The Syrian Massacre Worsens

The French newspaper, Le Nouvel Observateur, asked today, “Who Can Still Remain Silent?”.

Silent about what?  Syria.

We lived this weekend through the horrific news that an 18-year-old sister of a young marcher was kidnapped by al-Assad forces, and then tortured, had her body burned with acid and probably fire, had her head and arms cut off, and then, when her family went to the morgue to get the body of her brother (in the meantime found and killed by al-Assad’s thugs), they were shown their daughter’s body and asked if it was she.

If that was not enough, opposition leader Haytham al-Maleh reported that the dead body of an 8-year-old boy was found in a sewer, also showing signs of being tortured.

The UN Security Council will probably adopt a resolution against the al-Assad regime later this week, but France has taken a bigger step.

Haytham al-Maleh was invited to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Quai d’Orsay. The French Ambassador for Human Rights made the invitation, saying that he had never seen such “cynicism, cruelty and perversion” as is occurring in Syria today.

Haytham al-Maleh, a lawyer and 80 years old, founded the Human Rights Association in Syria in 2001, but opposed the Syrian regime of al-Assad’s father long before then.

At the Quai d’Orsay, he said, “When I left Syria in July, there were 3000 dead and 3000 missing, but today, I believe there are 5250 dead, 5000 missing, more than 100,000 in prison and 20,000 refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The army is attacking with tanks and helicopters, killing at random innocent civilians, more than 2000 of them children younger than 13.”

Al-Maleh is asking for UN support, but not the Libyan style NATO intervention. He wants al-Assad and his regime cronies pursued by the International Criminal Court.

When will France take the lead in the Security Council and force action against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad?

It was France who saved Libya from the same outcome as we are witnessing in Syria. Let us hope France will again lead the UN, this time toward a resolution of the massacre now being perpetrated on the Syrian people.