VOA常速英语:Assad's Attack On Homs

The United States condemns the massive offensive led by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the cities of Homs and Damascus.

The international community needs to make clear to the Assad regime that it must cease these attacks and immediately allow humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations agencies, the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, safe access to evacuate the wounded and provide life-saving medical treatment and supplies.

"There is no justification for the Assad regime preventing humanitarian access to Homs," said U.S. State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell in a written statement. The U.S. will continue to provide the Supreme Military Council and the Syrian Opposition Coalition's Assistance Coordination Unit with medical supplies and stands ready to assist them in the coordination and provision of urgent assistance.

The United States also condemns the continued attacks on Syrian cities by Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters, as they assist the regime in its brutal suppression of legitimate calls for the Syrian people for freedom, dignity, and democracy. The United States calls on Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed fighters to immediately leave Syria.

In the face of the Assad regime's unrelenting attacks and its unconscionable use of chemical weapons, the United States continues to stand firmly on the side of the Syrian people in their fight for freedom. The U.S. is expanding assistance to the civilian opposition and has expanded its assistance to the Supreme Military Council.

More than 100,000 Syrians have died over the 27 months of the conflict, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Of those, over 36,000 are civilians, the group said. The only way to end this bloodshed and ease the suffering of the Syrian people is through a political solution to the conflict.

A year ago, the international community established the framework to reach such a solution to the Syrian crisis through the Geneva Communique. The United States reaffirms its commitment to this framework and pledges to continue supporting the Syrian Opposition Coalition and the Supreme Military Council to shift the balance on the ground in order to reach a negotiated political solution to the Syrian conflict.