Former Syrian rebel praises US missile strike
Syrian chemical weapons attack survivor shares his story
A Syrian refugee who survived a 2013 chemical weapons attack said Monday he wants President Trump to help Syrians return to a safe country without Bashar al-Assad in power.
"Thank you, Mr. President, for taking action," Kassen Eid said on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning.
Eid, who escaped to Europe after fighting the Assad regime, praised Trump's missile strikes on a Syrian air base in retaliation to last Tuesday's suspected chemical attack that killed more than 80 people.
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"When I saw President Trump and the United States taking action for the first time after six years of calling for help, we felt happy and grateful," Eid said.
The Syrian refugee compared and contrasted Trump's forceful action to what he called former President Barack Obama's inaction and failure to follow through with his "red line" promise after the 2013 chemical attack, which nearly killed Eid.
"If President Obama took action against the Assad regime, he would have stopped ISIS from being created. He would have given people in Syria hope," Eid told the hosts of "Fox & Friends."
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Eid said he wants Trump to help Syrians return to a safe country and to continue pushing Assad in a way that Obama failed to do.
"Help us come back home, please stop Assad from committing war crimes and please stop ISIS from committing war crimes," Eid said.
Trump authorized 60 U.S. Tomahawk missiles to strike the Shayrat air base, southeast of Homs. Satellite images hours after the strikes on Friday showed large-scale destruction to the airfields.
Eid echoed his sentiments toward Trump on CNN on Friday, saying he "cried out of joy" when he heard about the strikes.
"For the very first time we see Assad held accountable just for once, held accountable for his crimes against humanity," Eid told CNN's Brooke Baldwin.
When asked about Trump's executive order that banned Syrian refugees from entering the U.S., Eid was quick to point out that no one spoke out against Obama's broken promise in 2013.
"I didn't see you in 2013 when 1,400 people were gassed to death. 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," Eid said.
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The refugee has been vocal about living through the Syrian Civil War. He recounted the morning of the chemical attack in 2013, when he woke up feeling like his "chest was set on fire and [his] eyes were burning."
He said doctors presumed he was dead when his heart stopped, but his friends noticed he was still moving. He was given more CPR and doused with water to wash the chemicals off his body until he woke up.
Eid credits the "brave Syrian army" for saving him, but said he holds the painful memory of Obama breaking his "red line" promise after the attack.
"President Obama destroyed the image of the United States in Syria and all over the world," Eid said.
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