Syrians During Their Time of Need and Why Western Countries Are Frugal About It

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

A 9th-century b.c.e. celebratory inscription belonging to Syria’s King Hazael, a glorification of his triumphs over Israel’s King Jehoram and Judah’s King Ahaziah. What was “wrong” was the mention of another name on the stele.The inscription reads (emphasis added):And I killed two [power]ful kin[gs], who harnessed two thou[sand cha]riots and two thousand horsemen. [I killed Jeho]ram son of [Ahab] king of Israel, and I killed [Ahaz]yahu son of [Joram kin]g of the house of David. And I set …This was shocking to many researchers who thought that Jewish history was just a fable.  Here it is being vetted by a Syrian king! 

Phoenicians lived mainly in Arvad, Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, Gebal (Byblos), Simirro and Sin.  Their language was similar to Hebrew.  Inscriptions found tell us their history.  Egyptians controlled Phoenicians from about 1500 BCE to Rameses III.  King Hiram of Tyre had close relations with King Solomon of Israel while Ethbaal in Sidon had cooperation with King Omri of Israel.   

Syria was called Aram in the Bible.  Their kings had a hard time creating a state of one people as they find it also difficult to impossible today.  Their coastline was settled by the Phoenicians.  The kingdoms of  Israel and Judah fought with them until the 8th century BCE, when Syria was run over by the same Assyrians who ran over Israel.               

The Arab conquest took place in 634-to 637 after Mohammad had died in 632.  By the 12th century, the city of Aleppo had 5,000 Jews and Damascus, the capital, had 3,000 with Palmyra having 2,000.  After 1492's Spanish Inquisition, the Jewish population of Syria increased with Spanish and Sicilian Jews.  They helped Syria in their trade between Europe and Asia.  

Jewish prisoner preparing his defence, a Capuchin distant in the doorway. Painting by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim.

The Damascus Blood Libel in 1840  was a very strong anti-Semite act.  Jews of Syria had to wait till 1920 when under the French Mandate-something that was created after WWI, for Jews to have equal rights, but then these were infringed during WWII under the Vichy regime.  So Jews started immigrating to the United States, Lebanon and Israel.  This reduced the Jewish population in Syria from about 30,000 in 1943 to about 14,000 in 1947.  Terrorism there against Jews during Israel's War was the cause of the decline, along with a material decline and moral isolation.  Jews of today in Syria have been confined to their own quarter, mainly in Damascus on Jew Street.  By 1973, the Jewish number was 4,000.  

Syria continues its program of  virulence of its anti-Israel policy and has continued acts of hostility since it joined the Arab invasion of 1948.  They were partly responsible for the Six Day War with Israel where they lost, even backed with all the other surrounding Muslim states.  In that war, Israel  took over the Golan Heights.   which the Syrians had been bombarding Jewish settlements below.  

Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بَشَّارُ ٱلْأَسَدِ, born 11 September 1965) now 57,  is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the Secretary-General of the Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, which nominally espouses a neo-Ba'athist ideology. His father and predecessor was General Hafez al-Assad, whose presidency between 1971 to 2000 marked the transfiguration of Syria from a republican state into a dynastic dictatorship tightly controlled by an Alawite-dominated elite composed of the armed forces and the Mukhabarat (secret services), who are loyal to the Assad family.                                   

                    Assad is now a puppet of Iran and Russia. 

Born and raised in Damascus, Bashar al-Assad graduated from the medical school of Damascus University in 1988 and began to work as a doctor in the Syrian Army.  He graduated as an ophthalmologist in 1988. He then served as an army doctor at a Damascus military hospital.   Assad's regime functions as a personalist dictatorship, and several political scientists and journalists describe it as a totalitarian police state. Although Bashar inherited the bureaucratic structure and personality cult nurtured by Hafez al-Assad, he lacked the charisma and loyalty received by his father, which led to rising discontent against his rule.

Just who is this seemingly composed, nattily dressed, English-speaking dictator who has been charged with killing more than 1400 of his own people with chemical weapons on August 21? Among the dead: over 400 children were slain.  Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, 47, has denied committing this heinous act of terror, blaming it instead on rebel groups in his country.                                              

                                  Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: حافظ الأسد, 6 October 1930 was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000.

