Geagea Urges Obama to Act over Chemical Weapons Claims in Syria
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized in an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama his inaction in Syria after an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus which the opposition says left hundreds dead and provoked revulsion around the world.
“Syria's regime forces led by President Bashar Assad are currently engaged in ethnic cleansing, mass rape, systematic torture, (including of infants) leveling of cities upon their inhabitants, and, last but not least, using highly virulent nerve gas, causing mass civilian casualties,” Geagea said in his letter to Obama.
He warned that the regime had crossed a “red line.”
The accusation, which was strongly denied by Damascus, came as a team of U.N. inspectors was in Syria to probe previous allegations of chemical weapons strikes leveled against both sides during the 29-month conflict.
Western governments demanded immediate access for the inspectors to investigate the new allegations. Russia, a longstanding ally of the Damascus regime, echoed the call for an inquiry but said it suspected a "provocation" by the opposition and its foreign backers.
Videos distributed by activists, the authenticity of which could not immediately be verified, showed medics attending to suffocating children and hospitals being overwhelmed.
More footage showed dozens of people laid out on the ground, among them many children, some of them covered in white sheets.
The claim of chemical weapons use in Ghouta, which could not be independently confirmed, was vehemently denied by the Syrian regime, which said it was intended to hinder the work of the U.N. weapons inspectors already in the country.
Geagea pointed out that it another “consequence of the U.S. and the Free World’s inaction is the complete and thorough falling apart of every tenet they have stood for, proselytized, enforced and turned into acquired birth right.”
“It is already too late for more than one hundred thousand (increasing daily) are dead. You could have done something for them Mr. President, but you did not,” the Christian leader said criticizing Obama.
Geagea pointed out that there are million of other victims-in-wait in Syria.
He urged Obama to “exercise his duty to protect” them.
In the name of God, in the name of Good, for the sake of humanity, we urge you. Do something,” the letter added.
In one video, children are seen being given first aid in a field hospital, notably oxygen to help them breathe. Doctors appear to be trying to resuscitate unconscious children.
Another video posted on YouTube showed what it said was a case of hysteria following a chemical strike in the eastern suburbs.
A young girl held her head in her hands and frantically repeated "I'm alive", as a man in a white coat tried to comfort her.
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