Whenever he watched TV and saw the international news come on, freshman Mahmoud Saeed’s first instinct was to turn it off. Memories of cruel conflicts and people dying are still vivid in his mind, as if he is living all over again those moments from when he was forced to leave his country, Syria. It happened just two years ago when he was 13 years old. Watching reports about the current situation in Syria brought everything back to him.

“I don’t watch the news anymore,” Saeed said through Perry Township translator Hiba Al Awadh. “I can’t handle it.”

In the US just recently, teenagers in particular have begun to hear about these conflicts more in depth, mainly because of President Donald Trump’s recent decision to launch a missile attack against Syria. Many Americans expressed anger and concern about the attack, but when Saeed and the other Syrian students at SHS were asked their perspectives, they said they were not angry.

“I am thankful for what he did,” Saeed said.

He believes that Trump’s actions might help with the situation Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad put the country in by using chemical weapons. He also adds that he does not believe Assad will react to Trump’s attack, at least not anytime soon.

The missile launch has not affected Saeed directly, but he does fear it will affect his family across the globe, and his fellow civilians.

Similar to Alshabaan, Saeed has members of family spreaded all over the world, counting one brother in Turkey and two sisters in Saudi Arabia.

“I pray constantly for them,” Saeed said through junior Ibrahim Maawia’s translation. “Every night.”