Abraham Baqdounes
Mrs. Hamett
ENGL-1302.301 HY
Spring 2019
Final
Research Essay Exam
The Syrian Civil War is devastating to Syria and other
countries around the world. For example, “Syria's ongoing three-year civil war
has displaced 6.5 million Syrians, left hundreds of thousands wounded or killed
by violence, and created a vacuum in basic infrastructures that will
reverberate throughout the region for years to come” (Gladstone 3). Moreover,
the war in Syria is causing disease to spread around Syria and many neighboring
countries. The conditions in Syria and its effect on millions of people had
become a public health emergency of global concern. It is of the utmost
importance to solve the issue in Syria to help save the lives of millions of
innocent citizens.
Syria has a long history of turmoil and fear, but never
has any of it turned into something bigger than an internal conflict; however,
this all changed when the opposition to the tyrannist ruler of Syria, Bashar
al-Assad decide to organize and take action. The tipping point for the
opposition or “rebels” was in July 2011, when “President Assad sacks the
governor of the northern province of Hama” (BBC 30). This starts as a small
internal conflict with the rebels against the dictatorship, but it soon turns
into much more than that. President Assad starts killing innocent civilians in
the name of “protecting Syria” but it’s all a façade to allow him to keep
supreme leadership in Syria. The war between the citizens and government kept
on rising until the peak moment when president Bashar al-Assad decided to use
chemical warfare on his own citizens killing “300 people” causing the rise of
Islamist (Al Jazeera). These are a third
party in the Syria and are a terrorist organization who claim to be fighting in
the name of Islam, but in actuality are jihadist ideologues fighting to take
Syria in the own hands and turn the country into an extremist State with
complete control. The group’s name is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria;
otherwise known as, ISIS. Isis is
the product of a genocide and “it is the illegitimate child born of pure hate
and pure fear – the result of 200,000 murdered Syrians and of millions more
displaced and divorced from their hopes and dreams” (Khedery 5). The
intervention of Isis turns the Syrian War from an internal matter to a conflict
that affects the world.
The epidemic in Syria
has affected every society possible, ranging from small local towns in Syria to
international matters with Russia and the United States. For example, Russia
carried out air strikes against Isis; which sounds good, but they were actually
targeting anti-Assad rebels. This causes a huge reaction from America because
they are strongly anti dictatorship and do not want President Assad to regain
power again. The US starts sending troops into Syria and tries to aid the
rebels in their efforts in overthrowing a dictatorship; however, this just
causes more turmoil because each side responds by upping their resources and in
turn more civilians are get killed.
There are a multitude of examples on how the
Syria War is an epidemic, but I will only focus on the two main components. The
first one is the millions and millions of displaced Syria’s who have no where
to go. With the war ensuring and without an end in sight, citizens all across
Syria are fleeing in hopes of finding a safe place to live and raise their
families. The second main example is the outbreak of disease. For example,
polio has just been discovered in 10 kids in Syria, this is the first time Syria
has seen Polio in “in the past 14 years” (Jaafari 2). Polio is a terrifying
virus that spreads through the consumption of food or liquids contaminated with
feces. Polio is highly contagious and with the war raging it is incredibly hard
to detect and eliminate before someone gets affected with it.
Solutions
The is no easy or obvious solution
to the epidemic in Syria; however, one way that seems to be able to solve the
disease’s that running are rampant across Syria is to simply end the Syria
Civil War and bring stability back to Syria. The war in Syria has destroyed the
health system that they had causing diseases that are preventable to run wild
across Syria. For example, “of the 1.8 million Syrian children born since the
conflict, over 50% are unvaccinated” (Heitman 30). Many diseases like the
measles, that were previously thought to have been eradicated are reappearing
in rural Syria. In just 2014, “at least 10 000 cases of measles were reported
in Syria” and because of this massive outbreak neighboring countries like
Turkey or Lebanon are also becoming infected with, “Lebanon seeing a 27%
increase in cases since 2011” (Cousins 17).
Figure 1
This is a picture of a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who has
contracted cutaneous leishmaniasis; which is a preventable disease if treated
correctly (courtesy of Dr. Ibrahim Khalifeh).
The only way to help the Syrian citizens and
bring their shattered health care system back to life is to end the war
allowing for the doctors and nurses around Syria to gain the knowledge,
support, training, and protection needed to treat these diseases. This is the
only plausible solution to help end the Syrian crisis. Some people might
believe that simply sending in humanitarian help or foreign aid from around the
world could solve the problem, but this wouldn’t do anything because almost all
foreign aid is being intercepted and stopped by the government because they
want complete control over the country.
Camus and Absurdity
Albert Camus was a French
philosopher and journalist, who believed in man couldn’t “rationalize an
irrational universe” (Kershaw). Therefore, there is no rational reason for
there to be war or even the spread of disease like the measles. The citizens of
Syria cannot rationalize why millions of kids and adults are dying either
through war or disease. This is how Camus’ belief of an irrational universe can
connect to the epidemic occurring in Syria. Camus would think that the Syrian
Civil war is ridiculous and pointless. He would see the introduction of ISIS
wanting to run the country from a religious stand point as the absurd and
ridiculous. As an atheist, Camus would never agree with ISIS and see them as a
group of irrational members; however, as an anarchist, Camus would agree with
the rebels who are fighting to be free from control and tyranny. He would be
happy to see people of the lowest class fighting the wealthy and questioning
the dictator ruling over them. Camus would have split decisions about the end
of the war, he would be happy that ISIS has been defeated and that the country
wouldn’t be ruled as a theocratic government, but would be saddened to see the
dictator, Bashar al-Assad, still has control over the country.
Conclusion
The Syrian Civil War has caused the
deaths of around 470,000 Syrian citizens (Specia 5). Whether it’s allowing the
dictator to regain power or to bring democracy to Syria, ending the war and
bringing Syria back to a country of stability is the greatest concern.
Globally, people must realize the terror happening in Syria and work together
to give the people of Syria a safe and sound environment.
Work Citied
Al Jazeera. “Syria Chemical Attack: Scores
Killed in Douma, Rescuers Say.” News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 8 Apr.
2018, www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/suspected-chemical-attack-kills-dozens-syria-douma-180407202906316.html.
Gladstone, Rick. “Polio Paralyzes 17 Children in Syria, W.H.O.
Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 June 2017,
www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/world/middleeast/syria-polio-children-paralyzed.html.
Heitman, Tarik. “Syria:
Health/Education.” LibGuides, 2015, usnwc.libguides.com/c.php?g=220035&p=1456435.
Jaafari,
shirin. “One Result of Syria's War Is an Outbreak of Polio.” Public Radio
International, 2018,
www.pri.org/stories/2013-10-29/one-result-syrias-war-outbreak-polio.
Khedery, Ali. “How Isis Came to Be.” The
Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Aug. 2014,
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/syria-iraq-incubators-isis-jihad.
“Syria Profile - Timeline.” BBC News,
BBC, 14 Jan. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14703995.
Sharara, Sima L, and Souha S Kanj. “War and
Infectious Diseases: Challenges of the Syrian Civil War.” PLoS Pathogens,
Public Library of Science, 13 Nov. 2014,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4231133/.
Specia,
Megan. “How Syria's Death Toll Is Lost in the Fog of War.” The New York
Times, The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/middleeast/syria-death-toll.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment