The intention of the US and France to militarily intervene in the Syrian Civil War would add yet another bloody chapter to the tragedy of the Syrian people. The use of chemical weapons, which according to many concordant reports occurred last week, is a war crime and whoever perpetrated it has to be charged for their offence.
The facts will have to be documented by the United Nations and the actors will have to be tracked down and put on trial before The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
The rapidly raised accusations against the Assad regime by the US, however, as they could not adduce any evidence for their allegations so far were provoking doubt rather than providing clarity. In any case a military strike outside the established UN-mechanisms wherein several countries appoint themselves as prosecutors, judges and executors at once without even awaiting objective investigation results would in any event be legally questionable. Any military action, however limited with regard to time and space, which is executed without the authorisation of the UN-Security-Council, constitutes a breach of International Law. It would be a disavowing of the United Nations as such and the international order it represents.
Would now another war be added to the war already underway it would only increase the suffering of the people and complicate a political solution. The intended military strikes will claim further casualties, also civilians, and add even more harm to the damage already done. They also bear the risk of triggering large-scale war in the region by expanding the conflict onto other countries (such as the Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Iran and Turkey), which could have global consequences. An unforeseeable situation like this has to be prevented by all means.
These days in many European cities rallies against the further escalation of the war take place. We demand from the US, France and all the other powers involved to immediately stop their war preparations and military actions. The circumstances of the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people have to be resolved by means of an objective international investigation and made accessible to the world public. International warrants will have to be issued against those in charge whoever they might be. As a first step towards the termination of the civil war it makes sense to impose and enforce an arms embargo onto all sides involved. We call upon the European Union to show the political initiative for a peace conference in the spirit of Geneva-2, including the Syrian civil war parties, the neighbouring countries and the great global powers.