Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
January 3, 2022
The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) condemns the escalating attacks by the Russian occupation forces on northwestern Syria. By escalating the attacks on innocent civilians, Russia is making it clear that killing and forced displacement is its only preferable negotiation language, through which it exercises a policy of terrorism and hegemony in the region.
Russia threatens, through its relentless bombing and violations in northwestern Syria, the lives of nearly five million civilians, half of whom are forcibly displaced. It is also seeking to create a major humanitarian tragedy by aggravating the harsh living conditions amid the covid-19 pandemic and the sever winter conditions. This situation risks creating a new wave of refugees.
The latest Russian airstrikes hit rural Aleppo, Idlib and Hama, targeting mainly vital services facilities and poultry farms, which increases the suffering of civilians and threatens their food security. The attacks also targeted Al-Arshani water pumping station, which supplies the entire city of Idlib with potable water. The station was put out of service.
Condemning these crimes is a moral duty just as stopping them and holding the perpetrators accountable is a legal duty on the major players in the international community. Action is urgently required to protect civilians, especially the IDPs in northwestern Syria.
The SOC renews its call on the major international actors to establish an effective mechanism and take measures within a specific time-frame that ensure an end to bombardment, massacres and crimes and that war criminals are held to account. Such measures are also necessary to ensure an end to the suffering of millions of displaced persons and tens of thousands of detainees as well as the implementation of UN resolutions.
