Dignity

The recent tragedies in the mainly Druze area of Suwayda, in Syria, serves as a harsh reminder of the deep collapse of humanitarian values in regions plagued by armed conflict. While the details of the elderly man’s death remain partially unconfirmed, the mere existence of videos showing him subjected to humiliation and possible torture is itself a grave violation of the fundamental principles of human dignity. Forcing an old man to bark like a dog, shaving his moustache (a symbol of manhood in many Middle Eastern cultures) and the alleged physical assaults reflect the breakdown of ethical boundaries that have traditionally governed even the conduct of war. These are not just acts of individual cruelty; they are symbolic rejections of centuries-old codes of honor, religion, and culture that once placed limits on vengeance and violence.

What happened in Suwayda yesterday has echoes of what happened in Baghdad in July 1958, when the Iraqi royal family, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Said, were brutally murdered. Their bodies were desecrated and dragged through the streets, not for justice, but for spectacle. These acts are not mere political upheaval, they are markers of a deeper social sickness. The symptoms of such an illness are when the law is replaced by mob rule, and revenge becomes more powerful than mercy. This is not simply a Syrian or Iraqi problem; it is a Middle Eastern tragedy that has persisted for generations. Iran, too, has seen its share of such violence, where the people suffer endlessly, often between the hammer of dictatorship and the anvil of militia rule. The rule of law is absent, and with it, humanity fades.

The purpose of these few simple words written here do not seek to make political judgments, but to bear witness. What we see today across parts of the Middle East is a return to the age of pillage and plunder, where armed men decide fates and destroy lives without shame. The suffering of the Syrian, Iraqi, and Iranian peoples is not accidental, but systematic and long-standing. If the reports of the elderly man’s death are confirmed, then perhaps, one might say he has been delivered by God from a world that failed him. He had dignity, not because he was rich or powerful, but because he was a human being. And that dignity deserves to be remembered: he was a hundred times a man his tormenters ever would be.