The Assad Regime and ISIS are Two Manifestations of Terrorism

Press Statement

Syrian Coalition

Istanbul, Turkey

October 30, 2013

The Assad regime’s forces bombarded the city of Yabrud on Tuesday, October 29. One of the city’s oldest churches was hit during the shelling. Meanwhile, a video appeared on the Internet showing a member of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) destroying a statue of Virgin Mary. The similarity between the behavior of ISIS and that of the regime demonstrates the unmistakable shared terrorist mindset of the two. Seemingly interconnected, both the Assad regime and ISIS show a complete disregard for religious sanctities and the lives of innocent civilians.

In a repeated, almost coordinated manner, the Assad regime and ISIS attacked holy places in an effort to cover up the regime’s massacres and tarnish the image of the Syrian revolution. Such attacks were evidently meant to divert the world’s attention away from the deteriorating humanitarian crisis and the suffering of millions of Syrians caused by the crimes of the Assad regime and other anti-revolution organizations and groups.

Saddened and dismayed, the Syrian Coalition, as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people, shares in the suffering of the Syrian people as they face the regime’s state terrorism and ISIS’s guerrilla terrorism. The future of the Syrian people, and indeed of Syria as a nation, remains bleak in light of the silence and impotence of the international community in the face of a criminal and tyrannical regime.

We ask for Mercy for our martyrs, health for our wounded, and freedom for our detainees.

Long live Syria and its people, free and with honor.