Syrian Coalition: International Community’s Inaction towards Assad’s Crimes Encourages His Defiance

Haitham al-Maleh, head of the legal committee, calls on the international community to move quickly to stand against the killing machine and the horrific violations committed by the Assad regime and the terrorist militias of Hezbollah in the town of Utaiba in Eastern Ghouta. “We thought that Hezbollah would retaliate to the Israeli occupation’s air raids. However, Hezbollah retaliated in the regime-held Utaiba in Eastern Ghouta.” Maleh also said that “the world must not keep silent about the public murder exercised by the Assad regime against civilians and detainees, as it is the first regime in the world that kills its people using sectarian and external militias.” Terrorist Hezbollah aired the massacre on their TV channel Al-Manar, taking pride in killing Syrians in front of the eyes of the international community and human rights organizations. “This constitutes a clear defiance on the part of the Assad regime to international law and all the countries that seek to achieve a political solution,” Maleh stressed. He also points out that “the Assad regime has always breached the conventions and promises given to the Syrian people, as anyone who sees the footage of the massacre can easily realize that all the victims were civilians. The convoy of civilians were walking in an organized column, according to the orders given to them by regime forces who pledged they wouldn’t block their way or cause them any harm. Al Maleh lashed out at the manner in which regime forces and terrorist militias of Hezbollah collected the bodies of the victims, who were cleared by bulldozers and trucks. “This is a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the dead and of all human rights laws. The inaction of the international community and its silence about the leaked photos of the 11,000 detainees who were killed under torture encourages the Assad regime and its sectarian backers to go on with their barbaric butchering of the Syrian people.” Furthermore, the Syrian Coalition condemns the cowardly act of killing civilians who tried to escape the siege imposed by the Assad regime on Eastern Ghouta, rural Damascus. The Syrian Coalition calls on the United Nations to carry out an independent investigation into these crimes and hold accountable those responsible. Furthermore the UN should stress the need to remove the Assad regime to ensure abuses and violations against human rights are to come to an end. (Source: Syrian Coalition)