LOC09:01
06:01 GMT
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (KUNA) - The White House announced late Friday that two senior officials from the Obama Administration met with a Syrian defector here who carried with him "thousands of photographs of brutalized bodies, suggestive of torture and killing on an industrial scale by the Assad regime."
Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Benjamin Rhodes and National Security Advisor to the Vice President Jake Sullivan met with the man known only as "Caesar," a former Syrian military police photographer.
The images "paint a picture of unimaginable suffering," said Deputy National Security Council (NSC) Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan in a statement released by the White House.
"Gouged eyes, abrasions in the silhouette of metal chains, and the emaciated corpses of men, women, and children - [they] offer some of the most heart wrenching evidence of the unconscionable tactics Bashar al-Assad employs to cling to power."
Meehan said Rhodes and Sullivan "thanked "Caesar" for his personal and moral courage in bearing witness to the Assad regime's atrocities, which represent an assault on human dignity," and told him he "has done a service not only to the Syrian people, but to the world, in bringing this evidence to light."
"The United States remains deeply disturbed that because Russia and China vetoed a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) that was supported by every other member of the United Nations Security Council, the perpetrators cannot be held to account in the ICC," she said. "Nevertheless, the United States will continue working through other avenues with our international partners to pursue accountability for the perpetrators of these crimes against the Syrian people."
Meehan reaffirmed the Obama Administration remains "deeply concerned for the many thousands of Syrians who remain imprisoned within Syria."
"[We] will continue to be the largest international donor to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis faced by the Syrian people," she noted. "We are also providing increased support for the moderate Syrian opposition, which is fighting both the Assad regime and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."
On Wednesday, the US announced a further USD 378 million in humanitarian assistance for Syria, bringing the total contribution to USD 2.4 billion.
Meehan added the US will "continue our efforts to achieve a negotiated political resolution to the Syrian conflict that leads to Assad's departure and finally ends the nightmare facing the Syrian people." (end)
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