It happened in Rwanda, it happened in Bosnia, and now we're doing it again. We're turning our head and ignoring what is happening in Aleppo, Syria.
Yes, we've all heard about it. We hear it on the news, we see the heart wrenching pictures of the children crying on twitter and we see the AJ+ clips on Facebook. It's everywhere, and yet this news isn't talked about enough. We are not doing enough.
On December 12, the rebel held city of Aleppo was taken back by the Syrian government. However, as the President Bashar Al-Assad's military went through and took back the once thriving city, it brought nothing but more destruction. Within the past 72 hours, almost 100 innocent civilians have been shot at by their own military and the city is burning.
Being described as "another genocide that is being ignored", there are people trapped in Eastern Aleppo as the Syrian government tries to overtake the last sliver of the rebel held city, and we are not doing anything about it. We are watching innocent people die; people just like you and me. Just because they are in a war-torn city does not mean that we can ignore them. It does not mean that there is nothing that we can do and it does not mean we turn a blind eye.
Situations have gotten so bad that people are literally posting their finals videos online, as they might not make it through or are terrified that they will be taken by their own governments people.
Some of the videos are:
Perhaps my final message from E. Aleppo. Regime forces are closing in and bunker busters are raining down. pic.twitter.com/XgK0DSa08x
— Bilal Abdul Kareem (@BilalKareem) December">https://twitter.com/BilalKareem/status/80835466046... 12, 2016
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There are civilians literally just waiting to be shot, bombed or taken. But not only that, there are around 20 women who committed suicide because they fear for what the government troops will do to them. So not only do they have to worry for their lives from the violence of the bombings and shootings, but also because of what the troops may do to them.
One of the women, who claimed to be a nurse, had her suicide note posted online by Aid worker Abdullateef Khaled. The note states
"I am one of the woman in Aleppo who will soon be raped in just moments..there are no more weapons or men that can stand between us and the animals who are about to come called the ‘country’s army’. I am committing suicide not due to no reason but because I do not want several members of the Assad Regime to savour raping me while just yesterday they were afraid to say the word 'Aleppo'"
How much longer are people going to ignore the calls for help. How can we watch an entire country burn, and turn our heads as if there is nothing we can do. Here is a list of just some of the actions that we can take to help the people of Syria. People think it might not do anything, but just by talking about it is doing something. It is not forbidden, it is not illegal, it is our right and our deed as human beings to talk about this and bring attention to this issue. Talk about it, share videos, do everything you can to help. Because this problem is not just going to go away, and we would want people to help if we were in this situation.
Aleppo is burning, and they need our help. So don't turn a blind eye, look it dead in the eye and face it head on.
