As the dynamics surrounding the Syrian crisis in the Middle East have continued to shift over the past few days and with the observance of the 9/11 attacks today, concerned residents of Arab descent shared with Virgin Islands News Online how they felt and were affected by the current situation near their homeland. Photo: CNN

Hani Husein, Proprietor of Roro’s Clothing felt the removal of chemical weapons would not change much in the equation other than the fact that there would be none to use against the warring factions. Photo: Facebook

Abraham A. Tarabay said he just wanted persons to understand that he was not in support or against the Syrian regime or the rebels but rather his concerns lay with the innocent Syrian people who lost their lives as they were caught in the struggle. Photo: provided

Social activist and commentator, Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru said the US has geo-political interests in the Middle East and are also allied with Israel which has an antagonistic relationship with Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria. Photo: Facebook

Commentator Julio Sam Henry said he felt any US bombing in Syria would ultimately affect the Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO/File

Often referred to incorrectly as Syrians, some of the local Arabs expressed hope and support for a speedy resolution to the ongoing crisis following an intended but since aborted statement of intent for limited military intervention by the United States then later in Syria.

“I am with [the intervention], I support it. I already voted on the internet,” said Shadi Tarabein, Proprietor of Goodfellows in Road Town. He felt the intervention was necessary to save civilians who had been caught in the middle of a military upheaval for over two years between the Syrian regime and rebels who were attempting to oust the government.

Tarabein, who is of Lebanese origin, explained that he grew up in Lebanon during a time of Syrian occupation. Syria, he said, invaded Lebanon in 1975 when he was just three (3) years old. He came to the Virgin Islands (VI) 21 years ago in 1992 as a twenty-year-old. Syria later left Lebanon in 2005.

Asked about his opinion on assertions that chemical weapons allegedly used by the Syrian government were in fact mistakenly used by the rebels themselves, Tarabein responded, “That’s all lies… I lived under the Syrian occupation, I know the Syrians how they deal.”

He felt strongly that Syrian President Bhashar al-Assad gave instructions to use chemical weapons on his own people and added that he was part of a criminal regime. “Anyone [states] his opinion will be disappeared, not like your family knows where you are, you’ll be disappeared completely. I have one of my uncles, since 1985 nobody knows if he’s alive or dead,” he related.

Based on several sources, there have been over 100,000 estimated deaths since the beginning of the civil war, with children numbering in the hundreds among those counted as dead.

Tarabein also expressed concern that foreign groups such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah had now infiltrated the civil war in Syria due to what he described as inaction on the part of powers such as the US and UN.

Ehab Tarabay, Proprietor of Bits and Bytes said he felt the proposed action by the US was a bit delayed and should have been done at the beginning of the revolution and not two years after.

“There is a regime with a fully equipped army fighting unarmed civilians…” he said. While he was in opposition with the US intervention in Iraq several years ago, Tarabay explained that the circumstances were different now and he felt a successful intervention might lead to the end of the civil war.

He felt there was a lot of foot dragging regarding the intervention but thought it might have been better late than never.

“The [Syrian] regime is very well protected internationally. [Assad] has two out of five veto countries [within the United Nations] supporting him, he has China and he has Russia. Through the United Nations, it’s impossible to do anything because one of the veto countries has to always oppose it,” he explained. “If they’re going to wait for the United Nations that would never happen for whatever the scenario is…” he added.

President Barack Obama had based his intention of US intervention in Syria on the crossing of a proverbial red line which had come with the use of chemical weapons in the civil war while Prime Minister David Cameron lost a motion in the UK Parliament by 13 votes for his country's intervention in the saga.

“The national news of Syria, on the morning of the attacks, was bragging about using the chemical weapons,” Tarabay said. He stated that this information remained on the Facebook page of the Syrian state News Agency, SANA even one month after the attacks.

Fast forward to a few days after the threat of military intervention by the US and there have since been strong requests by Russia, a staunch ally of the Syrian government, to have the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal be placed under international control. Syria has since acceded to this request and based on international news reports, has proposed talks to have this executed.

In a speech given last evening, US President Barack Obama postponed his request for congressional authorisation for strikes on Syria to pursue a diplomatic solution but warned the US military would stay on alert to respond should talks fail.

Hani Husein, Proprietor of Roro’s Clothing, felt the removal of chemical weapons would not change much in the equation other than the fact that there would be none to use against the warring factions. “The rebels are going to continue fighting and Assad and his soldiers are going to continue fighting.” He didn’t feel that the US should always intervene in the affairs of other nations when there was infighting because these were usually local issues. “When it comes to intervention, it should be the international community, it shouldn’t be one person speaking; it shouldn’t be Barack [Obama], it shouldn’t be the UK, it shouldn’t be Israel, it should be an international voice…” he said.

