Bashar al Assad is the Syrian dictator. His family and him have ruled Syria since 1971. Because of this and major uprisings inspired by the Arab Spring, Syria was identified to be in a state of civil war in 2011.
The civil war is a conflict between the government and those wishing to remove them from office. These people are angry at their government. They are sick of the false promises made about new political and economics reforms, first from Hafez al Assad and now from Bashar al-Assad. Al Assad has pushed the rebel forces to the extent where people are being massacred. Neither side cares about casualties anymore and this fight is no longer so black and white.
Bashar al-Assad is a tyrant and and his targeted bombing of children is being largely ignored. This man is a dictator who has killed relentlessly. He is someone who has used chemical weapons on his own population. What kind of sick, vile man releases sarin gas on his own people? Why would you do that to your own country?
This is the story we should be listening to; we need to pay attention. Since the conflict in Syria began, an estimated 470,00 people have died, 1 million have been injured and over 11 million have been made to flee. This catastrophic event means that a generation of Syrians has been lost, leaving behind the deepest scar. The war has emptied out the country, life expectancy has dropped and the nation’s wealth has been washed out, which has led to officials to agree that this is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.
We need to focus on refugees. These people are struggling to move to other countries but they’re having an even harder time trying to live in Syria. The chaos has played a fundamental role in the rise of ISIS, who have used Syria as a staging ground – expanding the reach of terrorism. To make it worse, the airstrikes launched by Russia to target ISIS are killing innocent civilians instead, increasing their need to flee.
We should remember Aylan Kurdi, the boy who tried to leave Syria but was found washed ashore after drowning with 11 others. We should remember what happened to Omran Daqneesh a year later, the young boy covered in blood and bruises from an air strike in Aleppo. In between the death of Aylan Kurdi and the injury of Omran Daqneesh, many were killed, wounded and forced to leave Syria. `
But this war hasn’t been going on for just one year, it has been going on for five. So, we need to care enough to stop the killing of innocent children, it has reached a point where to see the names of all the children killed would take over 19 hours. This is horrific and to see a man allow his own country ache like this is truly sickening. His actions have led to the death of a country, Bashar al-Assad is a blood-spattered tyrant, an oppressor who should be put on trial for his crimes against humanity.
