Women speak out against U.S. intervention in Syria

The following is a statement from the International Women’s Alliance, of which the Women’s Fightback Network, New York Chapter, is an executive board member, on the planned U.S. assault on Syria.

We, the  member organizations of the International Women’s Alliance, raise our collective voices against the impending interventionist war that the United States is planning to wage against the Syrian people.

The U.S. Senate’s recent approval of a punitive missile strike on Syria constitutes a direct act of aggression masquerading as humanitarian action. Despite widespread opposition from the international community and lack of authorization from the United Nations, the U.S. remains hell-bent on attacking Syria, even as reports show that Syrian rebels funded by the Saudi government — a close U.S. ally — were the ones responsible for the March 19 simultaneous chemical assaults in Aleppo and Ataybah, which left approximately 26 people including 16 Syrian soldiers dead, with 86 more seriously injured.

Indeed, the Obama administration’s obstinacy in waging war on Syria is reminiscent of Iraq, where the supposed existence of weapons of mass destruction was used to justify gross violations of national sovereignty and the people’s right to self-determination. Contrary to their claims of protecting civilians and upholding democracy, history has unveiled the devastating consequences of U.S. military aggression, including rampant human rights violations such as rape, torture, detention and murder of innocent civilians.

As thousands of Syrians continue to flee the capital in fear of foreign military airstrikes, the real motive of the U.S. becomes clearer — to advance its own geopolitical and economic agenda in the region, particularly to gain control of the country’s massive oil reserves. Syria has one of the biggest conventional reserves of crude oil in the eastern Mediterranean, and exploration opportunities have largely been limited to Russia, making it especially vital to U.S. interests.

U.S., keep your hands off Syria!

Women, girls and children remain as the most vulnerable sectors in times of conflict and this most recent act of aggression by the U.S. will undoubtedly cause untold suffering for thousands of Syrian women, girls and children who will be displaced, harassed, violated, deprived of basic necessities, injured or even killed as they are caught in the crossfire.

We call on women’s organizations, advocates and the entire global community to rise up and condemn this brazen warmongering of the U.S. for oil. We are in solidarity with the Syrian people in upholding their national sovereignty and right to self-determination.