The Syrian Rose

Canada welcomes Syrian refugees with open arms 

This week, Canada welcomed the first of the 25,000 Syrian refugees it intends to accept. This is more than twice the amount that President Obama plans to resettle in the U.S within the next year. Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau promises to resettle all 25,000 refugees by the end of February 2016. Previously, the Liberal party had promised to accept 25,000 refugees by the end of 2015, but the timeline was extended after protests that the 2015 end of the year deadline was rushed, and would not allow for accurate security measures to be upheld.

The refugees were greeted with songs, clothes, and by the Prime Minister himself. Trudeau personally met with refugees at Toronto Airport, and presented one young refugee with a coat and teddy bear. 

The headline of the Toronto Star included the words "Welcome to Canada" in Arabic, and a heartwarming front page article that warmly welcomed Syrian refugees, "You're with family now".

One of the most inspiring, and heartfelt welcomes that I saw on the internet was a Canadian choir singing Tala'a al Badru Alaina. This is a song which was sung in a similar situation about 1400 years ago when the Prophet Muhammad and his followers sought refugee in the city of Medina from Makkans who were persecuting them. To have them sing it in Arabic, and to sing it in such a situation... it is an emotional experience, one that I have no doubt Syrian refugees will appreciate. 

Foreign fighters numbers' double in Syria

The number of foreign fighters in Syria has doubled in the past year alone, officials say. The Soufan Group, a intelligence firm founded by former FBI agent Ali Soufan, reported that the number of foreign fighters in Syria had gone up from 12,000 in the previous year to 27,000-31,000.

The report also states that, according to the Russian Federation, the number of Russians joining the Islamic State has gone up from 800 in June of 2014 to 2,400.