30 Regime Tanks Advance Towards Damascus’s Southern Neighborhoods

Press Statement

Syrian Coalition

Istanbul, Turkey

November 01, 2013

The Syria Coalition calls for intensified international efforts that aim to prevent the Assad regime from using conventional and unconventional weapons in its war against the Syrian people.

Assad’s forces are using various heavy weaponry in an unprecedented massive assault on southern neighborhoods in Damascus and its western countryside. Nearly 30 tanks and large numbers of soldiers, Shabiha, and other militias were reported to have been advancing on the Damascus-Daraa highway towards the south. In preparation for this assault, the regime has unleashed heavy bombardments using rocket launchers and surface-to-surface missiles.

The Syrian Coalition has previously highlighted the critical situation in a number of cities and towns south of Damascus and called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors. The Syrian Coalition warns against a possible massacre by Assad’s forces against civilians trapped in those areas. A number of cities and towns in the south of Damascus have been under siege for a year. People living in those areas suffer deplorable conditions due to the absence of water, food, electricity, fuel, and medicine.

The Assad regime has committed numerous and wide ranging massacres during the past two and a half years. The international community has a moral duty to stop the tragedy of the Syrian people living in southern Damascus and across Syria.