Letter to the Editor: More Coverage for Syria

I am writing this letter to ask that the IDS help raise awareness of the current genocide of unarmed men, women and children occurring in Syria, the country my parents are from.

This year we have seen pro-democratic revolutions in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt result in the stepping down of their respective leaders, and Syria has been attempting to do the same.

Syria is essentially under authoritarian rule with an emergency law, in place since 1963, which denies citizens of most, if not all, constitutional rights and freedoms.

This emergency law was supposedly lifted on April 21 of this year, but recent actions by the government have made it clear that this is not the case.

Demonstrations demanding freedom occurring throughout the country have been nothing but peaceful, but they have been met with nothing but brutal violence from the government.

This week government security forces launched attacks with tanks, snipers and artillery on multiple cities, the city of Daraa being hit the hardest . These government forces are preventing any aid from reaching the city. They are shooting at children, doctors and civilians helping wounded protesters, and even wounded bodies on the ground, in addition to entering into people’s homes without provocation to kill them.

Families have not been able to bury their loved ones because they cannot go out into the street to retrieve the bodies without the fear of being shot. In Daraa the government and its sympathizers are blocking all access to hospitals, have destroyed the city’s water supply and have cut off all forms of communication in parts of the city. Over 500 innocent civilians have been killed in the past six weeks, over 200 this past week alone, but the international community has done little to nothing to stop it.

The government has forced all foreign press to leave the country and because of this, media coverage of the events occurring all over Syria has been minimal. The world needs to know what is happening, and I ask for your help in getting the word out by including a story in the IDS about Syria and its current state of unrest in order to bring awareness at least to the students of this campus.

 Please let it be known that the students and faculty on this campus can do their part by making their voices heard by contacting Senator Lugar, Congressman Todd Young and their local representatives, urging that they speak up and condemn the violence.

Thank you,

Amal Akbik
Sophomore