Senior Janile Dabbous has never traveled to Syria where her family is from, but is determined to go there sometime in her life. Her close family does not currently live there, but she has some distant cousins and family friends.

“I want to have a chance to see where my parents, grandparents, and [ancestors] grew up,” she said. “If Obama chooses to go through his plan of bombing Syria, more innocent people will die, their families would be destroyed, and Syria would be in ruins.”

Dabbous believes that it is deleterious for the U.S. to get involved with Syria’s affairs, and that it would cause even more issues than there already are. She is especially scared that bombing by the United Staes will kill more innocent people. She is worried for her distant family and friends currently living in Syria, and is scared that they may be harmed, like some of her Syrian neighbors’ families there who have already been killed.

“It has left my friends and family feeling hopeless because we can’t do anything about it,” Dabbous said. “We Syrians are all very close, so when one family is suffering, we all suffer.”

Read the Foothill Dragon Press coverage of the Sept. 10 Syrian American protest at the Government Center.

She said that bombing is never a good option, adding that Syria does not need more violence, while America does not need another war.

“Why would America  want to spend money making a bomb to kill millions of innocent people?” Dabbous asked. “What reason does America have to put themselves in the middle of someone else’s war? Fighting fire with fire will only make a bigger fire, [and] using violence to stop violence will just create destruction.”

Dabbous, who has been protesting with her family and neighbors, said that her local Syrian community has been united to prevent a possible war. According to her, the community is tightly knit and very close, and all are fiercely determined in the protests.

Dabbous hopes that through protesting, her community will bring three things to people’s attention: “America doesn’t need another war,” “Syria needs peace,” and “bombing innocent people is wrong.”