July 22, 2012
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has slammed the Syrian regime for destroying the country and putting thousands of civilian’s lives at stake to remain in power. During his visit to Croatia, Ban Ki-Moon told the reporters that: “The situation in Syria is rapidly deteriorating. I am deeply distressed by the rising death toll, and the growing number of people who have been forced to flee their homes within the country and across the borders."
Unfortunately, Ban Ki-Moon's comments have arrived quite late when already more than 19,000 Syrians have lost their lives since the time the uprising began in March 2011. Moreover, thousands of civilians’ lives are at stake by the possible use of chemical weapons by Syrian regime.
The SOHR representative, Rami Abdel Rahman, told the AFP that “...at least 19,106 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since March last year. The toll does not include the thousands of people missing in detention. Nor does it include thousands of soldiers whose deaths the regime has concealed, in a bid to keep the army's morale high."
A source from British Intelligence agency told the Telegraph that there is a possibility of Syrian government using chemical agents. It has been opined by political analysts that as the down fall of Al-Assad’s regime seems quite near, Syrian government might use chemical weapons resorting to last option of defense, risking thousands of lives at stake.
It may be recalled that Saddam Hussein’s regime had also used the mass gas against the Kurdish people of Halabja in 1988, which had reportedly killed 5,000 people. The mass gas weapon attacks the respiratory muscles of a victim which makes it difficult to breathe following convulsions, loss of bowel movement and extreme salivating. The condition is called "asphyxiation."
Also, the Al-Arabiya news website has shared a video which shows Syrian children difficult to breathe as a result of toxic gas used by Syrian regime’s forces. The footage has been shared by a Syrian activist.
Syria has been going through some of the most turbulent times of its history. It is sufficiently evident that U.N. Security Council including Western and Arab countries has been failed in rescuing lives of more than 19,000 people since March 2011. Under the current Syrian stalemate with the predictability of using chemical weapons by Syrian regime, the question of the time is, would the U.N. Security Council and other countries having vested interest in Syria, like to conclude any resolution to discount the risk of possible genocide?
Source: Al-Arabiya/ Telegraph/ CNN
