Hassan Akkad, whose journey from Damascus to London was documented and broadcast by the BBC in 2016, has called for a "surgical strike" against Bashar Al-Assad's regime.
A secondary school teacher, Mr Akkad took part in the first anti-government protests in 2011 - during the Arab Spring - and was imprisoned twice, where he was tortured, resulting in both wrists and one leg being broken.
He now lives in Brixton but hopes to one day return to Syria.
"Attacking Assad is different to bombing Syria. This is going to be a strike on the regime - not the victims. This needs to be a specific, surgical strike to deter him from using chemical weapons again in the future. If we do not intervene we could be witnessing a genocide. We didn't intervene in 2013 and the problems have just continued."
Asked his thoughts on MPs such as Jeremy Corbyn and Sir Vince Cable's calls for a Commons vote on intervention, he denied a strike would constitute a "rush to war".
"Of course it's not a rush to war - the war's been going on since 2011. By definition, the UK has not rushed in to help. I am tired of people - on the Right and the Left - saying they know what is best for Syria. We started this revolution in 2011."
Comparing the deaths of Syrian civilians to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury earlier this year, he said: "I know a lot of Syrians who are now just beginning to feel like their lives are worthless. We saw two Russians poisoned in Salisbury and it sent shockwaves around the entire world - but thousands of Syrians have suffered for nearly a decade and nothing. Our suffering has become old news. This really is the last straw." '
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