The Assad family has been ruling Syria for the past 40 years.  On 17 July 2000, Bashar al-Assad became president, succeeding his father Hafez, who had died on 10 June 2000. A series of state elections have since been held regularly every seven years - in 2000, 2007, 2014 and 2021 - which he won with overwhelming majority of votes. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and some twelve million people—more than half the country’s prewar population—have been displaced. 

        Syria with major cities;  Aleppo used to be a major Jewish city of business, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.  Their Al-Hayyat Mosque was formerly a synagogue dating from the 6th century.  It was the home of many men of learning.  400 Jews remained in 1991.  They were probably the oldest.  

People receive aid at a make-shift shelter near the rebel-held 

town  of Jinidayris, Syria.  Rami al Sayed/AFP via Getty Images

An aerial view shows rescuers searching the rubble of buildings for 

casualties   and survivors in the village of Azmarin in Syria's rebel-held

 northwestern Idlib  province on Tuesday.  Omar Haj Kadour/AFP via Getty Images

Today Syria and Turkey have been hit several times by earthquakes only hours apart of 7.8 and 7.7 strength with a loss so far of 17,000 people.  Rescuers from Israel are sending food, clothing, medical supplies but are not apt to enter Syria as they are enemies.  Syria is full of terrorists.  Israel has sent aides into Turkey.  The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Homefront Command dispatched the 150-person search-and-rescue team to Adana shortly after Monday's earthquake, which has killed thousands in southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria. Countless victims were trapped in rubble, with harsh winter conditions exacerbating their plight.

  An aerial view shows an excavator lying in a flooded area after the collapse of a dam on the Orontes or Assi river near al-Tulul village in Salqin, in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province.  Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP via Getty Images

A Syrian family who lost their home during the deadly earthquake rest in a 

make-shift shelter at a camp for internally displaced people, in the Afrin 

region   of Syria's rebel-held northern Aleppo province. Rami al Sayed/AFP via Getty Images

Separately, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that Israel was prepared to send aid to Syrian victims of the quake after receiving a request through a “diplomatic official” whom he did not identify.

Workers unload an airplane with aid sent from Iran, at the Aleppo airport in 

Syria early on Wednesday.  AFP via Getty Images

Israeli media said the intermediary was Russia — implying that 

the request was from the Moscow-backed regime of Syrian 

President Bashar al-Assad, rather than rebel groups. Russia 

declined comment, while the pro-Damascus newspaper Al Watan 

quoted an unnamed regime official as   denying that Syria had 

made such a request of Israel.

    Members of the Syrian civil defense, known as the White Helmets, warm themselves by a fire next to the rubble of a collapsed building late on Tuesday in Jandairis, as search and rescue operations continue following a deadly earthquake.  Rami al Sayed/AFP via Getty Images

There is a very high threat of kidnapping throughout Syria. Kidnappings can be for financial or political gain, and can be motivated by criminality or terrorism. There have been a number of kidnappings, including of British nationals and other Westerners. Some hostages have been killed.

Terrorist groups operating in Syria routinely use kidnapping as a tactic. Westerners continue to be targeted and any Western presence in Syria would be at high risk. British nationals are viewed as legitimate targets, including those engaged in tourism, humanitarian aid work, journalism or business sectors. If you’re kidnapped, the reason for your presence is unlikely to serve as a protection or secure your safe release.

Russia Lands Attack Helicopters, Troops At Former US Air Base In Syria

World News | Reuters | Friday November 15, 2019

Russia landed attack helicopters and troops at a sprawling air base in northern Syria vacated by U.S. forces, the Russian Defence Ministry's Zvezda TV channel said on Friday.  

So what have we learned?  Russia and Iran have sent aid.  Well, so has Israel.  USA has a base in Syria.  

Resource:

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/02/08/israel-saves-lives-in-turkey-offers-syria-aid-after-earthquake/#:~:text=The%20Israel%20Defense%20Forces%20(IDF,winter%20conditions%20exacerbating%20their%20plight.T The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security. FDD does not accept donations from foreign governments.