If you did not already know, Syria, a country located in the Middle East, has been in a civil war for the past six years. The situation began in 2011, when a group of people decided to protest the arrest and reported torture of fifteen school children after they wrote anti-government graffiti on a wall. At first, the protests were peaceful, simply asking for the release of the children and greater freedom for the people of Syria. Despite the peacefulness of the protests, the government responded angrily and violently, resulting in them opening fire on the protesters and killing four innocent people. The incident resulted in the people of Syria demanding that Bashar al-Assad, the president, resign. Of course, he refused. Assad's supporters began to fight against the people opposed to him and in July 2012, the International Red Cross said that the violence and fighting had spread so wide, that Syria was in a state of civil war. In addition to the civil war, an extremist group known as the Islamic State began taking large areas of Iraq, which is located next to Syria. They moved into Syria and were able to seize land among the chaos of the war. Overall, Syria is in serious trouble.
Last week, the U.S decided to launch a missile airstrike over Syria. This was in response to Assad's regime's use of chemical weapons. According to Syrian officials, at least seven people were killed and nine were wounded. Russia responded angrily towards this, calling it "an aggression against a sovereign state". Some additional background on the situation is that the U.S and the U.K are against the Assad regime, and Russia supports it. This could potentially further tensions between the U.S and Russia, and Russia's foreign minister even stated that he "hopes it does not lead to irreparable damage between U,S-Russian ties". The U.S has always had a rocky relationship with Russia, and this certainly is going to make it even more difficult to repair. Additionally, this adds to the dangerous wars and battles going on in Syria, putting civilians lives even more at risk.
The question now is; how do we enact change upon the country of Syria and its suffering people? We must stay informed on the situation. We can do this by continuing to read reports and sharing videos and reports on social media outlets. In doing this, we can add to the conversation that the world is already having, which will lead to action being taken. Everyone must be educated on the situation and inform friends/family that are not aware of what is going on. Our voices, as well as the voices of the rest of the world, especially the innocent civilians of Syria, must be heard by the U.S government, we cannot sit idly by while the administration reacts violently.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16979186
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/06/trum...
