Positive 'happy' Syrian social media campaign #SummerInSyria gathers shocking, heartbreaking images of dead children instead

A Summer in Syria online campaign, using the hashtag #SummerInSyria was meant to gather positive images of experiences in the country, despite four years of gruesome civil war. However, instead of gathering positive feedback from social media users, the #SummerInSyria campaign, trending worldwide, was flooded with disturbing images of ruined buildings, devastated towns and dead children.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The Syrian Arab News Agency chose Twitter for their social campaign last Monday and tried to persuade their 15,000 followers to share "wish you were here" pictures of their time in Syria during the summer. The #SummerInSyria did receive a few "positive" and seemingly fun experiences from Syria despite the civil war, but unfortunately, with the growing number of people dead, from bombs and chemical weapons released by the country's President Bashar al-Assad's troops, the campaign was deemed a failure from the start.

Anti-Assad activists shared unimaginable images of children wounded, some dying, as a result of the bombing and chemical warfare being disseminated in several areas of the country. A total of 250,000 people have died over the last four years and it is not a surprise these activists hijacked the untimely campaign. Some of the photos shared featured dead bodies in a town square naked, with the caption "sunbathing."
 

The Syrian Civil War started in 2011 when peaceful anti-government protests where "brutally crushed" by President Assad's troops. President Assad belongs to the long line of the Assad's family who has been ruling Syria for more than four decades.

According to UN Statistics, more than 22 million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes since the start of the civil war.The long standing civil war has created speculations that the Assad government may sooner or later face an economic crisis or breakdown if the death toll continues to rise.

According to a report from Daily Mail, the British Chatnam House released figures revealing the 78 percent lost in the value of the Syrian pound since the 2011 conflict. The year on year rate of inflation rose to 120 percent in the months of July and August in 2013. The price of commodities also continues to increase, ranging an average of 51 percent from 2012 to March 2015.
 
Several political analysts predict the worsening economic status of the country may lead to the collapse of the military regime or military activities might bring the country to its economic collapse.

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