.@StateDept: There is no doubt about #Assad regime's pattern of chemical weapons. Since 2014, the OPCW assigned responsibility to Assad for multiple sarin & chlorine attacks. We've noticed there’s an awful lot of Russian #Propaganda out there, so we thought we’d offer some facts:
FACT: The #Syrian regime used chemical weapons near #Douma on April 7, killed at least 45 people and sickening hundreds more. Our information is consistent and corroborated by multiple sources, from military intelligence to social media users, NGOs to international organizations.
FACT: The joint U.S.-UK-France strikes were a justified, legitimate and proportionate response to the #Syria government's continued use of chemical weapons on its own people.
FACT: The targets we selected were at the heart of the #Syria regime’s illegal chemical weapons program. The strikes were carefully planned. 105 weapons were fired at three distinct military chemical weapons targets, and they successfully hit every one.
FACT: Since 2013, we have given diplomacy a chance, hoping that it would succeed in putting an end to the horror of chemical attacks in #Syria. But as we see from the past year, that did not happen.
FACT: #Russia killed the Joint Investigative Mechanism that sought accountability for chemical weapons use in #Syria & six times vetoed condemnation of Assad's actions. Russia agreed to be the guarantor of chemical weapons removal in Syria but has not lived up to this commitment.
FACT: #Iran has publicly supported the #Syria military for years, providing funding, training, munitions, and even lines of credit. This support has enabled the #Assad regime to wage war against its own people.
FACT: Our #Syria strategy has not changed- we support a focus on the defeat of #ISIS and the #UN-led Geneva process- however, the Syrian regime has forced us to take action based on their repeated use of chemical weapons.
.@StateDept: For more facts, see the United States Assessment of the Assad Regime’s Chemical Weapons Use: go.usa.gov/xQja4
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.@StateDeptSpox: The Syrian regime’s recent notices confirming the deaths of thousands of political prisoners in its custody affirms what the int'l community has long suspected: the regime has systematically arrested, tortured, & murdered tens of thousands of Syrian civilians.
.@StateDeptSpox: Since the Syrian uprising began in 2011, at least 117,000 Syrians have been detained or forcibly disappeared, according to numerous human rights organizations. #Syria
.@StateDeptSpox: The vast majority of them are believed to be in regime custody, across a network of prisons where regime officials torture and murder civilians to intimidate and silence any opposition to Assad’s rule. #Syria
.@StateDeptSpox: Brutal airstrikes by Russia and the regime continue, especially in Eastern #Ghouta, despite the unanimous UN Security Council vote on February 24th to demand an immediate cessation of hostilities throughout #Syria.
.@StateDeptSpox: Strikes on Eastern #Ghouta in recent days have demonstrated the farcical nature of Russia’s proposed humanitarian corridor. Russia is clearly attempting to feign implementation of UNSCR2401 while showing complete disregard for the ongoing humanitarian disaster.
.@StateDeptSpox: Russia’s unwillingness to adhere to its numerous commitments was fully demonstrated again by the fact that trucks carrying much needed aid were forced to withdraw from the area due to pro-regime attacks which killed dozens of innocent civilians. #Syria#Ghouta