Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the myth of sectarianism in Syria

In his latest interview, with RT’s Murad Gazdiev, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed the question of whether Sunnis are oppressed in Syria, as corporate and Gulf media so often allege. President Assad replied:

“…the first narrative when it started, internationally–mainly in the West of course–and within Syria, in some mainstream media’s in our region and in the West, their plan was to create this rift within the society that will make things easier for them when you have such a civil war, kind of civil war, between sects or ethnicities. And it failed.
 
Now, they keep using the same narrative at least to encourage some fanatics in different places in the world to come and defend their brothers in this area, cause that’s how they imagine that there is conflict between sects. So, because of their narrow-minded way of thinking, maybe or their ignorance, they came here just to support their brothers.
 
Now, if I’m going to tell you this is right or wrong, your audience doesn’t know me, they don’t have any idea maybe about my credibility. I’ll tell you, you know Syria very well, it’s better to go and see the reality on the ground.
 
If there’s such a narrative, let’s say, in reality sects killing another sect, Syria should be divided now according to sectarian line.
 
…Now, in Damascus, in Aleppo, in Homs, in every area under the Syrian government control you will see every spectrum of the Syrian society with no exceptions. This reality will debunk this narrative. I mean yeah how could they live with each other while the government is killing them, according the sectarian basis? It doesn’t work.”
 
 
President Assad’s words prompted me to reflect on the secular Syria I have seen on eight trips to the country, since first visiting in April 2014. Below, I share related articles, posts, photos and short clips, just a glimpse of secular Syria, where faiths are respected and where most Syrians, if asked about their faith, reply “ana Souri”, I am Syrian.

 
 
