In my rash decision to change my topic from traveling in Asia to the Crisis in Syria, I first wanted to understand what as actually happening in Syria. Although I did some light research on the background of the country, I wanted to first grasp the fighting and the tension that was amongst the people. It's very easy to access news about this topic simply because it's devastating and something new is occurring everyday. One day there is no bombings or fighting and the next the war continues. When I scroll through my Facebook news feed, I always see the graphic images and videos of children, citizens, and buildings broken and in shambles. I scoured the news every time we spent time in class for the Senior 20 and every time it's always the same. There's horrible fighting, bombing, and ISIS attacks. It's hard to read about quite honestly. The main stories that I have been focusing on is the war in Aleppo. Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the main fighting area between Syrian opposition and ISIS. The two are fighting in order to gain control over the major city. Not only are these two forces involved but also Russia and Turkey. Russia consistently bombs Aleppo although they claim that they never did so. Because of the terrible fighting and bombing, there has been humanitarian pauses for the citizens to evacuate the area. Buses and transportation has been provided so that citizens can escape their broken homes however there has been a good amount of people who refuse to leave. In the words of one interviewee, he said how he is devoted to stay in Aleppo simply because it is his home. Children were even found swimming in a large hole created by a bomb that broke the water supply. As I read these stories about fighting and the citizens who are caught in between, I can only shake my head. It is beyond scary to imagine what the children, families, and fighters are dealing with. It's easy to forget about what's going in areas such as Aleppo, however reading about it during Senior 20 days reminds me what others are going through.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/world/middleeast/us-suspends-talks-with-russia-on-syria.html?_r=0
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37741969
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37741969
