Georgia Lynn Dean
Staff Writer
As issues with Syria continue to rise, the question of war has been brought up by President Barack Obama. This is common knowledge, but what is not so obvious is that there are people here in the United States who are of Syrian descent and who have relatives currently living in Syria.
There are people out there who have family and friends who live in Syria and are greatly affected by this decision.
Adam Habib, from Leavenworth, KS, has family who still lives in Syria. He currently lives in the states, and attends a local high school. He used to go to Syria every summer to visit his family and friends, but that was before things changed.
Habib says he is faced with the task of having to worry daily about the lives of his loved ones in Syria.
“Every night I have to worry that one of my family members is dead,” Habib said. “I had a family member months ago; the government captured him. He didn’t do anything wrong, but they captured him, like in ‘Without a Trace.’ And I still don’t know where he is. … we’re thinking he’s dead, we actually hope he’s dead and not [something worse].”
Habib went on to describe how families back home pray that their missing loved one was killed, because that is easier to believe than to believe that their loved one is being tortured.
For Habib, the US going to war with Syria is a matter of helping to keep his family and the rest of the Syrian people safe.
“I think that anything that is needed to stop the Syrian President from bombing and using chemical weapons against his people is necessary,” Habib said. “If you could just tell the Syrian President to stop chemical war on Syria, I would be happy to say to Obama ‘don’t do war on Syria.’”
For now, Habib supports Obama declaring war on Syria, simply to help those who cannot help themselves right now.
Habib said that war has had a vicious cycle on his country.
“We’re kind of like the original anti-war. We just don’t want war. That’s the reason why we want Obama to intervene, because we don’t want war on Syria. The thing is, Syria just keeps getting worse and worse,” Habib said.
Overall, Habib just wants peace back in his country.
“So many people have died, and so many have run away. Over 4 million have been displaced,” Habib said.
To help those displaced, Habib’s older sister Alma Habib, 22, has spent much of her free time helping refugees in Lebanon. At the end of August, Alma Habib, was interviewed by several news channels, including KMBC9, KC TV 5, ABC, and Good Morning News. Alma Habib’s main focus in these interviews was spreading awareness for Syria and asking for help from the West.
In an interview with NBC news, Alma Habib said, “military action is difficult, but necessary.”
Alma Habib also said that she was unsurprised by the recent chemical attacks in Syria.
“There are many more than have been reported, and they are coming closer to where her family lives,” Alma Habib said.
Like her younger brother, Alma Habib wants the war to be over.
“I just hope and pray that this time, maybe someone could do something or a country would step in, because, I mean, they’ve crossed a line several times,” Alma Habib said.
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
