The American Coalition for Syria Condemns UAE’s Decision to Host Bashar Al-Assad

WASHINGTON, DC – The Syrian American community is greatly concerned by the United Arab Emirates’ decision to host Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in a cynical effort to rehabilitate a man responsible for the destruction of his country.

“ The hosting of Bashar al-Assad by an Arab country is deeply offensive to the millions of Syrians who have perished, been harmed, or became displaced because of Assad’s genocidal effort to stay in power. Beyond the moral bankruptcy of such a visit, efforts to rehabilitate a man sitting atop a state that he has destroyed are doomed to fail,” said Dr. Mahmood Barazi, President of the American Coalition for Syria (ACS).

The Biden administration strongly denounced the visit in a statement on Friday and the U.S. State Department hosted a “March to Accountability” conference titled, “Seeking Safety: Forced Displacement in the Syrian Conflict” where it emphasized that “those responsible must be held accountable.” Also this week, the New York Times revealed that Assad’s henchmen used mass graves to bury the countless innocent lives he took between 2011 and 2013, furnishing even more evidence of Assad’s numerous war crimes.

Assad’s crimes include the documented use of chemical weapons against civilians, including children, as well as the targeting of hospitals, starving communities, and using state-sponsored sexual violence. ACS strongly urges the United Arab Emirates to reconsider its current approach to Syria and calls on the United States to redouble its efforts to dissuade further normalization with the Assad regime.