War Crimes Alert: U.S. Foreign Minister JohnKerry: “Military pressure may be needed to remove Assad”

[U.S. Foreign Minister John Kerry, joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, Riyadh, 5 March 2015]

" [President Francois Hollande] has underlined the necessity to work without respite to re-launch the Geneva process for a political transition in Syria, which is the only solution possible to bring together Syrian people, to meet their legitimate aspirations, to eradicate the terrorist groups and to re-establish peace in society. He has reminded that Bashar AL-ASSAD is the main cause of his people’s suffering, and for the rise of terrorist groups in Syria. He is therefore not a credible interlocutor to fight against Daesh and prepare Syria’s future."

[ press release (in French) by France’s President Francois Hollande on his meeting with the president of the Syrian National Coalition Khaled Khoja, Elysee Palace, Paris, 5 March 2015]

"Syrians should not be forced to choose between the barbarity of Assad and the barbarity of ISIL [DAESH]. Syria must be rebuilt by the moderate opposition.

[By conducting the operation to relocate the Süleyman Shah mausoleum on February 22], we have delivered the following message: If Turkey desires, it can instantly penetrate 40 kilometres-deep into the Syrian territory. Had a single attack taken place, then we would have turned the entire area from the border until the [Süleyman Shah] outpost into an occupied military zone. That was our plan B. Had the Syrian regime threatened us, had it fired a single bullet, then the Regime would have become our target as well. Now, Ashma [border village] has become our territory. Wherever Süleyman Shah mausoleum is located, that territory belongs to us. Once things settle down in Syria, then we will relocate the Suleyman Shah [mausoleum] back to the vicinity of Jabar citadel [Qal’at Jabar]."

[Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, remarks to journalists accompanying him on his flight to New York City, 4 March 2015]

"Extremism – however repugnant – is nurtured by ideology, and by alienation fed by years of tyranny, corruption, repression, discrimination, deprivation and neglect of the legitimate rights of communities.

Thus the vengeful actions of the Syrian Government – whose campaign of violent repression against what were originally peaceful protestors began four long years ago – have now morphed into wave upon wave of pitiless assaults by all sides. The [UN] Security Council, deadlocked by vetoes or threats of vetoes, has been powerless to step in and alter this landscape of destruction and bloodshed. The Syrian conflict has killed well in excess of 200,000 people, and continues to kill more every day. It has involved the torture and ill-treatment of countless others; forced millions to flee; and deprived even more of the basic conditions for a decent life, including the rights to education, food, healthcare and housing."

[UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein of Jordan, speech at the Human Rights Council, Geneva, 5 March 2015]

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War crimes alert: U.S. General John Allen: “We will protect the rebel fighters in Syria with air power and safe corridors”

by Cem Ertür, Syrian Free Press Network, 4 March 2015