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[Washington, DC, 8/26/2012] - Saturday
marked the bloodiest day in Syria since the
revolution began on March 15, 2011 with the
death toll reaching a record high of 440 in
one day. Over 200 people were massacred in
the Damascus suburb of Daraya. Most were
reported to have been killed by Syrian
troops "execution style" on Saturday,
including 156 people shot in the basement of
a mosque.
Daraya is famous for having held the first
peaceful demonstrations in which
participants carried roses and gave out
bottled water to security forces. The
regime's offensive against Daraya began on
August 20th, with the regime relentlessly
shelling the town. The tally for the Daraya
massacre may be even higher since activists
have not been able to reach many of the
areas where dead civilians are believed to
be. Many others are seriously injured, with
nowhere to get medical treatment since the
town is still under siege.
SEE:
Daraya, Syria Violence: More Than 200 Dead
In Suburb Outside Damascus, Activists Say -
Reuters
It is no coincidence that the bloodiest day
in Assad's crack-down followed President
Obama's speech in which he warned Assad not
to cross the red line of using chemical
weapons. This was actually a green light to
the Assad regime to use every other weapon
in their arsenal to continue killing,
wounding and maiming Syrian civilians. Once
again the world has allowed yet another
massacre to take place due to inaction and
impotence.
SEE:
Obama warns Syria over chemical weapons -
Aljazeera
Feras Alhlou, national director of PR for
SAC emphasizes that, "The world has yet to
send a strong message in the only language
that Bashar al-Assad understands that
murdering innocent civilians, men, women and
children is not, cannot and never will be
acceptable to the global community. The
Syrian opposition is not asking for anyone
to give up their lives to defend them, but
only to give them a fair chance to defend
themselves, not only against Assad's well
equipped army and shabiha, but against the
weapons and support provided by Iran,
Hizbollah, and Russia. The Syrian opposition
asks only for a safe haven for humanitarian
and logistical reasons, and access to arms
that can truly make a difference against the
Assad regime's airplanes, helicopters and
tanks. Nothing short of this is going to
stop Assad's killing machine and rising
atrocities. As with the Bosnian genocide 20
years ago, it took the courage and foresight
of officials in the Clinton administration
to push for a policy that truly backed up
the ideal of 'Never Again.' We are asking
for nothing less than this from the Obama
administration."
The
Syrian American Council (SAC) was
founded in 2005 to mobilize Syrian Americans
to strengthen civil society in Syria, to
promote friendly relations between the
Syrian and American peoples, to engage civic
and governmental organizations to advance
civil liberties, human dignity and democracy
in Syria. The organization has represented
Syrian Americans to the U.S. State
Department, Congress, and in international
meetings and councils.
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CONTACT:
SAC Communications Director Rashad Al-Dabbagh, rashad@sacouncil.com,
626-375-2537.
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