بدأت هذه الثورة بشبابٍ في سوريا خرجوا إلى الشوارع لأنهم أرادوا مستقبلًا؛ أرادوا فرصًا وتعليمًا وغير ذلك. خرجوا وفعلوا ذلك. فخرج البلطجية وضربوهم. غضب الآباء لأن البلطجية ضربوا الأبناء، فخرجوا هم أيضًا يتظاهرون، فقوبلوا بالرصاص. قُتلوا. هكذا بدأ الأمر.

“This revolution began with young people in Syria demonstrating because they wanted a future. They wanted opportunity, education, and so forth. They went out and they did it. Thugs came out and beat them up. The parents got angry that the thugs beat the kids up, and they went out and demonstrated, and they were met with bullets. They were killed. That's how this began.”John F. Kerry