Ever since the Tunisian revolution in January, outbreaks of political turmoil have continuously emerged in the Middle East. Syria is no exception. Protest began in Syria when students were tortured for their anti-government graffiti, in Dara’a (Southern Syria) last march.
The current President of Syria is Bashar al-Assad, the son and successor of former president Hafez al-Assad. His father led a tyrannical dictatorship which went against basic human rights. Now Assad has followed in his footsteps.
There was hope of a reformed regime when Assad took power; but, ever since the government opened fire and cracked down on protestors in April, the regime has gone in a downward spiral with allegations such as the Assad regime having tortured an innocent a 13-year-old boy, and many other protestors.
The crackdown grew in importance when the military attacked the restive city of Hama, with bombs, tanks, artillery and snipers, spiking the death toll the Syrian government had imposed.
Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calls for an end to the Syrian crackdown.
“A military solution is never the right solution,” Mr. Ahmadinejad stated, despite the fact that in recent decades Iran has been home to extremely inhumane acts, which has resulted on the U.S. and other countries, to put trade sanctions on the Iranian government. Syria is now, Iran’s last major ally; without a government there is no alliance.
These inhumane crimes have been condemned world-wide. The European Union put a ban on Syrian oil to dwindle the government’s funds, in response to the crackdown. In addition tourism has dropped exponentially. This in addition to the trade sanctions, and the costs of the crackdown, may prove to be too much for the Syrian government, along with the economy’s faltering more and more with each attack.
On September 1st, 2011, Hama’s attorney general, Mohammed Adnan al-Bakkour, resigned.
“I was forced to falsify reports as security forces killed hundreds of jailed, peaceful demonstrators and buried them in mass graves,” explaining the reason for his resignation.
Adnan al-Bakkour also spoke about “hundreds of killings, arrests, and torture cases” by the government under President Assad’s regime.
According to the United Nations, the crackdowns have already resulted in the death of almost 3,000 protestors. On September 15 Syrian security forces shot dead 29 people.
This breaking in the government foundations weakens support to Assad’s rule by shedding light on the level of seriousness the protests have evolved to.
However Syria has not been allowing journalist to enter in the country and report on the events.
“I think foreign journalists should be allowed in," said Reem Haddad, head of Syrian state television.
However the Syrian authorities have refused to issue visas for international journalists.
This goes along with the government’s constant contradictions on how they are treating the protesters. The Syrian government has rejected that they have put down fire on their people but, videos the Syrian protesters have put up, show otherwise.
The government has no limits to where they open fire on the Syrian people, from peaceful protests in the streets, to those leaving mosques after religious service.
The increasing violence could result in the Syrian people to take up arms, and the UN’s intervention. If the violent crackdowns are not ended at the urging of the world leaders, these peaceful protests could transform into a revolution against the Syrian government.