The Syrian Coalition said that the Assad regime is preparing for a large-scale offensive on Aleppo, which represents a blatant violation of the “cessation of hostilities” agreement. The Coalition said the agreement would become meaningless and without any value if the regime’s continued crimes were not deterred.
“The Assad regime has clearly decided to escalate attacks on the Syrian people taking advantage of the Russian and Iranian support and using the fight on terror as a pretext to justify these attacks,” the Coalition stressed. It added that the regime “uses the ‘cessation of hostilities’ agreement as a cover-up to continue carrying out its crimes, including arrests, torture, murder and the use of chemical weapons against civilians.”
The Coalition pointed out that a regime that practices state terrorism will not be able to eradicate terror as it claims to have been doing, adding that reaching a real political solution is the only viable means to defeat terror.
“All the Assad regime’s previous campaigns on Syria’s cities and towns over the past five years, and the heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity that accompanied them, have failed to break the will of the Syrian people or to weaken their determination to regain freedom and dignity,” the Coalition said.
The Coalition warned of the disastrous consequences of the crime the Assad regime is planning to commit in Aleppo, criticizing the inaction of the international community which has chosen to remain silent over the regime’s preparations to encircle the city.
“We call upon the international community to step up pressure on the regime and its allies at all levels in order to comply with efforts aimed at reaching a political solution in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”
The Coalition warned that “condemning this campaign and the questioning of its goals without taking any further action will be understood by the regime and its allies as a green light to carry on with their crimes.”
“By keeping silent over the regime’s ramping up of its forces around Aleppo, the international community risks appearing as indifferent and not showing the slightest consideration to the political solution or to the ‘cessation of hostilities’ agreement which cannot hold any further under such continued, widespread violations.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
