Press release
Syrian National Coalition – Syria
Department of Media and Communications
March 2, 2020
For nearly a decade, the world has watched idly by the tragedy that the Assad regime has inflicted on Syria and its people, the atrocities against hundreds of thousands of civilians, and the destruction of whole cities, towns and villages. The international community has ignored the cries of detainees, the displaced, and the orphans and widows, choosing to only express its concern.
The Syrian National Coalition and the Syrian people have sent repeated warnings, asking friends and major actors in the international community to assume their duty with regard to the protection of civilians in the liberated areas and exert pressure for the success of the political solution. However, all these calls and warnings have fallen on deaf ears.
Today, and after all the heavy price that the Syrian people have paid, after years of international inaction, and after our appeals and demands, the Syrian people see Operation Spring Shield as a natural response to their calls and as a move seeking to compensate for the international community’s failure to assume its humanitarian duty.
Operation Spring Shield aims to put an end to the Assad regime’s atrocious crimes, the mass forced displacement, and extremism and terrorism. It will also significantly contribute to enforce resolutions and agreements and help reach a political solution based on international resolutions.
On the other hand, Operation Spring Shield represents an opportunity that may be the last one for tens of thousands of young Syrians whom the regime forced to fight in its ranks, including the youths who agreed to the so-called reconciliation and settlements deals. Today they have an opportunity to correct their mistakes by abandoning this murderous regime and take an honorable stance alongside the Syrian people.
The Syrian National Army and the Turkish Army honor international treaties and agreements as their operations are being carried out with the utmost professionalism and without causing harm to civilians while showing respect for the relevant Geneva Conventions.
The world has long shied away from the atrocities being carried out by the Assad regime and its allies against innocent civilians, hoping that they would end quickly and that their effects would be easily forgotten. However, the heroic resistance being shown by the Syrian people proved those wrong as they have resisted Russia, the regime, and Iran for years.
In addition to defending its security and future, Turkey today assumes the duty that the international community should have assumed long time ago. Turkey’s support for the Syrian National Army represents an important move to protect civilians and safeguard human values and international law. This support appears as the only way to keep alive the chances for reaching a political solution in Syria.
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