Syrian Opposition Slams Global Apathy, Demands Strikes

The chaos in Syria will only get worse and destabilize the entire region if the global community fails to act, key figures of the war-torn country's opposition said Tuesday.

Only Washington can deter Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons and so the U.S. Congress should give the White House the go-ahead to target the strongman, they added.

Ahmad al-Jarba, president of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, and Salim Idriss, chief of the rebel Free Syrian Army, wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

The pair warned that "international apathy and indecision convinces Assad that he is invincible and emboldens him to unleash barbaric horrors on a defenseless population."

And if his actions are left unchecked, the situation is likely to get even worse, they said.

"For all its horror, the situation today is minor compared with what could still happen if Assad is not deterred or held accountable for his crimes," they wrote.

Declaring the two-and-a-half-year conflict an "unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe," they cautioned that despair would breed radicalism.

The longer Assad is allowed to remain "out of control," the more extremists will take advantage of the situation and "the less stable the entire region will become."

"So far, global inaction and (Assad's) allies' protective actions have granted him impunity to terrorize his nation and the region," they wrote.

"Dithering by the world's most powerful states empowers not only the vicious Assad regime but also the extremist agenda of the al-Qaida-style terrorists seeping into Syria from the east."

"They are fighting not only Assad but, more important, also those who oppose Assad."

Turning to Congress, the two urged U.S. lawmakers to allow President Barack Obama to take action, saying millions of lives and the safety of the region are at stake.

"Please authorize President Obama to act against Assad and to stop him in his deadly tracks," they wrote.

"With the death toll well past 100,000, our struggle to liberate our country from this murderous regime and to protect our people continues, but only the United States can deter Assad from using his chemical weapons again."

Leading Syrian opposition figures on Tuesday urged the international community to look beyond the question of chemical weapons and focus on ending violence that has killed tens of thousands.

"There are massacres, more than 100,000 dead, millions of displaced and refugees, 200,000 prisoners tortured every day," the opposition Syrian National Coalition's envoy to France, Monzer Makhous, said at a press conference in Paris.

"We have to focus on the essential and, especially, not reduce the Syrian crisis to a question of chemical weapons, which unfortunately has become the case."

The chances of foreign military action in Syria were falling Tuesday after Russia proposed to have Damascus hand over chemical weapons to stave off threatened U.S.-led strikes.

Syria's opposition denounced the Russian move as a political maneuver that will delay action and cause more deaths.

"There was a firm decision to intervene but the situation has totally changed," Makhous said. "The Russian proposal to put Syria's chemical arsenal under international control is a godsend that allows the regime in Damascus to escape air strikes."

Longtime anti-regime figure Michel Kilo, a Christian who leads a secular and liberal wing within the Syrian opposition, said frustration was growing over the West's backtracking.

"They want us to go to Geneva (for proposed peace talks) but at the same time they allow the regime to launch chemical attacks and then step back" from intervention, he said.

According to U.S. intelligence, a chemical attack against rebel-held suburbs of Damascus killed more than 1,400 people, including 400 children, on August 21.

Obama -- who faces an uphill battle as he seeks congressional approval for limited military action in Syria -- is due to give a primetime address to the American people on the topic later Tuesday.

The U.S. leader has argued that a military strike is necessary to defend the long-established international taboo against the use of chemical weapons.