It has been twelve years.  March 15, 2023  marked the 12th year anniversary since the first group of peaceful demonstrators took to the streets in cities across Syria asking for political reforms after a group of children were arrested and tortured  in the southern city of Dara for writing anti-regime graffiti.  Twelve years of barrel bombs and sniper fire.  Twelve years of documented violations of the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law with the targeting of hospitals, ambulances, healthcare workers and the repeated use of chemical weapons, more than 300 times to be exact.

And yet, the world remains impotent when it comes to the people of Syria. Every time we think, there is no way the world can just move past this, it does.

In 2011, two months into the protests, the body of 13-year-old Hamza Al-Khateeb, was returned to his family with evidence of torture, bruises, gun shot wounds and mutilated genitalia.  His crime: he attended a protest.  I am a mother of a Hamza and my Hamza was only two-years-old back then, but for nights, I could not sleep, imagining how a mother buries her son after that experience.

The fact that Hamza al-Khateeb’s body was sent back to his family as a lesson to the rest of the Syrian people and did not move the international community should have been all the evidence the Syrian people needed.  But, alas, they continued to have hope.  They continued to hope that human rights were not just ideals to be protected if one were from the correct race or religion.  They continued to have hope that democratic principles were not just lofty slogans that some governments could float to galvanize a populace in support of war.

A year later, in August of 2012, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, said that he would change his calculus on the use of military force if chemical weapons were used in Syria.  To him, the use of chemical weapons would constitute “a red line.”  Yet in August of 2013 when over 1000 people (400 children) were gassed to death in the suburbs of Damascus with all impartial investigations pointing to the Syrian government as the culprit, and photos of victims with vacant eyes and frothed mouths propagated, again, the only consequences faced were sanctions and a slap on the wrist.

For Syrians, that was the nail in the coffin of expecting an international intervention of any consequence.

Yet, at that point and until today, what are the options for the millions of Syrians who fled the country and the millions who were displaced to the northwest region of Syria that remains out of government control?

Over the last decade, I have met hundreds of Syrian refugees displaced to southern Turkey or stuck in Greece when the response in Europe was to close borders instead of providing refuge to families fleeing the most violent atrocities.  Not that my home country of the United States had a better track record.  The number of refugees accepted in the United States from Syria in 2022 was less than 5000.   The largest number of refugees was accepted in 2016 which amounted close to 13,000.

In February 2022, the world watched as Russia’s Putin advanced his military troops into Ukraine.  There are many lessons to be learned from this event in history.

Firstly, although Putin had been sabre-rattling throughout January, Ukrainians on the ground still didn’t think their country was headed toward war.  Many didn’t believe this would happen.  I can’t count the number of Syrian refugees I have spoken to who would have never believed in their wildest dreams that Syria would be caught up in a war prior to March 2011.  The lesson learned here is that any of us and all of us could one day end up a refugee in a foreign country no matter what the level of security is in our country of residence.

Secondly, Syrians have been screaming that inaction in response to the crisis in Syria is a big mistake for years and that has fallen on deaf ears.  We shouldn’t have to justify the need to protect Syrian lives by tying that to the protection of other lives but nonetheless, here we are.  To believe that Putin was not watching, calculating and directly involved in the Syrian war and the crossing of the infamous red line, is a delusion.  The consequence was that Putin bet on the lack of a military response to his violations as was documented to Assad’s violations.  How many Ukrainian lives would have been spared had the international community had a decisive response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria?

Thirdly, watching the international response to the war in Ukraine reminds us that human beings can, in fact, be empathetic and warm.  In the past year alone, more than 113,000 Ukranians have arrived in the United States under the United for Ukraine program overseen by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. And millions have been accepted in European nations.  What a stark contrast to border closures and the anti-refugee sentiments sparked in the height of the refugee crisis in 2015.

The Syrian crisis continues to be like a flash in the pan on news cycles.  Every couple of months, it gets some airtime and then, the world just moves on.  Even a natural disaster like a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has taken over 50,000 lives with the majority of casualties being either Syrian refugees in southern Turkey or displaced Syrians in northwest Syria, hasn’t been able to capture the hearts and minds of the international community long enough to put pressure for a political solution to the crisis in Syria.

As Syrians enter this thirteenth year of crisis, we have heard some suggest that Syrian refugees should now just go back home. Other nations have housed them for so long and there is no change on the horizon, so they believe they should just pack up their bags and go back to Syria.  For anyone suggesting that, I have one question:  Could you ever look in the eyes of your adult daughter or sister who has been beaten to a pulp by a violent husband and tell her to just go back home?

