Preparing dinner, the latest harrowing images from Syria flicker across the screen, a stark reminder of the ongoing crisis.
“Isn’t he a doctor too?” my daughter’s innocent question cuts through the evening calm.
“Yes,” I reply, the simple word laden with unspoken complexities. The usual enthusiastic medical discussions in our home suddenly feel muted, inadequate.
Her innocent inquiry persists, “I don’t understand. Aren’t doctors supposed to help people?”
Words feel insufficient. The news footage continues to play, and she reaches a chillingly simple, yet profound conclusion, “I guess not all doctors save lives.”
Syria nerve agent attack: why it made sense to Assad | Emma Graham-Harrison
Her poignant observation encapsulates the deep-seated dismay many feel regarding the Syrian crisis. The statistics are numbing: over 400,000 lives lost, countless internally displaced, millions seeking refuge in neighboring countries, and a nation convulsed by conflict. Adding another layer of tragedy to this already unspeakable situation is the fact that the leader at the helm of this devastation, President Bashar al-Assad, is himself a doctor. Not a doctor in name only, but a qualified ophthalmologist who engaged with patients and practiced medicine. By all accounts, he was considered personable and professional in his medical role.
Assad’s journey in medicine began at the prestigious Damascus University. He pursued postgraduate studies and furthered his expertise in ophthalmology in London, a competitive specialty demanding dedication and skill. His former boss in London remembers him as unassuming, while nurses reportedly found him exemplary in comforting patients facing pre-operative anxiety.
Among his medical peers, Assad appeared unaffected by his privileged background. While some classmates remained cautious due to his father’s dictatorial power, others simply saw him as a capable individual comfortable with the responsibilities of a physician. Some even speculated he lacked the ambition for leadership. It seemed entirely plausible that Assad would settle into a quiet practice in London, dedicating himself to the everyday, yet vital, work of alleviating suffering through medicine. No one foresaw the path that would lead him to become associated with mass murder.
Upon assuming the presidency, Assad returned to London with his wife, an accomplished cardiologist’s daughter, who would presumably understand the ethical commitments inherent in the medical profession. During this visit to his former eye hospital, he reportedly expressed nostalgia for his medical training, gazing wistfully at a slit-lamp.
His recall to Syria coincided with the burgeoning rebellion, a complex conflict with Sunni-Shia sectarian dimensions amidst wider Middle Eastern tensions. Initially, there was hope that Assad, the cosmopolitan, London-educated ophthalmologist who spoke of a “Syrian democratic experience,” might become an advocate for his people, a catalyst for positive change. However, the brief “Damascus Spring” faded, and Assad, the once-perceived compassionate doctor, transformed into Assad, the feared perpetrator of violence.
Alt text: Bashar al-Assad, the Assad doctor, is seen in a London eye hospital, reflecting on his past medical training, a stark contrast to his current role as president amidst the Syrian conflict.
The atrocities committed by Nazi doctors, most infamously Josef Mengele, spurred the creation of the Nuremberg Code, defining ethical boundaries for human experimentation. Radovan Karadžić, a psychiatrist and poet, was convicted of genocide in the former Yugoslavia. British doctor Harold Shipman murdered over 200 patients with lethal injections. History offers chilling examples of medical professionals who have deviated from their oaths, but Assad’s actions against his own people are of an unprecedented scale. He has progressed from indiscriminate bombing of civilians to the calculated destruction of hospitals, targeting everything and everyone in their path. Nearly 800 medical professionals have been killed, and many others have been detained and subjected to torture. Four hundred medical facilities lie in ruins, leaving countless individuals without essential care.
Entire cities are deprived of medical assistance, transforming treatable injuries into fatalities. Despite the United Nations’ pleas that “even war has rules,” experts assert that no previous conflict has witnessed such a systematic and deliberate assault on medical infrastructure and healthcare workers.
It is almost incomprehensible, yet disturbingly logical, that a doctor, acutely aware of the fragility of life and the means to sustain it, would strategically target hospitals to break the will of a population. Only someone with medical knowledge could fully grasp the psychological impact of denying basic medical supplies – gauze for wounds, antibiotics for infections, surgery for injuries – as tools of subjugation.
Various theories attempt to explain this descent from healer to perpetrator. One suggests Assad’s actions are driven by a need to prove himself to his deceased father, who reportedly favored his elder brother. The younger Assad was allegedly mocked for his interest in “human blood” (medicine) rather than the “blood of politics,” suggesting a potential motive of revenge against perceived slights.
Another, more disturbing possibility is that his medical training was merely a facade, masking a latent capacity for cruelty. Medical education, by necessity, cultivates a degree of detachment to pain and suffering; an overly emotional doctor would be ineffective. Becoming a competent physician requires navigating a delicate balance between professional distance and empathy. Perhaps Assad severed the empathetic connection altogether, amplifying the detachment to monstrous extremes.
Bashar al-Assad: after Idlib is the president’s luck running out?
Doctors worldwide view Assad’s actions with profound horror and disbelief. They understand the weight of medical responsibility, knowing colleagues who are deeply affected by far smaller errors in diagnosis or treatment. The idea that a former peer could orchestrate such systematic and relentless violence against his own people, including fellow medical professionals and their patients, is incomprehensible.
Alt text: A Syrian doctor, a symbol of hope amidst the crisis, provides medical care to a child, highlighting the dire need for healthcare and contrasting with the actions of the Assad doctor.
History will eventually offer its definitive diagnosis of Assad. In the meantime, encountering Syrian patients evokes a complex response. Beyond addressing their immediate medical needs, there is a recognition of deeper, invisible wounds – a collective trauma and a palpable sense of vulnerability and shame.
Assad’s crimes against humanity can seem abstract until they become personal, reflected in the faces of individuals – a son, a mother, a neighbor seeking medical help. While helplessness and silence might seem like easy responses, they feel morally inadequate. Expressing solidarity with fellow human beings enduring unimaginable suffering, even in distant lands, is a crucial step. Supporting dedicated professionals and organizations committed to remaining in Syria despite immense risks is another. While most may not possess the skills or capacity to work directly in such dangerous and resource-scarce environments, effective support can be channeled through donations to reputable charities like the Red Cross, The White Helmets, and Médecins Sans Frontières, ensuring aid reaches those who desperately need it.
Our contributions may appear insignificant against the scale of the tragedy, but they communicate a vital message to the Syrian people: even as their own doctor-turned-president has seemingly abandoned them, the world has not.
- This article was amended on 19 April 2017 to delete a reference to Conrad Murray.
