Syrians in Montreal hope U.S. military action leads to change
Some doubt Trump’s intentions and worry Assad regime won’t be stopped
For Syrians in Montreal, the U.S. airstrikes Thursday night against a Syrian military base represent a total about-face from President Donald Trump — and a glimmer of hope at the end of a very dark tunnel.
Trump ordered the cruisemissile attack apparently moved by the images of children choking to death in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack on rebelheld Idlib. Estimates say some 86 people were killed by poison gas on Tuesday, including 33 children.
But while they welcomed the long-awaited intervention, those with family still in Syria wondered about Trump’s true motivations.
“I was so surprised, and I hope something will change now,” said Dunia Al Mehlm, a Syrian student who was awarded a scholarship to Concordia University.
Watching the news of Syria since her arrival in Montreal in December has been difficult.
First came the Amnesty International report in February about widespread executions and torture in Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s prisons.
Al Mehlm’s father was arrested in 2012 in Homs, and she doesn’t know whether he is dead or alive.
“I was crying so much when I read that report, ” she said. “I hoped my father didn’t go through all that torture. I hope he just died.”
Then came the poison gas. Having left Homs for Damascus, she found herself in another part of the city in the summer of 2013 when Syrian forces launched a chemical attack that killed more than 1,400 people in similar, gruesome fashion.
Outrage over that attack led to an agreement between the United States and Russia to have Syria dismantle its remaining stockpiles of chemical weapons — an agreement that has proved ineffective.
Faisal Alazem, the head of the Syrian Kids Foundation in Montreal, points out that at the time, Trump, then a real-estate mogul and reality television star, repeatedly warned against any U.S. military intervention in Syria in a series of tweets.
“So this goes against what we’ve been hearing,” Alazem said.
He questioned whether sending 59 Tomahawk missiles was indeed a visceral response to the chemical attack on children, or more about internal U.S. politics — Trump wanting to show he is not weak, both to the American people and to the Russians allied with Syria.
“That said, this is positive,” Alazem said. “The atrocities committed by the Syrian government, the violence we’ve seen in the past six or seven years ... It’s not normal for a government to use extermination campaigns, famine as a weapon of war and chemical weapons against its people.”
He granted that not all Syrians necessarily feel the same way, nor do all Canadians. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told MPs on Friday that he supports the U.S.’s “limited, focused action to degrade the Assad regime’s ability to launch (chemical) attacks.” But others, particularly on the left, may be wary of intervention in the Middle East after the disastrous consequences in Iraq and Libya, Alazem said.
“But in Syria they got it wrong,” Alazem said. “If no action is taken and there is no punishment or pressure put on them, we will never get any concessions or reach a political solution.” The big question is: What comes next?
“I’m glad they destroyed that base,” said Adnan Al Mhamied, who came to Montreal as a fellow at McGill University’s school of social work in 2014 and has since sponsored his brother’s family, who arrived in February.
“I lived in Syrian jails a few times and my only wish was that someone would destroy these places that cause so much fear. But at the same time, what comes next? I don’t trust Trump. According to reports, he saw babies dying and he reacted. But what about the others, all the civilians killed in six years and even since he came to power?”
Alazem and Al Mhamied pointed out that what happens next will have implications reaching well beyond Syria. The conflict has created five million refugees, and displaced half the population inside Syria.
“It has also led to the rise of radical groups in Europe, played a part in Brexit, and contributed to the election of Trump,” Alazem said. “The worry is that this (U.S.) action remains symbolic, and my sense tells me it will. Probably what will happen is that no chemical weapons will be used. Assad will learn his lesson. But it will be carte blanche for everything else.”
To end the war will require an international effort, not just involving Russia and the U.S., Al Mhamied said.
The U.S. intervention on Thursday has received support from across Europe, North America and Australia, with Syria’s allies — Russia and Iran — against. In the meantime, civilians in Syria must be protected, Alazem added.
It’s great to target a military base, he continued, but he would also like to see Tomahawk missiles aimed at the presidential palace. “I would also like to see targeted the home of the mass murderer responsible for the violence of the last six or seven years.”
I was crying so much when I read that report. I hoped my father didn’t go through all that torture. I hope he just died.