Al Jazeera Discovers Syria Exists (Still)
While mainstream outlets like Al Jazeera commendably highlight the human element of suffering, their episodic return to crises often skips over the inconvenient truths of Western involvement. They tell the story of 'Baraa,' a Syrian living through endless war, but rarely do they delve into the billions in foreign aid, arms, and covert operations that have prolonged the agony since 2011. While the
cameras focus on individual hardship, the broader narrative omits the documented support for various factions by external powers, including the US, which according to a 2013 New York Times report, began covertly arming Syrian rebels as early as 2012. One might wonder why the media often portrays these conflicts as organic, internal struggles, rather than the bloody proxy wars they so often are.
The US government allocated billions to Syria-related programs since 2011, and yet the headlines consistently frame it as an isolated catastrophe. It's a testament to selective storytelling: focusing on the individual tragedy while conveniently forgetting the foreign policy decisions and arms deals that paved the road to ruin. No mention of the bipartisan consensus in Washington that greenlit
military interventions or the think tanks that rationalized 'regime change,' effectively transforming Syria into a humanitarian catastrophe.