As Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad recently delivered a speech to his supporters in Damascus on Sunday, the United States of America today said al-Asad’s speech is yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and it does nothing to advance the Syrian people’s goal of a political transition.
In her remarks in Washington DC, Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland says Assad’s initiative is detached from reality, undermines the efforts of Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, and would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people.
“For nearly two years, the Asad regime has brutalized its own people.” – Ms. Nuland
She says even today, as Asad speaks of dialogue, the regime is deliberately stoking sectarian tensions and continuing to kill its own people by attacking Sunni towns and villages in the mixed areas of Jabal Akrad and Jabal Turkmen in Lattakia province.
Asad has lost all legitimacy and must step aside to enable a political solution and a democratic transition that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people, Ms. Nuland said.
According to Ms. Nuland, the United States continues to support the Geneva Action Group’s framework for a political solution, which was endorsed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Arab League, and the UN General Assembly.
She adds that the US government will continue its efforts in support of Joint Special Representative Brahimi to build international unity behind it.
“We urge all parties in Syria to take meaningful steps toward its implementation.” – Ms. Nuland
Reports say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday outlined a new peace initiative that included a national reconciliation conference and a new constitution in a rare speech about the uprising against his regime.
Some of his foes slammed his speech with criticism.
According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Navi Pillay, thousands have been killed, thousands more injured in the Middle East country due to violence and unrest.
More than 2.5 million people across the Middle Eastern country are affected by the violence.
In June this year, with growing influx of civilians fleeing from conflict, UN reported that humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate.
Reports say up to 1.5 million Syrians are in need of assistance.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that civilians attempting to flee from fighting need urgent assistance and protection.
OCHA reported that aid agencies continue to face significant access constraints to reaching people in need.
UN estimates that there are over 1 million Syrians inside Syria in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Of that number, it’s an estimated 300,000 internally displaced.
There are over 66,000 refugees in neighboring countries and there are existing refugees, Palestinian refugees, totaling about 500,000 inside Syria as well as a hundred thousand Iraqi refugees inside Syria.
The ongoing conflict in Syria has created a severe and growing humanitarian crisis, and the humanitarian organizations currently operating in Syria are tirelessly working to get aid out as quickly as possible into areas where safety and security are questionable.
Aid workers in Syria are putting their lives in jeopardy every day to get this relief to vulnerable children, women, and men caught in this crisis.
To help meet the growing needs, the United States is providing food, clean water, basic healthcare, medical and other emergency relief supplies to benefit more than 400,000 people in Syria and neighboring countries so far.
In addition, the World Food Program, WFP has distributed id in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
With support from the United States and other donors, WFP has expanded its emergency food assistance to reach now 250,000 conflict-affected Syrians.
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 over 60, 000 lives, mostly civilians, and displaced tens of thousands.
