Member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Hawass Khalil welcomed the US Congress’s decision to impose sanctions on the Assad regime as well as their Iranian backers. He described the move as a step in the right direction to stop the Assad regime which continues to cold-bloodily bomb Syria’s towns and cities.
The lukewarm response of the international community encourages the Assad regime to carry on with its crimes, Khalil said. He added that the Assad regime uses all means at its disposal to continue with the military solution which it has pursued since day one.
US lawmakers on Tuesday passed bills renewing sanctions on Iran for 10 years and imposing new sanctions on the Assad regime. The US congress passed a bill that would sanction the Assad regime, and supporters including Russia and Iran, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. US sanctions on Iran will expire at the end of 2016 if it is not renewed.
Khalil thanked members of the Syrian community in the United States who played a major role in urging the US Congress to vote in favor of the bill through highlighting the crimes of the Assad regime and its allies in numerous meetings with US congressmen.
Khalil called upon the international community to take similar deterrent measures against the Assad regime to put an end to the war crimes and crimes against humanity it has been committing against the Syrian people since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)