The Problem with Syria

Emily Robertson Reveals Truths About Syria

Search+Syria+in+Google%2C+and+pictures+of+destroyed+Syrian+cities+will+appear+%28courtesy+of+BBC%29.+

Search ‘Syria’ in Google, and pictures of destroyed Syrian cities will appear (courtesy of BBC).

Emily Robertson, Staff Writer

Syria is a prominent news topic, and has been more so recently due to President Trump’s airstrike decisions.

Already, people on social media are accusing President Trump of trying to start World War 3.

The fact is, Syria has been having issues for a long time, and the blatant statements about WW3 show extreme ignorance to the situation.

Syria, a Western Asian country, is ruled by President Baashar al-Assad, a member of Syria’s baath party.

Hafez al-Assad, Baashar’s father, became president of Syria in 1971, after participating in coups to overthrow the country’s civilian leadership.

In February 1982, an uprising against the Assad regime occurred in Hama, Syria. President Hafez Assad ordered troops to swarm the city, who used artillery fire, and destroyed the city and the lives of approximately 20,000 citizens (theguardian.com).

The Hama massacre is an infamous moment in the history of Syria that should be remembered and learned from.

However, the Syrian government has not learned from the massacre, and has been waging in a civil war since 2011.

According to BBC, what started in March 2011 as a pro-democracy movement, was put down by President Assad, who allowed deadly force to put down the protests.

Intervention of other countries has contributed to the long lasting civil war, including the involvement of Russia, who has provided the Syrian government air and missile strikes. Russia’s entanglement in Syria’s domestic issues led to the destruction of Aleppo, and the killing of hundreds of people. Rebels and civilians alike have been stranded since the Aleppo attacks that occurred in late 2016 (International Business Times).

Approximately 11 million Syrian citizens have been forced to flee the dangerous conditions in the state, since the civil war began, according to syrianrefugees.eu, which is a project of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Nearly 13.5 million people need assistance as they continue to live in Syria.

Under President Trump’s administration is Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who was a military general before retiring in 2013 (defense.gov). Mattis and President Trump worked together to decide on the recent U.S. airstrike against Syria.

According to U.S. News, the airstrike the U.S. performed was purposefully against Syria’s chemical weapons that Assad allows to be used against citizens.

President Trump is not going to start a World War 3, but is in fact trying to prevent the continued murdering of Syrian people.