The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

A Syrian boy’s photo and the degradation of values

The photograph of Omran Daqneesh, the Syrian boy who was pulled from rubble in Aleppo, has made headlines across the world. There’s nothing like the Syrian tragedy and Omran’s photo is a symbol. It is a story that sums up what’s happening in Syria. Omran sat quietly on the chair in the ambulance, shocked and unaware of what was going on around him as his eyes gazed into nothingness. This is what immortalized the photo and why it is significant. According to a nurse, the child did not shed a single tear until he saw his mother and father.

“He’s in shock. He did not say a word other than to ask about his mother and father who were saved after him. He started to cry the second he saw them,” the nurse said.

International abandonment of Syria is the most terrible thing to happen since World War II. In 1995, then-US President Bill Clinton intervened in Bosnia and Herzegovina and crushed Milosevic and gave him two options: to either impose peace by force or accept the terms of a peace plan. Thus came the Dayton Agreement which ended the war. The US did the same in Kosovo. Consecutive American administrations have been strict about maintaining peace in the world based on the responsibility that “American domination” entails.

International abandonment of Syria is the most terrible thing to happen since World War II

Turki Aldakhil

US President Barack Obama said that a large portion of his grey hair is due to meetings he attends on Syria. History will document the photos of Omran and Aylan Kurdi and mark that the 17 million refugees and 300,000 Syrian people killed since the crisis erupted are the outcome of international and American inaction.

While fiercely criticizing Obama for abandoning Syria, Fouad Ajami said: “Don’t tell a man to go to hell unless you intend to send him there.”

This article was first published in Okaz on Aug. 21, 2016.

____________________

Turki Aldakhil is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel. He began his career as a print journalist, covering politics and culture for the Saudi newspapers Okaz, Al-Riyadh and Al-Watan. He then moved to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat and pan-Arab news magazine Al-Majalla. Turki later became a radio correspondent for the French-owned pan-Arab Radio Monte Carlo and MBC FM. He proceeded to Elaph, an online news magazine and Alarabiya.net, the news channel’s online platform. Over a ten-year period, Dakhil’s weekly Al Arabiya talk show “Edaat” (Spotlights) provided an opportunity for proponents of Arab and Islamic social reform to make their case to a mass audience. Turki also owns Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre and Madarek Publishing House in Dubai. He has received several awards and honors, including the America Abroad Media annual award for his role in supporting civil society, human rights and advancing women’s roles in Gulf societies. He tweets @TurkiAldakhil.