Syrian Coalition: Assad Must Be Held Accountable For Use of Poison Gas in Harasta and Kafr Zeita

Badr Jamous, Secretary General of the Syrian Coalition, calls on the international community to investigate the Assad regime for “the use of poison gas against unarmed civilians in Harasta suburb near Damascus and in the town of Kafr Zeita northwest of Hama, which resulted in dozens of cases of suffocation, some are critical.” The Assad regime has missed deadlines for the handover of its chemical weapons cache, and repeatedly used toxic gases in blatant defiance of the international community. After being forced to relinquish its stockpiles of chemical weapons following the August 21 chemical attacks, killing more than 1,400 civilians, other poison gas attacks were documented in Daryya and Jobar. “We warn that the Assad regime will reuse these internationally banned weapons on a larger scale unless the regime is restrained and forced to stop its brutal war on the Syrian people,” Jamous said. The Syrian Coalition reiterates calls to the United Nations and the Security Council to unhesitatingly conduct an investigation into the use of poison gas against civilians in Syria and to put an end to the Assad’s regime atrocities and violations of international agreements.” Furthermore, the Syrian Coalition stresses that the Assad regime is increasingly emboldened by the international community’s silence after we repeatedly warned that Assad would only stop using chemical weapons when the regime is faced with a tangible threat of the use of force.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)