May 29, 2012

MPAC commends President Barack Obama, the State Department and nine other Western nations for finally taking a stand to expel from their countries Syrian diplomats and ambassadors who have been sitting idly by as Syrian civilians are being massacred.

SEE: “U.S. Expels Syrian Envoy Zuheir Jabbour over Houla Massacre Along with Other Western Nations” (CBS)

Today, the State Department announced the expulsion of the top Syrian diplomat, Charge D’Affaires Zuheir Jabbour, from the United States.

 Nuland’s statement to the decision of Jabbour’s expulsion mentioned, in part:

 In response to the May 25 massacre in the village of Houla, today the United States informed the Syrian Charge d’Affaires Zuheir Jabbour of his expulsion from the United States.  He has 72 hours to leave the country.  We took this action in coordination with partner countries including Australia, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Germany.

ALSO SEE: Syrian Diplomats around the World Expelled (Associated Press)

Last Friday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops killed more than 100 Syrian civilians, mostly women and children, in the town of Houla in the Homs province. Today 62 more people were killed.

U.N. officials insisted that Syrian government forces, in accordance with the Shabiha militia, a government militia group, were responsible for the murders. The massacre in Houla comes after repeated peace efforts led by U.N. Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan were pursued such as recognizing a ceasefire and implementing a peace initiative, all of which were agreed upon by al-Assad. Despite the peace plan and the presence of U.N. observers on the ground in Syria, innocent people have continued to be murdered by government forces on the streets and within their own homes.

Although the U.S. has implemented sanctions against Damascus, international response and assistance to the crisis in Syria have been weak. The latest expulsion of Syrian diplomats helps to emphasize to the al-Assad regime, according to William Hague, Britain's foreign secretary, that “the world, the international community, is appalled by the violence that has continued, by the behavior of the regime, by the murder of so many innocent people, including in the terrible massacre at Houla.”

“People are more important than governments. Based on that, any government that fails to protect its people automatically should go,” said Dr. Maher Hathout, MPAC’s Senior Adviser.

In moving forward, French President Francois Hollande announced that France will host a Friends of Syria meeting in early July to seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria.