that the Syrian people will not accept anything less than the overthrow of the Assad regime and the regaining of freedom, adding that the political forces of the revolution cannot compromise any of the goals for which the Syrian people made enormous sacrifices.
Al-Meslet concluded by stressing that everyone is well aware of the extent of the international betrayal that the free Syrian people are suffering. However, the Syrian people have not lost hope, and there is no other choice for the great Syrian Revolution but to emerge victorious. He said that the darkness that prevails in Syria because of the Assad regime and its allies will undoubtedly disappear, and that Syria will eventually belong to its loyal people who dream of freedom and justice, and who are still struggling to fulfill this dream.
(Source: SOC’s media department)