My religion, Islam, is a religion of hope so  I believe in planting seeds the fruits of which I may never see but hope that my children will benefit from.  I didn’t write this article as one of pessimism and negativity.  On the contrary, I know there is much to be hopeful for as I have witnessed the coming together of people from different races, religions and ethnic backgrounds, to help in Greece during the refugee crisis. To help when thousands lost their lives trying to cross the sea in hopes of a better life or the different search and rescue teams who arrived in Turkey recently in response to the earthquakes.

There are multiple ways any of us can help in the current global situation. For one, the power of prayer is unmatched.  Meet a refugee; there are hundreds of refugee agencies in the United States and abroad.  Ask him or her how you can help them.  Donate funds to either refugee agencies or medical NGOs like MedGlobal who are working on the ground to provide life-sustaining and life-saving medications to Syrians in northwest Syria or southern Turkey; people who have been displaced multiple times throughout their lives.  And perhaps just as impactful as a donation, write a letter to your government representative.  Over and over, history teaches us that one of the reasons governing leaders don’t step up or step in during such calamities is because they believe that the people they govern don’t care about the situation.

I wrote this to raise awareness and remind all of us that what goes around comes around.  One day, any of us could end up in a refugee camp or walking hundreds of miles in search of food, security or shelter. What each one of us does today in response to crises like the one in Syria will, indeed, color how others may respond to us.  So respond wisely, with empathy and with humanity.

About the Author:

Dr. Nour Akhras is a board-certified pediatric infectious diseases physician who has been working at a free-standing Women and Children’s Hospital in the suburbs of Chicago for the last decade. She holds a BA in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Chicago and received her medical degree from Rush Medical College. She has traveled internationally, serving victims of war on multiple medical missions. Dr. Akhras has advocated for the rights of refugees by authoring op-eds in newspapers like USA Today and the Chicago Sun-Times and through speaking engagements including presenting at Washington DC’s National Press Club on the effects the violence of the Syrian war has had on the lives of Syrian women. She is also a published author. She lives with her husband and four children and enjoys swimming, biking and watching her kids on their various basketball teams.

Instagram: and Twitter: nourakhrasmd

Facebook: Nour Akhras

The post Twelve Years appeared first on World Hijab Day.

I’m an Indonesia Muslim woman, Polish by marriage and Norwegian by residence. For me, wearing Hijab is really a blessing especially after experiencing hard time as a refugee. I believe that everything Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ ala (The Most Praised and Exalted) commands us has wisdom and depth in it which we fail to understand sometimes. Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah), for being a Muslimah and being able to carry Hijab as my identity that makes me an honorable ambassador of Islam.

Alhamdullilah, it’s been seventeen years since I started wearing hijab. Let me tell you my journey of struggles, becoming a more valuable person and how I was inspired by one of Indonesia’s most famous authors, Helvy Tiana Rosa.

I was 14 years old when I first thought of wearing hijab permanently after reading and being inspired by her book named Ketika Mas Gagah Pergi. I became a refugee girl after The Maluku Islands conflict arose along the religious lines. The conflict is dated back to early 1999 and in the same years, me and my family moved to Ternate, North Maluku Indonesia . Alhamdulillah, for this beautiful opportunity to understand the meaning of Hijab through her book after seeing so many tears and fighting for life as a refugee.

Her book also inspired me to learn more about Islam and strive to discover my identity as a Muslim girl. I understood that the Hijab is obligatory to protect our honor and dignity, but most important was the intention that it was purely for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala (All-Praised and Exalted) .

Hijab brought me honor, peace, and safety. I did not feel confident sometimes because of being a refugee, but every time people saw me, they greeted me with salam (Islamic Greetings/Regards) and said nice words. It was all because of Allah, the power of Hijab, and my identity as a muslimah.

The day I started wearing hijab, I felt most amazing. I had more confidence, patience, and avoided any [forbidden] relationships with boys. Hijab liberated me from the pressures of being a teenager especially when every youngster was tempted to fashion and young/poppy love. I used to make the following dua’a (supplication): “Ya-Allah, The One and Only, bring me good future husband with the same goal of building a healthy Islamic family.”  Alhamdulillah, I am now a wife of a Polish Muslim, a mother, and an author .

Sisters, remember that everybody has their own experience and process of wearing Hijab. So we should appreciate, help, and give sincere advice to each other as a proof of being part of this grand sisterhood. Please don’t bring each other down. Keep praying and supporting each other.

The post My guide? – A book! appeared first on World Hijab Day.