Syrian Coalition Calls for Grounding Assad’s Airforce and an Arms Embargo under Chapter VII

Press Release

Media Department

Syrian Coalition

April 6, 2017

The Syrian Coalition emphasizes that the chemical attack carried out by the air force of the Assad regime on the morning of Tuesday, April 4, is a terrorist act punishable under UN Security Council resolutions 2170, 2178 (2014) and 2199 (2015) and that it violates UN Security Council resolutions 2118, 2235, 2254 as well as the Geneva Communique of 2012.

The Coalition calls for the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter to put an end to the crimes being committed by the Assad regime and to remove the constant threat it poses to the lives of the Syrian people and to the international peace and security. Such a resolution is needed to ensure that those who ordered, executed, supported, and are involved in such crimes are held accountable.

The Coalition stresses that such a resolution must impose full and immediate ban on the flight of the Assad regime's air force over all Syrian territory; refer all violations and crimes to the International Criminal Court; ensure that perpetrators and accomplices in these crimes are handed over to international justice; strip the regime of all lethal weaponry; and ban supplying it with weapons.

The failure to adopt such a resolution means crimes against civilians will continue. Blocking such a measure will amount to a cover-up for these crimes and direct involvement in them. Political transition in Syria brought about in line with international resolutions is the only way to put an end to these crimes and to rid Syria of terrorist groups and foreign occupation forces.

May our wounded recover, our detainees be free, and our fallen heroes rest in peace.

Long live Syria and the Syrian people, free and with honor.