Assad Regime Deploys Chlorine Gas; Genocide Will not Stop Without Urgent Int’l Intervention

Press release

Syrian Coalition

Media Department

March 7, 2018

In blatant violation of UN Security Council resolutions 2209 and 2118 as well as resolution 2401 calling for cessation of hostilities, regime forces once again used barrel bombs loaded with chlorine poison gas in eastern Ghouta. The attack resulted in around 40 cases of asphyxiation among civilians in the towns of Hammouriya and Beit Sawa in the Damascus suburb.

The genocidal campaign in eastern Ghouta continues. Over 100 civilians were killed on Monday, bringing to over 800 the total number of civilians who have been killed since the start of the onslaught.

Assad demonstrated once again that his crimes would not stop as there is nothing to prevent the continuation of the killings, be it UN resolutions or statements by the international community expressing concern. This means that the genocidal campaign will continue and that UN Security Council resolution 2401 calling for at least 30-day cessation of hostilities remains largely unimplemented.

It is a disgrace that stopping the genocide taking place now in eastern Ghouta still depends on international resolutions that cannot be issued without the approval of the criminals, making these resolutions toothless and lacking any chances of implementation.

There is no doubt that the indecisiveness and inaction of the international community are to blame for the current situation in Syria and the region.

The onslaught on eastern Ghouta is causing high civilian casualties. Around 400,000 civilians trapped in eastern Ghouta are in urgent need for an action to put an end to the hell on earth they are living in. The genocidal campaign being carried out by the Assad regime, the Russian occupation, and the Iranian militias in eastern Ghouta will not stop unless there is a serious international intervention and real pressure is urgently exerted on these gangs at the highest possible levels.

The Syrian Coalition calls on the permanent members of the UN Security Council, whose primary task is the preservation of international peace and security, to take measures bypassing Russia's attempts to disrupt the Security Council and preventing the achievement of international justice. These measures should include deterrent military action to put an end to the onslaught by the Assad regime and the Iranian terrorist militias against our people trapped in eastern Ghouta; punish war criminals and perpetrators of the crime of using chemical weapons and toxic gases; and protect millions of Syrians whose cities and homes are being destroyed.