Today’s Syrian Gas Attack: How do we know who is responsible?

Today's Syrian Gas Attack: How do we know who is responsible?

Today a terrible gas attack struck a neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo, leaving innocent victims dead and seriously injured. This is an unconscionable crime against humanity. Seventy civilians, many of them children, have been stricken. Entire families are dying, and the tragedy harkens back to the horrific 2013 attack.

The Management Team of Face Activities extends our deepest sympathies and concern for the victims of today’s criminal attack. And we ask, are we sure we know who is responsible for this outrage? The international news media is very quick to blame Bashar al-Asad. But what is the source of this information?

It’s important to get this right, by thoroughly researching and investigating every logical possibility. It’s too easy to make a snap judgement, and snap judgments in war can be costly, in the worst ways. Has ISIS, the most horrendous of terrorist threats, been ruled out? They could have had access to chemical weapons by virtue of all the territory they captured during the war.

The Management Team of Face Activities calls upon the international news media to present the results of their investigations into this chemical attack, and explain their sources to the public. Has ISIS been ruled out, or is there more investigative work needed before this can be done?

 

By Bernard Gagnon (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Genocide in Aleppo, Syria as Assad loyalists retake the city

Genocide in Aleppo, Syria as Assad loyalists retake the city

News reports of civilians, including women and children, executed in the streets of Eastern Aleppo as forces loyal to Bashar-al Assad retake the city and move into areas once held by rebel fighters, are horrifying the world, and follow on the heals of desperate pleas from activists that the city is suffering a genocide.


Raw news footage from Aleppo, Syria via USA Today

The U.N. Human Rights Office has relayed reports that at least 82 civilians, including 11 women and 13 children, have been killed, while unconfirmed reports from activists place the number much higher. And large swathes of the city itself are in ruins, following heavy bombing. Over the course of the 5-year-long Syrian war, over 500,000 people have been killed, and millions of refugees have been displaced, many of whom have fled their homes to take refuge in other countries.

Claims of genocide are of course extremely serious and must continue to be verified as news reports come in. The execution of civilian noncombatants, including women and children, is clearly an unconscionable war crime that must not be tolerated by the international community. Murdering members of an unarmed civilian population for any reason is unacceptable and must end immediately. Such an outrage clearly violates all standards of international and military law.

The suffering of the Syrian people over the course of this terrible war is tragic, and should move all decent people to action. The international community must redouble its efforts to bring this violent conflict to an end, and punish those guilty of war crimes, no matter what what political or military affiliation they claim.

Learn about Aleppo genocide claims (USA Today)

 

 

Photo: Syrian raw news feed via USA Today (screen capture)