The War on Syria: A Student’s Perspective

BY SAMANTHA SCHILLING
SC Staff Writer

When you think of Syria and what is happening right now, what comes to mind?

For me, it is images of chemical warfare, innocent civilians being murdered, and the thought of America and what we are planning to do to help.

It was then that I realized: Do any of us even know what we are planning to do to help?

As I was trying to find the answer to this, I stumbled across an old friend from high school. Her name is Leah Rutherford, and her father’s side of the family is from Syria.

She still has family that lives in Syria and her cousin Karin, a 25 year old professor of Architecture at the University of Damascus, is living through the tragic events that are happening right now. This is her story.

Did anyone ever wonder how this whole thing started? Well, I will give you some background information.

Egypt’s President, Muhammad Morsi, was ousted by the Egyptian government and taken prisoner.

This caused a spread of rebellion which made its way into Syria.

Syria is a dictatorship but is not as controlling as most.

They allow free education, Christians to freely practice their religion, and  women’s rights.

They have a traditional, yet modern society and the civil war they are having now is between the Syrian government and the rebels.

The President of Syria, President Bashar Al-Assad, as most have seen, was blamed for the chemical attack on the Syrian people although most know now that the rebels, or better known as the

Muslim Brotherhood or opposition, has finally taken credit for the attack.

Many of you may want to know why the Rebels did this.

Their plan is to rid the country of Christians and make the entire country of the Muslim religion, better known as caliphate, or the idea of making a Muslim Empire.

They are burning churches, killing innocent people, destroying religious symbols such as crosses, and killing anyone who does not agree to convert to Islam.

The most recent account of this was of a Priest who would not convert so they brutally murdered him.

Because the Christian villages do practice another religion and do not adhere to Sharia Law, the idea that all women should not have rights, must dress in a head to toe burka, and should not be in the same room as men, the rebels believe they need to be eliminated.

The most recent attack was on the village of Maaloula (Mah-lou-lah), which is just 10 minutes from Karin’s village of Sednaiya (Sed-nigh-ah), which is just outside the city of Damascus.

Most Christians know Damascus is an important city.

The city of Maaloula, that was just attacked, was founded by St. Thecla, a follower of Apostle Paul.

This city still speaks the original language of Christ, which is Aramaic.

They have very little food and water and Rutherford’s Aunt, who has diabetes, cannot have access to her medication.

Karin’s village is the next in line to be attacked and she has had friends kidnapped and killed and she fears for her life.

She pleaded to us and said, “Please do not let them forget about me.”

Her family has tried to send money but Western Union and other money ordering and sending institutions will not allow the money to be sent because of the turmoil in effect.

Sadly to say, the Syrian people have no idea what is going on outside of Syria.

We know more about their war than they do.

When Karin contacted her family to find out what is going on she asked them, “Is war coming?”

As Americans, we like to believe that we will help the needy and we will come to rescue, but is our government doing more good or more evil?

The view of Obama in Syria is not in good favor. Individuals go so far as to call him a terrorist and hang pictures of him with a beard and a turban and call him “Hussein Obama.”

As American citizens, should we look more into this? Well, we did.

If you did not know Obama has a half-brother, Malik Obama, who is currently being investigated for supporting terrorist organizations in Egypt. Is this just a coincidence? We think not.

Obama is sending support to Syria and we all think it is a good thing he is trying to help, but who is he actually helping?

We have now come to find out he is not helping the just cause, he is sending arms, money, and soldiers over to help the Rebels, not the Syrian government.

He has envoys being sent into southern Sudan as we speak.

The question is: why? Does anyone know the answer? Many people think otherwise.

The Bible says, “He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.

Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape.

But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels” (Daniel 11:41-43).

Is it coincidence that this lays out exactly what is happening? Well, I do not believe in coincidence.

Taking all of this into account, you may be asking yourself: What can we do?

If you look at it factually, we are on the verge of another World War. Syria is being backed by Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran and because Syria is allied with Iran, they have said, that if we attack Syria, they are going to attack Israel.

As a citizen of the United States, and a fellow human being, this information should shock and alarm you.

There are videos of the Rebels in Syria killing a government solider, taking out his heart, and taking a bite of it.

Does that sound like a group we should be backing?

Take this not as an article trying to convince you of something. The purpose of it is not to try and convince anyone of anything.

You do not need to be a Christian or even believe in God to realize that what is happening is immoral.

Open your eyes to what is happening in our own country first, only then can we help the many suffering in Syria.

Email Samantha at:
sks5945@live.esu.edu