SAC Condemns Attack On White Helmets

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 6 2017

The Syrian American Council is encouraged to learn that President Trump is considering military strikes in response to this week’s heinous nerve gas attack on Syrian civilians by Assad regime forces. Some 100 people were killed in the attack, which occurred Tuesday in the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun and was followed by targeted regime airstrikes on nearby hospitals and clinics treating the same victims. The massacre was the worst chemical attack in Syria since the August 2013 Sarin attacks. We urge President Trump to ground the entire Syrian Air Force along with the regime's chemical weapons storage facilities, air bases, runways, and other military assets of Assad's war machine.

Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 6, 2017 Washington, DC - The Coalition for a Democratic Syria (CDS) -- a multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian coalition of six Syrian American advocacy organizations representing the Syrian American community including Syrian Christians for Peace, Syrian Emergency Task Force, Syrian American Council, United for a Free Syria, American Syriac Union, and the Association of a Free Syrians -- welcomes President Trump's consideration of military retaliation against the Assad regime for its massacre of civilians with chemical weapons.

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
March 29th 2017

The Syrian American Council salutes the Russian people for Sunday’s massive protests against the corruption and autocracy of Putin’s regime. Tens of thousands across Russia took to the streets and over 1000 were arrested after Russian dissident Alexei Navalny revealed that Putin’s prime minister had attained massive wealth through corruption, which is especially jarring in light of a deepening Russian economic crisis.

PRESS RELEASE




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


The Syrian American Council, a grassroots Syrian-American organization, is profoundly alarmed over the recent uptick in US strikes on civilians, following Friday’s missile strike that killed over 40 civilians south of Aleppo and Tuesday's airstrike that left dozens of civilians dead in Raqqah. The Friday attack struck a mosque in al-Jineh village, south of Aleppo, killing at least 42 civilians at prayer. Tuesday's airstrike targeted a school that had been converted into housing for 50 displaced families.

The Syrian American Council, America's largest and oldest grassroots Syrian community organization, is proud to announce the release of "No Going Back: Forced Displacement in the Syrian Conflict," a new report on sectarian cleansing by the Assad regime and its allies. The report marks perhaps the first attempt to quantify the scale of sectarian cleansing and highlights the need for urgent measures to avoid a long-term Syrian refugee crisis that outlasts the war. Safe zones and sanctions on Iranian proxies are some of the measures advocated to reverse ongoing sectarian displacement trends.

The Syrian American Council, America's largest and oldest grassroots Syrian community organization, condemns the Russian airstrikes on Idlib last night that killed and injured more than 30 people, the vast majority of them civilians. Despite the purported ceasefire, the Assad regime and its allies continue to perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people in the East Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, Madaya and Zabadani, Northern Rural Homs, Deir Ezzor, and Raqqa.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                                       

February 2, 2017

Madrid, Spain - The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a member of the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, announces the first filing of a criminal case based on evidence from the Caesar photos. The case, filed on behalf of a victim of dual Spanish-Syrian background, will be brought before the Spanish national court to seek justice for a victim tortured and killed by the Assad Regime.

The case was investigated by the nonprofit Guernica 37 with support from Ambassador Stephen J. Rapp, former head of the Office of Global Criminal Justice. It marks the first time the Caesar file has been used in a judicial setting.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2017
 

The Syrian American Council, America's largest and oldest grassroots Syrian community organization, condemns in the strongest terms possible Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's (D-HI) recent secret trip to Assad-controlled Syria on a so-called "fact-finding mission." Her trip, which was the first by a U.S. lawmaker since 2011, provides dangerous legitimization to a brutal regime that has caused the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.

January 19, 2017

SAC STATEMENT ON BEN RHODES INTERVIEW IN POLITICO

Outgoing National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes' comments on Syria, published yesterday in Politico Magazine, are nothing short of an effort to rewrite history. Rhodes stated, "I met with the Syrian opposition, and often they would argue that we should work with al-Nusra, who we know is Al Qaeda."

As Government Relations Director of the Syrian American Council, I frequently relayed messages from moderate Syrian opposition figures of all stripes to the White House. I also briefed the National Security Council on multiple occasions. At no point did I hear from my Syrian opposition contacts, who had more cause to speak frankly with me than with Mr. Rhodes, that they desired for the U.S. to work with Al-Qaeda. Furthermore, the National Security Council repeatedly waved off opportunities that I presented to them to weaken extremists and strengthen moderates in Syria.