The Syrian American Council, America's largest and oldest Syrian American grassroots organization, welcomes the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2235. The resolution creates a mechanism to assign responsibility for chemical attacks in Syria. It comes four months after the passage of UNSC Resolution 2209, which condemned chlorine gas attacks in Syria and introduced a "Chapter VII" U.N. mandate enforceable by military action.

"Only 11 days after UNSC Resolution 2209 was passed, the Assad regime blew past international red lines by murdering civilians in Sarmin, Idlib, with chemical weapons," said Mirna Barq, President of the Syrian American Council. "If the U.N. confirms that Assad has used chemical weapons in violation of Resolution 2209, then the United States should move to establish humanitarian safe zones in enforcement of that resolution." she added.

It has been almost two years since the Assad regime launched massive sarin gas attacks on civilians in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013. Because President Obama failed to enforce his chemical "red line" then, Assad regime chemical weapons attacks remain a regular occurrence in Syria. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Assad regime did not hand over all of its sarin gas stockpiles to international inspectors. 

Between this March and May alone, Human Rights Watch has documented at least 35 chemical weapons attacks in Syria by the Assad regime.