Press release
Syrian Opposition Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
April 4, 2024
The fourth of April marks a somber anniversary etched in the hearts of Syrians. It commemorates the massacre perpetrated by the Assad regime against civilians in the town of Khan Shaykhun in the Idlib countryside in 2017. The attack claimed the lives of 91 civilians, including 32 children and 23 women, with 540 individuals suffering from suffocation due to the use of toxic sarin in the bombing of residential neighborhoods.
The international community’s failure to act in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians, despite conclusive evidence provided by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, has emboldened the regime to persist in its brutal tactics against civilians. This inaction has also impeded efforts toward a political solution and effectively granted the regime impunity to perpetrate further atrocities using various weapons, including chemical agents, which it has deployed 181 times against the Syrian people since ratifying the Convention banning such weapons in September 2013.
On this solemn anniversary, the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) asserts that these heinous crimes must not be forgotten and demand accountability. The international community bears the responsibility to deliver justice to Syrian victims who have long awaited redress. The SOC emphasizes the urgent need for international justice, holding perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable, and ensuring they face trial.
The SOC holds the international community and the United Nations accountable for the regime’s continued targeting and bombing of civilians and ongoing violations. It calls upon the Security Council to fulfill its legal obligations by activating Article 21 of Resolution No. 2118 (2013) to impose practical measures against the regime under Chapter Seven, given the regime’s proven violations, and to establish a binding and effective mechanism for the full and strict implementation of Resolution No. 2254 (2015).
