Syrian Coalition accuses Assad's regime of slaughter in Douma

The Syrian National Coalition "with great alarm" drew the UN Security Council's attention to the "slaughter" currently unfolding in the Syrian suburb of Douma and called in a letter for the urgent need for comprehensive action to stop the "Syrian regime's atrocities," before they result in further bloodshed.
On behalf of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, President Khaled Khoja issued a letter to the UNSC, noting attacks on Douma are part of a larger effort by the Syrian regime to eradicate all opposition and dissent in the besieged province in eastern Ghouta.
Khoja said the regime is not content with its two-year siege of eastern Ghouta, "it has chosen to ramp up its brutal efforts to kill any and all Syrians who dare to demand freedom." No less than 178 civilians were killed in eastern Ghouta, he said, from the period February 5-9, representing a staggering 80 percent of the total death toll.
"The Syrian regime's attacks on Douma and the whole of eastern Ghouta underline the urgent need for comprehensive international action to stem the rising death toll in Syria," he added.
Furthermore, in his letter to the UNSC, he noted that the current airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will not succeed in degrading and destroying the extremist threat in Syria until the Security Council takes comprehensive action to address the chief cause of ISIL's proliferation: "the brutality and lawlessness of the Assad regime." "As long as the Syrian regime continues to "commit atrocities with impunity in civilian-occupied areas like Douma," he said, extremists will continue to exploit the hopelessness and discontent that the Syrian regime breeds." Khoja stressed that it is critical for the Security Council to take immediate steps to stop the violence in Douma and across Syria. "In the immediate term, we urge the Security Council to meet in order to discuss the situation in Douma and condemn the regime's use of indiscriminate force, and express in writing its commitment to enforce international law, including Security Council resolutions, in Syria." Beyond these immediate steps, Khoja said the Council must do far more to ensure the protection of civilians in Syria in accordance with international law.
A natural first step, he added, for the Council is to develop a new, strong and enforceable resolution that acts as a real deterrent against future atrocities.
Therefore, resolutions 2139, 2165 and 2191 are not being respected by the regime nor are they enforced by the Security Council, he noted.
By the end of his letter, he expressed that Bashar Al-Assad's February 10th "lies on the BBC" reveal an obvious truth: without a deterrent, killers will continue to kill.
Assad, he concluded, believes he can mislead the international community because there have been no consequences for his actions so far.
The Security Council has the power to generate such a change and open the way for a political solution to the crisis on the basis of the transition established by the Geneva communique, he said.
Source: KUNA