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Per. 4
Pulling out the Roots
End the War in Syria

When asked what his message to the world was, 13-year-old Syrian refugee Kinan
Masalmeh replied, Please help the Syrians. The Syrians need help now. Just stop the war. We
dont want to stay in Europe, just stop the war. In a video filmed by Al Jazeera that has since
gone viral, the boy was with a group of several hundred fellow refugees who had been barred
from entering a railroad station in Hungary.
Masalmehs powerful message to a seemingly apathetic world reflects the true hope of
many refugees from the Syrian Civil War: to live in peace and safety in their homeland. It is a
hope that the Western world has failed to grasp.
There are an estimated 4.1 million Syrian refugees scattered around the world. Three
quarters of them have fled to Syrias immediate neighbors of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq,
straining resources in these countries. Hundreds of thousands have flooded European countries,
making the perilous journey in unsafe, leaky boats run by crooked smugglers. Sinkings, such as
the one that led to the tragic death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi on a Turkish beach, are common.
The Western powers response to the crisis has been too little and come too late to prevent
thousands of deaths. The United States has only agreed to accept 1,500 refugees thus far,
although it has promised to increase the number to 100,000 by 2017. The European Unions 28
member states, however, have agreed to each take in 120,000.
Taking in refugees is only a short-term solution to the Syrian refugee crisis. It must not be
forgotten that the refugees the U.S. and EU have promised to accommodate are the wealthier,

less disadvantaged victims of the war who can afford to travel internationally. The vast majority
of Syrian refugees are trapped in the country, forced to live in squalid tent cities where safe water
is scarce and children lack schools. Accommodating externally-displaced refugees will only
serve to further victimize those who are poorer and more disadvantaged.
In addition, if the war itself is not tackled, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will continue
to kill hundreds of thousands of his own people with impunity. Cities, towns, and villages will
continue to be reduced to rubble. The Islamic State will continue to rise. Half of the country has
already been conquered by the inhumane, terrorist rebel group. Alan Kurdi and his family had
fled their hometown of Kobani to escape the group, which lay siege to the city for six months. In
the process, 70 percent of the city was destroyed. If the civil war in Syria does not end soon,
Syrians will have even less to return to.
One does not kill a weed by cutting off its leaves. One kills a weed by pulling out its
roots and starving it of water. Thats how the United States, EU, and the rest of the developed
world must deal with the Syrian refugee crisis: end the war in Syria. And if the world powers
continue to stand by as the Syrian Civil War devolves into the greatest humanitarian tragedy in
recent history, the blood of all those who have and will perish as a result of their inaction will be
on their hands.