Quick Action Needed to Avoid Chemical Weapons Usage by Assad

Media Note

Syrian Coalition Media Office

Istanbul, Turkey

April 25, 2013

The US administration confirmed today that it has strong evidence that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons more than once against the Syrian civilian people.

For weeks now, Syrians across Aleppo, Homs, and Damacus (Ghouta region), have witnessed and suffered from the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, which is why it is imperative for the United Nations and the permanent members of the Security Council to act urgently to put a stop to this. The Assad regime must understand that, as the United Nations, United States, and many other countries stressed, the use of chemical weapons is a red line, and crossing this line will yield serious results.

We urge the Security Council to ensure that these were not just mere statements, but rather real warnings about the dangers and consequences of using weapons of mass destructions against unarmed civilians.

The Syrian people have been let down by the international community and have been long abandoned by the United Nations and UN Security Council. However, if quick action is not taken, then the Assad regime will view this as a signal of international acceptance of his wide spread usage of chemical weapons.

The UN must hear the cries of the Syrian people once and for all. Russia must not intervene in this situation, and must allow the UN to fulfill its duties of maintaining peace and security.

Russia, and any other country that still stands by this regime, is allowing Assad to commit atrocities against his own people, and thereby shares responsibility in Assad's brutality and numerous massacres of innocent civilians.

The wide availability of these chemical weapons and the acceptance of their use to kill civilians is the greatest threat of all.