Action is now needed to stop tyrant’s bombs

IT IS never comfortable to rely on external intervention to protect one’s own people.

But the Assad regime and its allies – Russia and Iran – have left us with no choice.

For seven years they have been free to pursue a brutal and illegal military strategy.

They have indiscriminately bombarded, detained, tortured and gassed hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

They have killed over 500,000 and displaced half the population. The chaos that they have unleashed has spawned a global terror threat that reaches into Europe and the US.

They have precipitated a refugee crisis with implications for generations to come. And Iran and Russia have been free to spread their malign influence. There is no doubt that the crisis in Syria is a threat to international peace and security.

Russia has consistently protected its ally, the Assad regime, in the Security Council.

It is therefore right that the US, UK, and France have shouldered the responsibility to deter the regime’s heinous use of chemical weapons.

But its illegal, indiscriminate use of conventional weapons must not be allowed to continue either. This is the biggest killer of civilians. And it is the main driver of the conflict, creates the conditions that breed terrorism, and prevents a political solution.

As long as Assad can pursue his military strategy through conventional weapons Syrians will continue to die and there will be no resolution to the conflict.

We therefore echo demands for the international community, particularly the US, UK, and France alliance, to employ a comprehensive and sustained strategic approach aimed at deterring all attacks by the Assad regime using chemical and conventional weapons including – but not limited to – barrel bombs and cluster munitions.

The goal of action should be to deter attacks so that it ensures a halt to the targeting and killing of civilians across Syria, detainee release, return of refugees to their homes and a genuine political transition in Syria in accordance with UN resolutions.

In so doing they will enforce the ceasefire mandated by Security Council resolution 2401 and take a step towards the strategic outcome of a negotiated end to the Syrian crisis.”