MIAMI – Dr. Doured Daghistani is a pediatric oncologist at Baptist Hospital and a Syrian American Council board member.
He supports the overnight air strikes and congressional approval to train and arm Syrian rebels because American intervention has been what Syrians in South Florida have been asking for since the start of 2012.
You may recall as the Syrian revolution morphed into a bloody civil war, members of the Syrian American Council's South Florida Chapter took their concerns over American inaction to the streets in demonstrations held at Miami's Bayfront Park.
The Syrian government was accused of meeting calls for democracy with violence.
Since then, tens of thousands have died and millions have fled creating what the U.S. State Department calls the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era.
Just this month the US provided an additional $500 million to help those impacted by the war in Syria.
That brings U.S. humanitarian assistance since the start of conflict in March of 2011 to $2.9 billion. The United States is the largest donor of humanitarian aid to those affected by the crisis in Syria.
In 2012, a group of US Senators, to include Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, presented a resolution asking the Obama administration to intervene. But polls at the time showed war-weary Americans opposed getting involved.
Daghistani said in that vacuum emerged ISIS. He believes not backing Syrian moderates fighting for democracy was a misstep. For him, and many Syrians living in South Florida, the test will now be on what actions the U.S. takes next against both ISIS and the oppressive Syrian regime.
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