Political Quotes

“today I wish to bring attention to the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian backers' latest assault on innocent civilians under a rain of airstrikes and barrel bombs, which has sparked the worst violence in a year and a half in the Idlib and Hama provinces. The regime and its enablers would yet again have us believe that they are striking ``terrorists.'' However, facts simply bely that worn-out ruse; their airstrikes have hit 18 hospitals in the past 2 weeks alone, denying lifesaving facilities to more than 100,000 people and destroying at least 10 schools, according to NGOs monitoring the situation. Relief workers on the ground assess that Assad's forces are responsible for scores of civilian deaths over the past 2 weeks, as well as displacing 150,000 desperate and terrified people. Assad's barrel bombs and starvation campaign, along with violence from terrorist organizations, has already sent 5 million Syrians fleeing to neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq. Despite already fragile economic and political systems, these countries have shown an extraordinary openness in hosting those fleeing. It is absolutely critical that those refugees be allowed to return in a manner that is safe, voluntary, and dignified and that they not be forced to return to situations in Syria where they face conscription, retaliation, detention, torture, or murder at the hands of the Assad regime.…”