The chemical attack on Douma in Syria is utterly horrific and barbaric . This atrocity must be condemned unequivocally. Obviously it is not possible, sitting in Dublin, to prove immediately and with certainty that this was the work of the Assad regime and his Russian backers and we do know that this will be emphatically denied by Assad and that this denial will be faithfully echoed by Assad supporters in Ireland who will claim either that it never happened or that it was the work of ‘the terrorists’.
Nevertheless it is very likely that it was Assad who was responsible. Why? Because we do know that his regime has been waging merciless war against his own people for seven years and that they are responsible for the overwhelming majority of the half million or more casualties in Syria and the overwhelming majority of the millions of displaced people and refugees. And we know that this brutal regime which has a record of torture and crimes against the people going back thirty years is prepared to do anything to retain and reinforce its dictatorship.
In Ireland the Irish government, so keen last week to expel a diplomat in ‘solidarity’ with Theresa May, should immediately summon the Russian Ambassador to account for this crime and our government ,like the rest of the EU should immediately start accepting and welcoming refugees. We should not support or encourage the idea of Western military intervention which will only escalate the conflict and make the situation even worse.
We equally condemn the bloody airstrike on Syria probably carried out by Israel. We call for end to all intervention in Syria by all imperial and regional powers.
But we should extend our solidarity to the Syrian people and put our faith in them for the future. The only real solution to the catastrophic cycle of war, terrorism, dictatorship, more war, more terror and more dictatorship lies with the working people of the Arab world and the Middle East . Long live the Syrian Revolution! Long live the spirit of the Arab Spring!