Aboaid

MEMORANDUM **

Ghazi Aboaid, a native and citizen of Syria, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his applications for asylum and withholding of removal, and request for relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review for substantial evidence the denial of asylum and withholding of removal, Lata v. INS, 204 F.3d 1241, 1245 (9th Cir.2000), and will uphold the BIA’s and IJ’s decisions unless the evidence compels a contrary conclusion. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84 , 112 S.Ct. 812 , 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). We deny the petition for review.

We conclude that substantial evidence supports the BIA’s and IJ’s decisions because, even assuming Aboaid’s testimony was credible, he failed to show the Syrian government either persecuted him or was “unwilling or unable to control” his persecutors, and was thus unable to establish eligibility for asylum. See Castro-Perez v. Gonzales, 409 F.3d 1069, 1072 (9th Cir.2005). Furthermore, Aboaid’s parents and siblings, who are also practicing Christians, have remained in Syria…