Brutal Tactics Against Civilians Continue Unabated
Amid the countless times the international community has been calling on Bashar Assad to end the regime’s tactics on its people, the regime seems unmoved by the warnings by the USA and the global community.
The USA appears to have lost its power, and Assad and other regimes feel they can do as they please.
In her remarks in New York City, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Michele J. Sison to the UN Missions said the world is again stunned by the continued use of barrel bombs and other destructive weapons in civilian areas particularly the attacks on schools, hospitals, and medical personnel, arbitrary arrests and detentions, sexual and gender-based violence, torture, and disappearances.
According to Ambassador Sison, despite its claim to the contrary, the Assad regime’s ghastly use of barrel bombs did not stop last month. This report is circulated by Syrian documentation groups that recorded the regime’s use of 1,438 barrel bombs in October alone.
In addition, Ambassador Sison stated that in recent weeks, airstrikes – including those involving barrel bombs – intensified in opposition-held Eastern Ghouta, resulting in the destruction of medical centers, markets, and other public locations.
Also, on October 30th, multiple airstrikes on a public market in Douma killed at least 70 people and injured over 500 others, according to relief agencies.
More than thousand of deaths is also recorded by the Syrian Network for Human Rights. The group recorded 1,771 deaths in Syria in just the month of October, including 1,284 individuals at the hands of government forces, which clearly remain responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths in Syria.
Humanitarian Situation ‘Deeply Concerning’
Ambassador Sison said the overall humanitarian situation in Syria remains deeply concerning.
She cited that the recent released of UN Humanitarian Needs overview reported that those in need of urgent humanitarian assistance is estimated to be 13.5 million people which an increase of 1.2 million in just over 10 months.
At least 8.7 million individuals are unable to fully meet their food needs at present.
In addition, Ambassador Sison said that 4.5 million people inside Syria continue to live in hard-to-reach areas, nearly half of which are ISIL-controlled, while the nearly 400,000 individuals in besieged areas continue to survive in even more dire circumstances.
US Strategy
President Obama has set three interrelated goals for the Syrian crisis.
The US is committed to the defeat and dismantlement of the Daesh terrorist organization. In October this year, President Obama directed every member of his national security team to pick up the pace and move forward with ideas for degrading and defeating Daesh more rapidly, more completely, and permanently.
Secretary Kerry said under President Obama’s leadership, the United States mobilized a 65-member coalition to take on Daesh and defeat Daesh.
Second, the US is intensifying its diplomatic effort to finally bring an end to the civil war in Syria.
And third, the US is determined to support its allies in the region, and to ensure that the instability created by the Syrian crisis does not spread further beyond its borders.
The violence in Syria, which began in March 2011 as a protest movement similar to those witnessed across the Middle East and North Africa, has claimed many lives, mostly civilians.
