Syrian Coalition: The World’s Shameful Silence Emboldens Assad to Commit More Massacres

The residents of the city of Raqqa, which has been coming under relentless bombing by Assad’s air force for three consecutive days, have sent a distress call following the death of more than 150 civilians in the bombing. An activist in Al Raqqa told the Media Office that the situation in the city foretells a humanitarian catastrophe in view of the severe shortage of medical supplies and blood bags and the inability of the field hospitals to cope with the high number of injuries. People are dying of simple injuries that are otherwise treatable.” Burhan Ghalioun, member of the Syrian Coalition, said that the international anti-ISIS coalition bears some of the responsibility for this massacre as it has exposed the covert coordination between the Assad regime and the US-led coalition whose strategy has further emboldened the Assad regime to continue with its genocidal massacres against the Syrian people.” Ghalioun also lays responsibility for Al Raqqa massacre, and Assad’s other atrocities, on the UN Secretary General and the UN Security Council because they have so far failed to compel the Assad regime stop its barrel bombing of civilians. These atrocities are an inevitable result of the political and ethical resignation of the international community, led by the United Nations and its Secretary General who knuckled under the Assad regime’s extortion and its threats of spilling over the conflict into the rest of the region. The Syrian National Council said in a statement released today that Al Raqqa massacre has revealed the extent of the international community’s tacit collusion with the Assad regime, which, out of total confidence that its crimes will go unpunished, continues to terrorize the Syrian people in an attempt to break their will and bring them to their kneels. It has also uncovered the de facto coordination between the two sides. Being fully aware that the goal of the international anti-ISIS coalition is not protecting the Syrian civilians, the Assad regime has been further emboldened to commit more massacres. While the people of Al Raqqa have been subjected to all forms of violations at the hands of ISIS, Assad’s unleashes his air force to rain death and destruction on the city under the eyes of the international anti-ISSI alliance whose warplanes do not leave the skies of the city. This massacre has further exposed the glaring contradictions of the international anti-ISIS which has so far failed to save the Syrian people from the terrorism of ISIS and the Assad regime. The US-led coalition’s lack of clear and coherent strategy on Syria would risks throwing many disappointed Syrians in the arms of extremist groups, not out of conviction of their fanatic principles, but out of the growing frustration over the failure of the international community to offer them a better alternative.”  Hariri also said that, “it is strange how the US-led coalition’s warplanes rushed to punish the criminals who killed the US journalist James Foley but insists on ignoring Assad’s warplanes have killed thousands of children and women. The basic principle in the charters of Human Rights is that punishment is based on the type and characterization of the crime, not on the nature of the offender. The Syrians will not accept this duality that has so far characterized the strategy of the US-led coalition which is avenging the killing of Western citizens but turn a blind eye to the killing of hundreds of thousands Syrians at the hands of the Assad regime. Moreover, fighting terrorism in Syria and the region piecemeal will not eliminate the threat of terrorism which swept the region with the direct support of Assad and his Iranian allies.” Hariri pointed out that the bombing that targeted Al Raqqa yesterday is not random at all, but a systematic and collective punishment inflicted on civilians.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)