Kassem Eid survived the 2013 Syrian chemical attack and for nearly two years lived in a constant state of war and violence. As a refugee in America, his heart longs for peace in his home land. After years of President Obama’s reluctance to intervene in Syria, Eid is thrilled that President Trump is finally helping the Syrian people. Specifically on CNN yesterday, Eid said he would love to buy Trump a beer and sit down with him to explain just how badly the situation is in Syria.
“I just want to tell Mr. Trump directly: I’m a Syrian refugee who survived chemical weapons attacks, who lived under two years of siege and bombardment by the government,” Eid said. “I would love to, like, buy you a beer, and just sit in front of you and tell you how bad it is in Syria.”
Eid also said he would tell Trump, that he “proved once again, yesterday, that you have a big heart. At least a lot more bigger than Obama because you actually tried to do something. We need real, long-term commitment to bring peace to Syria.” (emphasis added)
Eid’s story is very tragic, but he is hopeful that the West will intervene in the only manner that he thinks will stop the deaths of innocent civilians; Killing Bashar al-Assad. Eid told his story to the Huffington Post prior to the United States led attack on Syrian chemical weapons facilities.
Like many of the Syrian residents, refugees and exiles HuffPost UK spoke to, Eid supports military intervention that would remove Assad and allow space for Syrians themselves to take part in free and fair elections.
The town he grew up in was besieged by President Bashar al-Assad’s army in June of 2012, and the remaining 10,000 or so civilians sheltering there were “reduced to eating trash and the leaves from trees,” Eid recalls.
By the end of the summer, the military situation in Syria was precarious for the regime. Opposition forces were at the outskirts of the capital and many of Assad’s supporters, who hold a majority of the powerful positions in the military, had left the city to focus their defensive efforts elsewhere.
Bodies of people killed in the attack that Eid survived in 2013 in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus.
In the early hours of 21 August 2013, the residential areas of Moadhamiyeh was bombed with sarin, a deadly nerve agent banned under international law.
“I’ve seen a lot of f*cked up sh*t in my life. I’ve seen Assad bomb children into pieces, I’ve seen women being raped, I’ve seen men getting butchered and burned alive, all this sh*t but I will say that the look on that little boy’s face during the chemical attack…” Eid told HuffPost UK.”
It is unclear what the next military steps the United States will take in Syria. While President Trump does not drink alcohol, he should make time to meet with Kassem Eid.
