'We'll never have Syria again as we knew it,' says Windsor doctor
Dr. Ahmad Chaker, who treats refugee patients in Turkey and Canada, wants Western powers to increase pressure
Without strong interference in war-torn Syria by Western powers, the region is doomed, says Dr. Ahmad Chaker, a Windsor, Ont. doctor born in Syria.
While Chaker credits the help various governments have given to refugees once they leave Syria, he said those same governments should do more to keep countries like Russia and Iran from backing Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad.
"If nobody makes a sincere effort to try and push Russia and Iran out...Syria will be divided and we'll never have Syria again as we know it," he told CBC News.
- Syrian army says it has retaken Aleppo completely
- Evacuation of Aleppo resumes, last hospital patients removed
Chaker has spent time in refugee camps in Turkey over the last few years. He was optimistic at the beginning of the revolution that Syria could become a democratic country in a couple of years. Not anymore. Even with the UN Security Council approving monitors for the Aleppo evacuation, Chaker said it's too little too late.
"We lost the trust with what (the West) was doing. The golden time was in the beginning in 2012, 2013," he said. "The Western allies, they gave us a lot of nice talk and sympathy. But on the ground, the support was so limited and we end up with this bad picture."
Chaker grows increasingly frustrated as news reports release images of the war-torn region, including dead babies.
"I am frustrated. Every day now, videos of babies," he said. "They pull their bodies from demolished houses. Unfortunately, the world just watches. I don't think the history will have any mercy for us if we just keep silent on what's happening in Syria."