Chicago coalition speaks out against the bloodshed in Syria

A United Coalition of national and local Syrian-American and Muslim-American organizations joined by Chicago family members of those killed spoke at a press conference on August 27 to discuss steps to end the bloodshed in Syria.

Speakers included Yaser Tabbara, Chicago Attorney, American Syrian Coalition (ASC), Dr. Fateen Atassi, President, Syrian American Council – Chicago (SAC), Safaa Zarzour, Secretary General, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Nation’s largest grassroots Muslim organization, Dima Mousa, a Christian Syrian Activist with the Syrian National Council (SNC), Noha Kam, Local Chicago student, recently returned from Syria, lost cousin in Syria, Zaher Sahloul, Chairman, CIOGC, and President of the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) which carried out recent humanitarian aid work in Syrian refugee camps on Turkish border, and Ahmed Rehab of CAIR-Chicago.

Saturday marked the bloodiest day in Syria since the revolution began on March 15, 2011 with the death toll reaching a record high of 440 in one day. Over 200 people were massacred in the Damascus suburb of Daraya alone (notable as the site of the first peaceful demonstrations in which participants carried roses and gave out bottled water to security forces) bringing the week’s total in that suburb to 600. Most were reported to have been killed by Syrian troops “execution style” on Saturday, including 156 people shot in the basement of a mosque.

This coalition shared their stories of how the crisis is impacting Syrians in Syria and locally and how the humanitarian crisis is taking the nation by storm. They called for the international community to pressure the U.N. to establish a No-fly Zone over Syria and to assist with allowing medical aid to be dispersed among Syrian civilians.

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