Malala is praying, working for ambitious children of war-torn Syria
April 15, 2018
LONDON: Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai penned a message for Syrians early Sunday morning, focusing on the ambitious children of the war-torn country and saying she understood that "their dreams must seem further away than ever".
Captioning her message with the hashtag #WithSyria, the Nobel laureate noted the recently-launched attack on the Middle Eastern nation by the United States and its allies, who, in unanimity, showered the Damascus government with more than 100 missiles in what came as the first coordinated Western strike.
"Today I am thinking of the Syrian children I’ve met in refugee camps, hoping and dreaming for peace in their country. I know that – over this last brutal week – their dreams must seem further away than ever," she wrote.
"But I also want them to know that even in my darkest days, when violence and brutality affected my life, people around the world were praying for me and working for my survival.
"I am one of those people today and I stand with the Syrian people and all those who still dream of peace," she added.
The US, alongside Britain and France, launched Saturday 105 missiles overnight towards Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria a week ago, targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities, including a research and development in Damascus’ Barzeh district and two installations near Homs.
US President Donald Trump, who later said the "mission [was] accomplished", had announced the military action from the White House, saying the three allies had “marshaled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality”.
The bombing represents a major escalation in the West’s confrontation with Assad’s superpower ally Russia but is unlikely to alter the course of a multi-sided war that has killed at least half a million people in the past seven years.
By morning, the Western countries said their bombing was over for now. Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of President Bashar al-Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption “Morning of resilience”.
