Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
December 18, 2023
The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) emphasizes that the crime committed by the Assad regime yesterday, resulting in the death of at least seven civilians in the city of Idlib and the town of Abzimo in the Aleppo countryside, while residential homes continue to be targeted, poses a challenge to all international laws. It reflects a total disregard for the international community and confirms the regime’s ongoing brutal military approach in its interactions with the Syrian people.
The international community’s failure to take deterrent measures, as exemplified by the Security Council, to halt repeated attacks and provide protection for civilians in liberated areas, serves as encouragement for the Assad regime and its allies to commit more war crimes. This failure further destabilizes the region, forces tens of thousands to flee and seek refuge, and exacerbates the humanitarian situation.
The SOC urges the international community and influential countries in Syria to adopt a firm stance against these crimes, establish clear mechanisms to ensure accountability for war crimes, and take decisive measures to end the Assad regime’s obstruction of the political process sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva, in accordance with the mandate of Security Council Resolution 2254 (2015). The SOC also calls on the guarantor states in the Astana process to adhere to the understandings and protocols signed between them regarding the ceasefire and to prevent further attacks on civilians and public facilities.
