The White Helmets: The Cause Of Destruction In Syria

Imagine fleeing your home with little more than the clothes on your back and what very few items you can carry. You are running for your life, forced to leave your house, job, school, car, belongings and memories behind. This is the reality for over 4 million Syrian refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries for safety from the war that has ravaged their nation for more than five years. Once they cross these borders, empty handed and in a foreign land, how do they survive? What is the next step for these people? Where do they go? Who do they turn to for help? Who can they trust?

Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of modern time. The “Syrian Civil war Began in March of 2011, between rebel brigades and government force; economy and infrastructure is destroyed” (Library, 2016). “Divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict” (Corps, 2016). Additionally, the Syrian civil war has taken a significant

As a normal American citizen, we are not accustomed to being forced out of our homes and having to live as nomads like the people of Syria have been living like since the Arab spring of 2011 the event that started what is now known as The Syrian Civil War. This war has literally been tearing apart Syria and displacing 6.3 million people (Mercy corps). This crisis affects a lot of Syrian individuals including one Doaa Al Zamel. In the book “A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea” we get a firsthand account of what life was like before the start of the war and also a view during the civil war and gives insight to life in the current state of Syria. Doaa’s life in “A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea” had her moving around the Middle East for most of her early adulthood. Throughout her moves to different parts of the Middle East she had many experiences both good and bad. The government, daily life in the Middle East, and family problems that arose during the moves affected Doaa’s life greatly.

As the rifle and machine gun fire exchanges in the Syrian Civil War not only lives are lost but many innocent men, women and children are left in need of emergency care. Cecily Hilleary, a traveling journalist for VOA World News, mentions “the United Nations estimates the civil war raging in Syria has left more than 2.5 million people in dire need of food, water, drugs and medical supplies,” not including the already 25,000, and counting, deceased from the war (VOA par. 9). The medical aid is minimal in Syria due to the low number of volunteers and medical staff. Cecily tells the stories of crowded hospitals with over 250-350 beds being piled up upon with hurt Syrian individuals, many being innocent women and

RWANDA- Yesterday, during the brutal massacres of the Tutsi people a young man courageously protected countless bystanders and civilians against the Hutu. The young man risked his life for the civilians, and managed to save a majority of the town.

The white helmets are volunteer workers in Syria who are risking their lives to save civilians from the bombings from the Syrian government, which is targeted at the rebels who are fighting the government but instead hitting innocent civilians. These workers had to leave their old jobs to dedicate themselves to this new lifestyle. There have been more than 200 deaths from the volunteers. Now there are currently 140 women volunteers.

In the essay “Award-Winning Photo Puts Subjects on Defensive” by freelance journalist Gert Van Langendonck discusses a photograph that was initially misinterpreted by the photographer, and the world. The photo, taken by war photographer Spencer Platt, won the 2006 World Press Photo of the Year award, after the photo was published by Parris Match in September of 2006. The photo was taken on August 15th, only two days after the ceasefire of what is known as the 2006 Lebanon War. Van Langendonck discusses Platt’s thoughts leading up to the photo, as he was attempting to photograph the southern suburbs of Beirut, which had endured the brunt of Israel’s bombing, and document the various relief efforts along with the diverse refugee populations.

In Syria there is a war going on, and had been going on for over 5 years. Many people have fled and 400,000 people have been killed. There is this organization called the white helmets and they are designed to save and help people when a bomb hits. Although many have fled , the ones who stayed back rely on this group of white helmets to help them if they ever get injured or trapped because of a bomb. Many of the people that are getting targeted are women and children and they are innocent people. The white helmets believe everyone's life is equal so they try their hardest on trying to rescue people from the rubble. The white helmets get sent away for a month and get trained on how to properly put out a fire, how to rescue someone,

Many of those people were trying to get away from the violence and had nothing to do with it. Bomb barrels containing weapons to immediately kill are dropped every day. The credibility of this image is justified by its reality. Omran Daqneesh and many other Syrian children are a symbol of this tragic and horrific war. Because of the war background of this image, it cannot be denied that the Syrian people are in danger and that the war and its horrid factors are happening right now and at this moment. Omran is covered in the result of war violence, the credibility of this image is justified through his innocence and the cruelty of war itself. The background of the image is the Syrian Civil War,

In the article, the Syrian Crisis shows how other countries aren’t as safe as the United States since there are many bombings and children dying. The Syrians need help but are not getting much from others, “When we turn away from suffering that exists outside of our personal realm, we stop making informed decisions and we disconnect from humanity” (Derhally 2). A picture of a five-year-old boy from Aleppo changed how people viewed the Syrian Crisis. At first, everyone ignored the problem but then people started to realize they need some help. To his day, the people still do not get the help they need but the society has changed a little.

They also have to live in terrible situations such as a tent per family, and winter is coming and they don't have very good shelter. There are 20,000 people against 1 million 54,00 of them are adult males that are fighting in the war. On their dangerous trips across the ocean to get to another state a three year old boy had drown to death they had found his body washed up on shore that why it is a dangerous journey. The Syrians are fleeing for their lives because of Isis they do not want to risk death because someone is forcing them to do it so they are trying to get to a safer much more calm place but now no where is

The Civil war in Syria is not like typical internal conflicts due to the sheer number of different groups fighting in the same small territory. Primarily, this is a fight for power in the nation of Syria and each group has a special affinity for the land. This has led to a power struggle in the small area, and the people of the nation, whether they are fighting or not, are all suffering in different ways. There are some who have chosen to fight for their cause. They are not the majority, however. Many, half of the country in fact, have been displaced and forced to walk miles, in temperatures estimated more that 120 degrees fahrenheit, from their home country to refugee camps after suffering directly and immensely in their own homes. Not

“The panicked reactions, fanned by right-wing politicians in the United States and Europe, to ‘declare war’ on the Islamic State are mostly just noise. None of those proposing that kind of response offer the slightest idea of how it would be done; all they have is an understandable desire, which we share, to obliterate the terrorist group also known as ISIS,” wrote the New York Times editorial board. Syria fell under a French Mandate after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire following World War I, and then struggled to achieve independence. The Assad family used repressive police state measures to ensure a stable government in Syria. An increase of opposition caused Bashar al-Assad to inflict more brutality and dictatorship.

The Syrian refugee crisis has received massive media coverage. People around the world are trying to comprehend the desperate, complicated situation surrounding Syria. The civil war in Syria is the worst crisis in our time. Syrians upset at the fact that long promised reforms have not been enacted, began anti-government demonstrations which started the civil war in 2011. The peaceful protests turned ugly, with the government violently putting an end to those protests. Afterward, ordinary citizens took arms, causing the situation to escalate. Syrians are fleeing their homes because of the great violence, which have left thousands dead and millions wounded, a collapsed infrastructure, resulting in a shattered economy, and for the safety of the children. Syrians are either streaming to surrounding countries or risking their lives to travel to Europe.

Not only do they raise awareness for a global response, but their involvement in the medical field has helped civilians find medical care, and save many lives in areas where there is no access to hospital whatsoever. A CNN article, showed how dedicated they were to people in medical attention: “days of heavy airstrikes have left Syria's rebel-held eastern Aleppo without a single hospital operating at full capacity” (Smith-Spark, Kourdi & Khadder, 2016, para. 1). Despite, any infrastructure left standing during the war, they still stayed to avoid many more deaths by trying to help the