Wake Up Your Consciousness; Bring Peace to The Syrian Civil War

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Just about 6 years ago, Syria was only a pinpoint on a map. Many people hadn’t heard of a country called Syria. But today, it is known widely around the world for the civil war it’s in right now. Heart breaking stories and images describe Syria today. Syria is a nation in the Middle East; in western Asia to be exact. It borders Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. It used to be a very peaceful and safe place before the unrest began in March 2011.

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The Syrian civil war developed and ascended into an armed clash after Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad’s regimen brutally restrained dissents calling for his dismissal. The warfare has been ongoing non-stop since then. Innocent, helpless civilians including babies, women and elders have become the victims of such a chaotic and terrifying conflict.

It is unfair how the world can ignore and deny the cry for help of such weak and powerless human beings. The United States should welcome Syrian refugees, help stop the bombing of cities by preventing U.

S. allies from sending weapons into Syria. Syria is a relatively small country; it is somewhat larger than North Dakota. Currently, the Syrian population is 18,591,441 as of December 2016, based on the latest United Nations estimates. Ranking it number 61 in the list of countries by population. Syria is mainly made up of two ethnic groups; Arabs 90%, and Kurds 10%.

There are three major religions practiced in Syria; Islam 87%, Christianity 10%, and Druze 3%. Syria is divided into 14 governorates. Those include the capital, and the world’s oldest city, Damascus; one of the oldest cities in the world, and the second largest city in Syria, Aleppo; and Syria's main harbor on the Mediterranean, Lattakia.

Syria has been a support of human progress for no less than 10,000 years. It was home to the antiquated majestic city of Ebla, which prospered from 1800 B.C. Syria enjoyed neither inner nor outer security in its first century. Syrian state initially rose under the French Mandate after World War I, then persevered through over two and a half decades of shakiness following independence in 1946, and lastly was brought under control by Hafez al-Assad (who formally seized control in 1970) and his son Bashar, who succeeded him upon his death in 2000 and still is till this day (Mchugo).

Right before the Syrian civil war started in 2011, Syria welcomed about 1,300,000 refugees, which was about 6% of Syria’s population at the time. Today only a few countries have welcomed Syrian refugees, including Europe. But even Europe provided asylum for only about 850,000 people, which would represent roughly about 0.15% of Europe’s population. It really is upsetting how Syrians get no respect and get denied asylum when they’ve done so much for others when they needed help. It’s about time; this nation does something about the homicide that’s going on in Syria. And the least the U.S. can do is provide these innocent people with a safe place to start a new life and live like normal human beings. We should welcome Syrian refugees because they do not pose a threat to the United States.

The refugee status takes up to two years, which makes it the most difficult way for a terrorist to come in. Over the last 35 years, only non-refugees have carried out terrorist attacks. Even the 9/11 attackers came here using student and tourist visa. In other words, other migration channels are easier to exploit than the U.S. refugee process. This information ensures us that these people aren’t terrorists. Also, these refugees are leaving their homes, families and lives to run away from the terrorists that ruined their lives; it would be messed up to think they are the terrorists.

America should welcome refugees because it will help defeat the terrorist group that claims to be following the rules of the peaceful religion Islam, ISIS. ISIS Paints a picture for the public about life under its territory, which is wrong because a former resident of ISIS controlled territory have revealed that (Karaim). Accepting refugees in the U.S., will provide America with exclusive “information on life inside ISIS controlled territory.” Also, ISIS relies on the money that the people it rules provides it with. So basically, with these people gone, ISIS will lose its biggest source of cash. And for that reason, ISIS doesn’t want or let anyone simply leave.

The Syrian regime is claiming to be bombing all those cities and killing all those people, in order to get rid of the terrorists. But really, most of the people they’re killing, are civilians and innocent kids. And the Syrian regime is not the only group that’s doing this. There are the rebels, Kurdish forces, UK base, and Russian base. The United States needs to stop allowing US allies to send weapons into Syria, making it clear that if they continue, they will lose all access to US arms sales. Campaigns and diplomatic efforts to convince Russia and Iran to stop arming the Syrian regime will become more realistic when the United States and its allies stop arming the other side.

The genocide must stop one way or another. And one can’t stop the killing and the bombing and all that by killing and bombing and doing the same thing basically. It simply doesn’t work like that. And if the airstrikes won't stop, soon Syria will become an empty ghost town, filled with dead bloody bodies of guiltless people who once asked for help but no one answered. “Perhaps most worrying is the fact that 2 million Syrian children are not going to school. This number includes both refugees and children still living at home whose lives have been interrupted by the civil war.”

There’s a homicide going on in Syria, because everyone is bombing all these “bases,” while the people that are getting hurt, losing loved ones and losing homes are the helpless people of Syria. Those people are trying their best to leave and survive, but don’t have a choice but to stay there and try to stay alive. It is heartbreaking to go through what theses people go through. The videos, images and stories one hears are alone terrifying and catastrophic. Of course, theses conflicts that have been going on for almost 6 years now have changed and affected a lot of people’s lives; but there’s one story of a young Syrian girl that stands out to me and I know best.

That girl is me. Being a Syrian girl myself, made all this very hard and sad to accept. My life and the way I imagined living it has been affected a lot by this oppressive civil war. Allow me to tell you this story that I know best to be true. I was born in the oldest city in the world just eighteen years ago. Damascus, Syria isn’t just my hometown, it’s where my heart remains. My first steps, words, friends and most of my fondest memories all took place in that land of peace. That land that was too quickly and violently transformed into a battlefield. As the unrest began in 2011, by 2012, shootings, bombings, and kidnappings had become the new norm. It was unsafe for me to go to school. It was unsafe for my father to go to work.

It was only when my great uncle got kidnapped and taken for a seven-digit ransom that my parents realized something had to be done. He almost lost his life and his captors threatened to take us next. We thought it best to come visit my aunt who lived in the United States, assuming we’d spend a few months overseas, at most. We never anticipated the unrest to last for so long.

It was the 14th of February, 2012, when my family (dad’s side,) and I left our home country, Syria, and moved to America. I was happy to go to America, but deep inside, I was sad to leave my home and family during the dangerous conditions. The airport in Damascus was closed due to the conflicts going on. So, we took a bus from Damascus to the Lebanon airport, and from there we took our flight to New York. Everyone was exhausted by the time we got there.

On February 15, 2012, we arrived in America. In the JFK airport, my aunt and her family greeted us. This was my first time being in America. My dad started the paperwork right away. Getting the vaccinations and papers for school was a long process. I got to spend the last three months of eighth grade here in the states. Everything at school here was much different from the way it was in Syria. Fitting into society here was not easy. I had to learn a new language, fit in a totally different culture than mine, and be friends with people who grew up together. But I did not give up.

My friends and my mother’s family are still in Syria. I’m always worried about them. One of the people I really miss right now is my dad’s uncle, who passed away recently. He died trying to help a wounded person after a missile hit the area, when another missile was dropped. I miss the rest of my family so much as well. All I want is for them and Syria to be safe. I know in my heart that everything that’s going on in Syria will become history someday (My story).

As of today, this war has taken many lives of many guiltless people. Now it’s only a matter of time until it erases what used to be once a luminous, peaceful country entirely. And as “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” we must stop this war from doing so. The United States should welcome Syrian refugees, and help stop the bombing of cities by preventing U.S. allies from sending weapons into Syria, because this is the humanitarian morally correct solution. In conclusion, America, it’s time to wake up your consciousness; and bring peace to the Syrian civil war.