Kassem Eid survived a chemical attack in Syria in 2013, and in the wake of Friday night’s missile strike, he’d like nothing more than to buy President Donald Trump a beer.
Eid told CNN’s Ana Cabrera that the president’s action once again proved he has “a big heart.”
“Trump, I’ll buy you a beer” — Kassem Eid, a survivor of 2013 chemical weapons attack in Syria following missile strikes by U.S., U.K. and France.https://t.co/Ufb1JCvk66
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) April 14, 2018
I just want to tell Mr. Trump directly: I’m a Syrian refugee who survived chemical weapons attacks, who lived under two years of siege and bombardment by the government. I would love to, like, buy you a beer, and just sit in front of you and tell you how bad it is in Syria.
Eid implored the president to “listen to his heart,” not just his generals, and compared Trump’s response in Syria to Obama’s inaction. “You proved once again, yesterday, that you have a big heart. At least a lot more bigger than Obama because you actually tried to do something. We need real, long-term commitment to bring peace to Syria.”
He went on to suggest that a failure to continue to press Assad could result in the creation of “ISIS 2.0.”
Eid had also appeared on CNN in April of 2017, after President Trump authorized a retaliatory strike on Syria for a similar chemical attack, and offered an emotional “thank you” to a president who was willing to challenge the brutal regime under which he had lived.
If you just give me a few seconds just to tell President Trump once again, please, sir, what you did was amazing, what you did was powerful message of hope for a lot of people inside and outside of Syria. Please, don’t stop on this.
He also criticized the Obama administration and challenged the narrative by claiming that most Syrians would rather be safe in their own country than come to the United States for safety. “I didn’t see you raising your voice against President Obama’s inaction in Syria that led us refugees, that made us refugees get kicked out of Syria. If you really care about refugees, if you really care about helping us, please, help us stay in our — in our country. We don’t want to come to United States,” he said.
President Trump has not yet responded to Eid’s “beer summit” invitation.
Watch below to see Eid’s powerful description of the chemical attack he survived and the oppressive and violent regime under which so many Syrians still live.
Kassem Eid survived a brutal chemical gas attack in his hometown in Syria. Now, he has a message for the world about what’s really happening in his country.
Do you think Trump should have bombed Syria in response to the latest attack on people like Kassem? pic.twitter.com/sk12yyxTM9
— Mic (@mic) April 14, 2018