“At the end of the day, whatever is going on there is more out of control than what people think, it’s not really in Barack’s hands, it’s not really in anybody’s hands in being able to easily resolve that other than Assad and his people,” Husein added.

Husein, who is also of Arab origin, felt that there was no real care about Arabs killing Arabs in the international community, “If they want to kill each other let them be, they’re worried about the word ‘chemical’, when the word ‘chemical’ came in, yes [there was] immediate intervention…”

He felt the introduction of chemical weaponry into the Syrian civil war stirred concerns in the international community about the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

The store owner felt that Virgin Islanders may sometimes be influenced by the international news about places like Syria and this has led to derogatory comments at times. “This gives an Arab person like me or like the Arab community that lives here, or the Muslim community in general, the wrong picture because the world keeps giving the wrong picture about us… violence and terrorism.”

He said it was not shown on television that Arabs were sitting down to resolve issues about ‘bad apples’ in the Arab world. “So in Tortola you might get local remarks sometimes, ‘Hey Mr Terrorist’ or ‘Hey Mr Chemical guy’, whatever it is…”

Meanwhile, Abraham A. Tarabay said he just wanted persons to understand that he was not in support or against the Syrian regime or the rebels but rather his concerns lay with the innocent Syrian people who lost their lives as they were caught in the struggle.

Tarabay, who said he was only speaking on behalf of his family, expressed that he did not have enough information to make a judgment on who was responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the civil war. He added, “It’s affecting a lot of the Arabs [locally] because most Arabs are from neighbouring countries, whether it’s Palestine or Lebanon.”

He urged that persons get all the facts from both sides about the information being put out in the international media. “We need to get information from every source possible,” he said, “it is tragic, what’s happening, it is absolutely sad.”

While admitting that there were bad Arabs, Tarabay felt the entire race should not be held culpable or vilified for the actions of some. “We are not in support of the Assad regime, we are not in support of the rebels, we just want a quick, peaceful resolution [through] whatever steps have to be taken to get to that point. We are with the innocent people,” he said.

Support for a quick resolution to the Syrian crisis also came from other members of the local Arab community who chose not to be identified.

Social activist and commentator, Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru said the US has geo-political interests in the Middle East and are also allied with Israel, which has an antagonistic relationship with Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria. “[The US] would like to see a new Syrian government, obviously,” Wheatley said.

“In my opinion the United States has no right to go around telling leaders and governments that they need to step down… that’s not how the law of democracy functions,” he added.

He charged that the US would often set up pro-democracy groups in countries where they disagree with the government in attempts to de-stabilise the government. “What they do after that is they actually train and arm rebel groups to fight against the government.”

“When governments attempt to crush the groups [supported by the US] they have to use harsh methods to crush these groups and then the United States media reports that these governments are killing their own people when they’re basically trying to stamp out any threats to the government,” Wheatley asserted.

He alleged that the US was once an ally to Saddam Hussein, Manuel Noreiga and even al-Qaeda at various points, people who committed atrocities. “They support or don’t support these people based on their particular interests not necessarily for any moral cause,” he added.

Wheatley felt the United States was acting in a hypocritical manner and had no moral authority to speak to anyone about the use of weapons as they had one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world and were the only country to have dropped a hydro-bomb on another nation.

He felt the United Nations should be allowed to conduct investigations in the Syrian crisis and suggested that war was not the answer as a ceasefire is what was really needed in the situation. “Let the United Nations negotiate a ceasefire without supplying rebels with arms to continue to fan the flames of the conflict.”

He welcomed the suggestion by the Russians to take the chemical weapons out of the equation and urged that there should be treaties signed to eliminate the use of chemical weapons.

Commentator Julio Sam Henry said he felt any US bombing in Syria would ultimately affect the Virgin Islands, “Any kind of problems over in the Middle East affects the Virgin Islands and affects the world…” he said.

He noted that the mere prospect of war would ultimately affect fuel and oil prices. "If Syria were to be bombed, or even just the idea, the notion that America will bomb [Syria], the price [of fuel will] go up. It probably went up five or six cents at some of the gas stations around town," he said.

Acting Premier of the Virgin Islands, Dr The Hon. Kedrick D. Pickering when contacted, declined to make any comment on whether there was an official position by government on the Syrian situation.