U.S. carries out air strikes in Syria as Women's March Cleveland activists, led by Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who led anti-air strikes rallies covered by Cleveland 19 News television, continue to denounce airstrikes in Syria that put Syrian refugees and women and children in harm's way....By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's black digital news leaders

Cleveland activist and organizer Kathy Wray Coleman prepares to lead a rally against the war in Syria and in support of Women Syrian refugees and their families on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, an event Coleman organized for Women's March Cleveland, for which she leads. Go to Cleveland19News   for the full story and video on rallies on the issue led by Coleman in Cleveland (Photos by and at the courtesy of Sarah Parotti and Suzy Scullin) 

A member of the greater Cleveland- based grassroots group Refuse Facsim.Org carries a sign in support of Syrian refugees and against the war in Syria (Photos by and at the courtesy of Sarah Parotti and Suzy Scullin)

The Rev Pamela Pinkney Butts of Cleveland prays for the Syrian refugees and for peace in Syria (Photos by and at the courtesy of Sarah Parotti and Suzy Scullin)

Valerie Robinson of Cleveland Heights, who leads Stop Targeting Ohio's Poor, was among the several speakers (Photos by and at the courtesy of Sarah Parotti and Suzy Scullin)

The event concluded with a candlelight vigil on behalf of the Syrian refugees (Photos by and at the courtesy of Sarah Parotti and Suzy Scullin)

Cleveland activist Juanita Brent of the group District 11 Indivisible, Brent now a state Representative from Cleveland, carries a sign during the rally in downtown Cleveland  relative to Syrian refugees.  (Photos by and at the courtesy of Sarah Parotti and Suzy Scullin)

Longtime revolutionary activist Cheryl Lessin of Refusefascism.org spoke at length against the war in Syria and air strikes there by the United States government

Genevieve Mitchell of the Carl Stokes Brigade was also among the several speakers

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- The United States, per U.S President Joe Biden, who took office in January, launched air strikes in eastern Syria on Thursday on the facilities of Iranian-backed militia groups in retaliation for three separate rocket attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq as Women's March Cleveland activists, with support from area community activist groups, continue to denounce war in both eastern and northern Syria and its impact on Syrian refugees and women and children. 

Currently there are about 2,500 American troops in Syria, 

Women's March Cleveland, led by Cleveland activist and organizer Kathy Wray Coleman, has spearheaded previous rallies in Cleveland in support of women Syrian refugees and their families that were covered by Cleveland 19 News television.

Thursday's air strike under the leadership of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first Black to lead the Department of Defense, is the first direct action taken in Syria by the Biden administration since Biden took office.

Before former president Donald Trump left office this year after losing the November presidential election to Biden, he called on other countries  to stand up and fight Isis in Syria along with the U.S., though he claimed  the U.S. has won its battle there.

U.S. officials have accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of being a war criminal. 

The Syrian war began in 2011 and during the first year alone an estimated 400,000 Syrians were killed. It is an ongoing multi-sided civil war fought between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic led by Bashar al-Assad, along with domestic and foreign allies, and various domestic and foreign forces opposing both the Syrian government and each other in varying combinations.

"We don't think we should go bomb a country and then allow children to be held hostage before a government that is disenfranchising them,"  Coleman told Cleveland 19 Action News at a rally she led on Public Square in downtown Cleveland on the Syrian war and U.S air strikes during the time of the Trump administration.

In addition to Coleman, the other speakers at that rally included  activists Shayne Terry, Lucinda Garmus, Cheryl Lessin, the Rev. Pamela Pinkney-Butts, Arnold Shurn, Juanita Brent, who is now a state Rep from Cleveland, Melissa Svigelj-Smith, Genevieve Mitchell, Kari Oatman Nicholson, and Valerie Robinson.

Cleveland activists, led by Women's March Cleveland, had been calling for President Trump and the federal government to allow more than 75,000 Syrian refugees into the country. 

"What's going on over in Syria is just completely intolerable and we have to accept more of them here because there's no end in sight for what's going on over there," said Lucinda Garmus at one of the rallies in Cleveland

Clevelandurbannews.com and-Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.