French minister: Syrian regime should be ‘smashed fast’

ONCUPINAR, Turkey – French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Friday, August 17, called for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be “smashed fast” as he visited Turkey’s largest refugee camp near the Syrian border.

“The Syrian regime should be smashed fast,” Fabius told reporters. “After hearing the refugees and their account of the massacres of the regime, Mr. Bashar al-Assad doesn’t deserve to be on this earth,” he said.

In London, meanwhile, the British Red Cross said that humanitarian workers are being caught up in the fighting in Syria, threatening the supply of emergency medical aid to Syrian civilians.

“Some of the worst fighting is now in Aleppo, and aid workers are at daily risk in the city,” the charity said.

“Five Red Crescent staff and volunteers have been killed, and several ambulances have been shot at or stolen since September 2011,” it added.

“In some areas, paramedic volunteers are going in on foot instead of in ambulances, which may become a target.

“Targeting of health and humanitarian workers results in reduced access to vital healthcare for the sick and wounded.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are among the few major agencies able to work on the frontlines in Syria, the charity said.

The two agencies have delivered 25,000 food parcels to Syria in the last few weeks, it added.

More than 23,000 people have died since the revolt against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, according to activists, while the UN puts the toll at around 17,000. – Agence France-Presse