The US State Department condemns “in the strongest possible terms the Assad regime’s deadly airstrikes yesterday on a market in the Damascus suburb of Douma, where more than 100 people were killed and hundreds were injured.
“Yesterday’s air strikes, following its other recent market bombings and attacks on medical facilities, demonstrate the regime’s disregard for human life,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement on Monday.
“As we have said, Assad has no legitimacy to lead the Syrian people. The Assad regime’s brutal attacks on Syria’s cities have killed thousands of people and destroyed schools, mosques, markets, and hospitals.”
“The United States is working with our partners toward a genuine, negotiated political transition away from Assad that brings an end to such attacks and leads to a future that fulfills Syrians’ aspirations for freedom and dignity,” the statement added.
The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Qatar on Monday condemned the massacre committed by the Assad regime in Douma where around 120 civilians were killed and hundreds more wounded.
He said US State Department spokesman, John Kirby: “We strongly condemn the brutal raids Assad regime on Sunday on the city always”, condemning the “disregard for the rules of human life,” adding that Washington was working with its partners to actual political transition based on negotiation, apart from the criminal Bashar al-Assad.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also condemns the bombing by the Assad regime of the main market in the city of Douma, saying that “the provisional toll is appalling, with almost 100 people dead and hundreds injured, including women and children.”
“This barbaric act again reflects the inhumanity of a regime that has no qualms about slaughtering its own people.”
“The only way to end the crisis in Syria is through a political solution based on the Geneva Communiqué, Fabius added.
Moreover, Qatar strongly condemns the crime committed by the Syrian regime against innocent civilians in the popular market in Damascus suburb town of Douma.
Ministry of Foreign affairs said in a statement released yesterday “that the Assad regime continuation to commit crimes against innocent civilians in flagrant defiance of human conscience and international law increases the complexity of the Syrian crisis, and puts significant obstacles to reaching a political solution to the crisis. It also impedes the international efforts to achieve political transition based on Geneva statement of June 30, 2012.”
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs renewed its call on the international community to shoulder its moral and legal responsibilities and to take the necessary measures in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and international law for the protection of the Syrian people, and to hold accountable those responsible for such crimes.
Gareth Bayley, the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Syria, condemns the Assad regime’s airstrikes on Douma, where many innocent civilians, including women and children, lost their lives.
Bailey expresses deep grief for the victims of the Douma massacre, stressing he was disgusted by the Assad regime’s continuation of conducting air raids on Syrian civilians. He emphasizes that Assad’s slaughtering of the Syrian people must stop, adding that would not happen as long as the tyrant Assad is still in power. He calls on those backing Assad to stop him from targeting civilians.
In a press conference held yesterday in response to the Douma massacre, President Khoja said that “the regime’s boldness and indulgence in committing massacres against civilians for over 53 consecutive months has been upheld by international silence that amounts to complicity for these massacres. Whoever supplies this murderous regime with arms and shields it against accountability at the UN Security Council is a partner in these crimes against besieged and starved civilians.”
“Whoever opposes the establishment of safe zones for Syrians on their territory and prevents providing them with weapons to defend themselves and their children sends a clear message to the regime that it is allowed to commit more atrocious crimes,” Khoja added.
“We call upon the international community, specifically Russia, the United States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League to assume their responsibilities towards the Syrian people who have been slaughtered for nearly five years amid international silence that amounts to acceptance of these crimes.”
“We call upon our friendly countries to support them and to bring the perpetrators of the massacres in Ghouta, Douma, Idlib, Zabadani, Wadi Barada and all areas of Syria to the International Criminal Court,” Khoja added.
“The United Nations, and the UN Security Council and its permanent members must recognize the right of the Syrian people to live and must stop protecting the child murderer Bashar al-Assad and stop depriving the Syrians from the right to defend the lives of their children.”
Khoja went on: “While the Syrian people insist on the departure of the criminal Bashar al-Assad and that it is impossible for them to have a role in the present and the future of Syria, we now emphasize this position and are even more adherent to the right of the Syrian people to defend themselves. We also emphasize the legitimacy of their cause and the need to complete the liberation of all Syrian territory from the abomination of this usurper regime, the Iranian occupying militias and the murderous sectarian militias that are invading Syria.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
