SAC Condemns Russian War Crimes in Idlib

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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.

Yesterday's attack is a war crime that cannot be justified, and global inaction made it possible. The international community has failed to stop the Assad regime from forcibly displacing civilians -- itself a crime against humanity -- from other parts of Syria such as Daraya, Aleppo, and Wadi Barada to Idlib. Rather than protect civilians where they live from the Assad regime’s mass atrocities, the international community now stands idly by as civilians in Idlib are slaughtered as well by Russia, a supposed guarantor of the ongoing ceasefire, under the false guise of "fighting terrorism."

“The U.S. must work with its allies to impose consequences for breaches of the ceasefire, to create a no-fly zone to protect civilians, and to airdrop food into besieged areas," said Mirna Barq, President of the Syrian American Council. "The best way to defeat terrorism in Syria is to work with Syrians and support their demands for a free and democratic country."

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