Stand up for Syria

Citizens suffering under regime

Syria has witnessed seven heartbreaking years as its nightmare continues to this very date. The situation has only proceeded to deteriorate with millions of Syrians internally displaced and countless more seeking refuge. In fact, in recent days, it has become drastically worse.

I have been interning with a group of amazing Americans working closely on this humanitarian disaster and in writing this piece, I hope I can get at least one more person to join our initiative.

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A deal was brokered between the U.S., Russia, and Jordan in July of 2017, establishing de-escalation zones in Southern Syria to ensure the reduction of violence; however, this deal was violated by the Russia-backed Assad regime and Iran. Dara’a, where the Syrian Revolution began in 2011, has not seen violence since the summer of 2017 when the deal was put in place.

Today Dara’a is at mercy of the Assad regime and its Iranian patrons.

On July 2, it was reported that approximately 300,000 people had been internally displaced due to regime forces gaining control of the southernmost province. Today hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been torn away from their homes.

Since neighboring countries have closed their borders, hundreds of thousands of people have resorted to camps for the internally displaced along the border, which lack food, water, shelter, and many other immediate resources. These people are also in serious need of medical care that is regularly blocked by the Syrian regime.

Since the province of Dara’a has now been brutally captured, Syrians are dreading the Assad regime’s next major military operation aimed at Idlib Province in northwest Syria— the last remaining stronghold of the free people of Syria. Over 4 million people reside in this province, many displaced from all over the country due to previous military operations by the Russian Air Force and the Iranian and Assad regime ground forces.

A military offensive in Idlib will be a slowly unfolding mass atrocity dwarfing the death and destruction in Dara’a.

We must not sit by and watch another Never Again moment unfold while we do nothing. Despite the feeling of helplessness, we must do everything we can as long as those in Syria continue to stand up against the brutality of authoritarian regimes.

Fellow Arkansans have decided that they will not be bystanders and are asking you to join them. Through the Wisdom House Project, a humanitarian community initiative, and the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an American nonprofit organization, Americans have sent Letters of Hope to civilians inside Syria. Write us letters and send them to P.O. Box 250972, Little Rock, Ark. 72225 to directly tell people in Syria that you know they are suffering and you are thinking of them.

Call your members of Congress and ask them to do anything they can to end the killing in Syria so refugees can return home.

Reach out to us at TheWisdomHouseProject.com for more information on what we do and how you can be part of our family.

Waleed Masood is a senior at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock and an intern with the Syrian Emergency Task Force. He is the president of his school’s Amnesty International club where he helped organize a student-led piano recital benefiting the orphans of the Wisdom House school.