STATEMENT COMES AS 320,000 IN EASTERN ALEPPO CITY ARE BESIEGED

Washington, D.C. (July 22, 2016) – A press conference was held in front of the White House this morning hosted by a group of Muslim, faith, and Syrian American leaders calling on immediate action for the besieged people of Aleppo.

Leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Syrian American Medical Society, Islamic Society of North America, Syrian American Council, U.S. Council of Muslim Organization, American Relief Coalition for Syria, and Muslim Public Affairs Council organized the press conference in the wake of a week of tragedies in Aleppo. They called on the U.S. government to stand with civilians, who are the main targets of these massacres and to reopen Castello Road, the main humanitarian access route.

In Eastern Aleppo, over 300,000 Syrians, including 85,000 children, are cut off from humanitarian access, food prices have skyrocketed, and daily bombings continue. Dr. Zaher Sahloul, of the American Relief Coalition for Syria, spoke about his recent trip to Aleppo and the human cost of inaction. He told of his first patient in Aleppo, Ahmed, a five-year old, who had shrapnel lodged in his neck and “will be paralyzed for the rest of his life because of the shrapnel that he received because of the barrel bombing.” Stories like Ahmed’s highlight the human tragedy unfolding in Aleppo.

The groups also called on the U.S. government to take action on Aleppo, not only for the people of Aleppo but also for the people of the United States. Failure to take action on Aleppo will continue to fuel recruitment for groups like ISIS. The leaders asked, for the sake of U.S. National Security, for the U.S. government to intervene in Aleppo.

Aleppo is a humanitarian catastrophe. Thousands will starve and die waiting for us to act. Civilians and hospitals will continue to be targets. Muslim, faith, and Syrian American groups called on the U.S. government to take action and stand with the people of Aleppo to protect civilians in Aleppo and thus in the United States of America