Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
October 27, 2022
The Syrian Opposition Coalition points out that the measures the US State Department announced in a statement on Monday, October 24, in which it announced the inclusion of military commanders of the Assad regime on the entry ban list, are a step in the right direction. However, these measures are insufficient, nor are they commensurate with the magnitude of Assad’s crimes. The US State Department’s statement indicated that those commanders were involved in the chemical attack that killed over 1,400 people in eastern Ghouta back in August 2013.
The Ghouta Massacre is one of thousands of war crimes that the Assad regime committed with the support of its allies. The major perpetrator of these crimes is the war criminal Bashar al-Assad as he is the supreme commander of the army. The Syrian people are still waiting to see Assad, along with the symbols of his regime, in international courts if justice is to be served.
The United States needs to take effective measures for holding the Assad regime and its allies and symbols accountable, and to work within the framework of UN resolutions 2118 and 2254. Indeed, condemning and boycotting this regime has effectively prolonged the human tragedy because condemnation alone is insufficient to bring an end to the reign of the Assad regime or to support the Syrian people’s aspirations for freedom and self-determination.
