Saturday Marks Three-Year Anniversary of Syrian Civil War
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Saturday marks three years since the uprising in Syria, and protesters in Washington are calling on the Obama administration to do more as the country’s civil war enters its fourth year.
The United States has given $1.7 billion in humanitarian aide, but activists in Washington are saying it’s not enough.
Lara Setrakian, founder of the website Syria Deeply, says the U.S. participated in Syria’s war “without really dominating it and that has created a very chaotic situation where no one really has control.”
“So it ended up being a catch 22,” she added. “The U.S. didn’t empower the moderates and because of that they never had a strong hand that seemed to be really worth investing in.”
President Obama has repeatedly said that Syria’s President Assad’s days in power are numbered but, after more than 1,000 days of bloodshed, that number just keeps growing.
“By and large there is no winner to this war, it just continues to drag on without any clear outcome,” Setrakia said. “You do have Assad claiming a kind of symbolic victory primarily because he’s managed to stay alive this long.”
So what does the three-year mark mean for Syrians?
“A three year failure to stop the bloodshed to come up with any kind of comprehensive solution or any kind of effective diplomacy to draw the war to a close,” Setrakia said. “For Syrians, the anniversary really doesn’t mean much.”
Protesters plan to read the names of the dead in front of the White House on Saturday. More than 100,000 people have died in Sryia, including 10,000 children.
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