Commenting on President Bashar al-Assad’s statements during an interview with the BBC, member of the Political Committee Khatib Badlah said that Assad is "a pathological liar and delusional. During the interview Assad denied his forces are using chlorine gas or barrel bombs against civilians, or that they are besieging and starving civilians.
"Assad’s crimes are very well documented with thousands of photos and videos, as well as by reports published by the United Nations and human rights organizations," Badlah added.
He pointed to a report submitted by the fact-finding mission on the use of chemical weapons in Syria, which confirms that pro-Assad forces were behind the dropping of barrel bombs containing chlorine gas on three villages north of Hama. The fact-finding mission’s report also said that 32 of the 37 people interviewed "saw or heard the sound of a helicopter over the village at the time of the attack, with barrel bombs containing toxic chemicals”. The regime is the only force who possesses helicopters.
Badlah noted that "only criminal courts should question Assad, as journalists will only receive more lies," pointing out that the rights groups have documented the dropping of 8,000 barrel bombs by Assad’s air force upon residential areas, killing and injuring thousands.
“War criminals, including Bashar al-Assad, always provide justifications for their evil acts, but what are the international community’s justifications for keeping silent on Assad’s mass killing of the Syrian people and for letting this go unpunished? Inaction towards these daily atrocities has encouraged Assad to go further in his genocidal war on the Syrian people”, Badlah said.
