PHOTO: A message from Kafranbel in northwest Syria for a no-fly zone


In a letter published in The Guardian, 25 civil society activists inside Syria write:


We, a group of Syrian civil society organisations and actors, both men and women, from multiple sects and ethnic and minority backgrounds, write this following Russia’s recent airstrikes. It has become eminently clear that the international community has little political will to stop the bloodshed in Syria. Indeed, the international community’s collective failure to help end the conflict created the vacuum for the de facto occupation of our country by Iran and now Russia. While the United Nations has repeatedly expressed “deep concern” and “regret” at the tremendous loss of life and the mass displacement of Syrians, the international community has done next to nothing to deter the main perpetrator of the conflict in Syria: the Assad regime.

The dire situation in Syria is no mystery. After four years of conflict, half the country has been killed, displaced or exiled. Indeed, airstrikes by the Syrian regime are the foremost driver of the Syrian refugee crisis and the leading cause of death in Syria (66% of civilian deaths by May 2015); 95% of all deaths caused by regime airstrikes are civilians – not members of Isis or armed opposition groups. While UN resolution after resolution has condemned the use of indiscriminate weapons against civilians, there has been no international action to stop regime aerial attacks. And now Russia has joined in the slaughter of Syrians with nothing more than feigned concern by the international community.

Since Russia began its aerial assaults, it has already attacked locations in Homs, Hama, Idlib, Daraa, Latakia and Aleppo [Provinces]. Russia has bombed civilian homes; a field hospital in rural Hama; Al Yamadiya refugee camp; a refugee camp in Nuqayib in Idlib province; Free Syrian Army bases in rural Idlib and rural Latakia; and an archaeological site in rural Idlib. In its operations, Russia has killed over 100 civilians including at least 25 children and three brave “White Helmet” civil defence workers, Issam al-Saleh, Abdul-Latif al-Duheik, and Muhammad Abdo Barquomi.

Despite launching hundreds of missiles, Russia has largely failed to target ISIS [Islamic State] locations. Rather, it is clearly attacking opposition fighters and civilians living in non-regime areas. It is with tremendous irony that it took the United States three years to search for a moderate opposition to train and equip, yet Russia found and bombed that opposition within 24 hours.

While many of us rose up in 2011 seeking democratic reforms, we have only been met with bullets, tanks, bombs and missiles. Yet our message remains unchanged: the Assad regime and its allies are the root cause of the problems currently facing Syrians. Without dealing with the root, there is no hope for dealing with the consequences, including ISIS, millions of refugees and now a broader international conflict that may result in the partition of Syria.

Despite Russia’s recent military involvement, we continue to demand a political solution that not only removes Assad from power but also maintains Syria’s unity as a single heterogeneous country. In the meantime, there must be serious action to stop Russia and the Assad regime from their aerial assaults on civilians and civilian infrastructure through a no-fly or no-bomb zone. Only through such measures can we truly protect civilians and develop sustainable civil administration. And only then might the Assad regime, and now Russia, feel sufficient pressure to enter into a genuine political negotiation as the least worst option for them.

Our cries have fallen on deaf ears for far too long, and the list of our dead continues to grow. While our faith in the international community has all but disappeared, we continue to speak out for the millions killed, arbitrarily detained and displaced, in the hope that our collective dream of living in a democratic country where all Syrians are guaranteed equal rights and freedoms is realized.

Yahia Nanaa, Former president of the Aleppo provincial council, Arab
Gulsin Mohamad, Founding member of the Sawa organisation, Qamishli, Kurdish
Hefa Jaja, Organisation for the Protection of Human Rights, Hasakah, Kurdish
Ahed Nofal, Lawyer, Organisation for Equal Citizenship, Druze
Shiyar Khaleal, Kurdish journalist/activist, former political prisoner
Dr Abdulkarim Hariri, Daraa local council, Arab

19 other Syrian civil society actors based in Tartus, Latakia, Damascus, Jaramana, Sweida, Deraa, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo, Idlib, Hasaka, Qamishli, and Homs, of Kurdish, Circassian, Arab Bedouin, Assyrian, Alawite, Sunni, Shia, Christian and Druze backgrounds