Elsewhere in Latakia, a city secured by the Syrian army but attacked from a distance with missiles, children and teens play in a fountain in a large, clean park, and men and women sit smoking shisha or hookah and chatting. Fadia, an unveiled Sunni Muslim, sitting with a group of veiled and unveiled women, says that internally Latakia does not have serious problems. “Life is good here, we’re living happily, the army have protected us here. We love our president, our army, our country, but the outside forces want to destroy the country. There is no problem between Christians, Muslims, Armenians, Alawites here. We are all one family, no one can split us apart.” Photo from April 2014, article here: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2014/05/13/in-syria-life-goes-on-despite-everything/
Near Bab Sharqi, Old Damascus.
Wedding in Old Damascus. See: https://www.mintpressnews.com/damascus-life-returns-5-years-after-nato-destabilization-efforts/218601/
Near Bab Sharqi, Old Damascus.
Behind the Umayyad Mosque in Old Damascus, one of tens of volunteers daily helps prepare the Iftar (fast-breaking) meals that the Saaed Association was serving to impoverished Damascus residents, even delivering to those unable to pick up meals themselves. Starting with 3,000 recipients, by the end of Ramadan, the volunteers were providing 10,000 meals daily in Damascus alone, with another combined 7,000 meals prepared in Hama and Homs. https://www.mintpressnews.com/damascus-life-returns-5-years-after-nato-destabilization-efforts/218601/
Fadi Assi (a Christian) joins other Saaed volunteers to cook for Damascus’ poor during Ramadan.
The phenomenon of children begging in the streets was not common in Syria prior to 2011. While some children work to help surpport their families who have been rendered destitute due to various effects of the war on Syria, according to Damascus locals, the majority of these children work in a sort of forced labour for ring-leaders coming from the eastern Ghouta region. Many associations work to provide basic services to these children. One such volunteer organization provides education and meals, teaching children not only the basics of reading and writing, but also works to instill moral values and give opportunities, however briefly in their work-day, for children to be children.https://www.mintpressnews.com/damascus-life-returns-5-years-after-nato-destabilization-efforts/218601/ See also: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/volunteerism-in-syriaa-journalists-journey-to-the-heart-of-syria/
The Abu Zolouf bar is one among many bars and lounges opened in the East Gate quarter of the Old City in recent months. Two years ago, I sat with the adjacent restaurant owner, Nabil, outside his then-vacant restaurant discussing the frequent mortars that Jebhat al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army were firing on Damascus, from Jobar, less than 1 km to the northeast. As mortars fell in nearby districts of the Old City, Nabil narrated close-calls he had had with such mortars hitting outside his restaurant (https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2014/04/27/mortars-on-damascus-one-quiet-courtyard-night/). He also lamented the loss of customers in recent years. Since their May 30, 2016, opening, the Abu Zolouf bar has nightly from 70 to 150 patrons looking to relax outdoors. From: https://www.mintpressnews.com/damascus-life-returns-5-years-after-nato-destabilization-efforts/218601/
Charcoal spinner, old Damascus.
The croissant stand in Aamarie district of Thomas Gate is known not only to Damascenes but visitors from other areas of Syria. While prices for most goods have risen all across Syria, the stand keeps its prices low: 125 Syrian pounds per sumptuous croissant. On the first day of ‘Eid celebrations the stand is packed. https://www.mintpressnews.com/damascus-life-returns-5-years-after-nato-destabilization-efforts/218601/
Style, old Damascus.
Two Syrian friends in an old cafe, old Damascus. They tell me, he is Alawi, she is Sunni, they are close friends. I hear this everywhere I go in Syria.
Volunteers from the Saaed Association relax after the second day of ‘Eid activities for children. Instead of clothes or money, “we gave children hope and joy,” one volunteer said. In contrast to the sectarianism imposed on Syria by Gulf States and Turkey, Syrians maintain their unity and secularism, emphasized by such volunteers whose allegiance is to humanitarism and helping the less fortunate. See: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/volunteerism-in-syriaa-journalists-journey-to-the-heart-of-syria/
The roughly 65,000 people of Nubl and Zahra’a villages, under siege from terrorist factions of the so-called FSA, al-Nusra, and affiliated factions for three and a half years, were on February 3, 2016, liberated from the choke-hold which strangled them. Zeinab Sharbo, 25, and Mounthaher Khatib, 26, each have young children who suffered for want of food and basic elements of life, and who were traumatized by the terrorists’ bombing of the villages. Although corporate media, when deigning to mention the villages, usually focused on their predominately Shia composition, Sunnis also live in the villages. According to Zeinab, “Sectarianism wasn’t a problem before, we were brothers and sisters, we intermarried with neighbouring villages.” https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/aleppo-and-nearby-villages-ravaged-by-the-wests-moderate-terrorists-photo-essay/
Volunteers from the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East brought for 6,000 families in Nubl families and 4,000 in Zahra’a, villages north of Aleppo besieged by terrorist factions for 3.5 years https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/volunteerism-in-syriaa-journalists-journey-to-the-heart-of-syria/
Reverend Ibrahim Nseir is head of Aleppo’s Presbyterian church. Read about his volunteerism: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/volunteerism-in-syriaa-journalists-journey-to-the-heart-of-syria/ Also, see his brief message from Aleppo, 2016: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/videos/vb.100000000104830/1275618492448142/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
Grand Mufti of Syria, Dr. Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun. See my: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2015/03/19/the-real-syrian-moderates-voices-of-reason/
At the time I visited, in November 2016, Aleppo University residences had been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside for around 4 or more years. One of the residences was hit by a terrorist missile the week prior, killing four from one family. While at the Aleppo University residences, a woman stopped me to say hello. She spoke very articulately, about the situation in Aleppo (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD2QCZjBSX4). From: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/overview-of-latest-month-long-visit-to-syria-aleppo-and-damascus/
Invited by Mufti Hassoun to iftaar meal in Rowda mosque, Aleppo, July 2016. A female in such a setting would be unthinkable in Saudi Arabia, which supports terrorism in Syria.
At the time I visited, in November 2016, Aleppo University residences had been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside for around 4 or more years. One of the residences was hit by a terrorist missile the week prior, killing four from one family. While at the Aleppo University residences, a woman stopped me to say hello. She spoke very articulately, about the situation in Aleppo (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD2QCZjBSX4). From: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/overview-of-latest-month-long-visit-to-syria-aleppo-and-damascus/
We are here and will stay here. Our leader and our army is our hope.” The sign speaks the sentiment of Syrians I have met in Aleppo, Homs, Latakia, Sweida, Ma’loula, and Damascus. The popularity of President al-Assad has even been admitted by western sources in recent years as at least 70%, although popular sentiment on the streets would put the figure even higher. https://www.mintpressnews.com/damascus-life-returns-5-years-after-nato-destabilization-efforts/218601/
Ramadan prayers in the Rowda mosque, where Grand Mufti Hassoun used to give sermons. According to his assistant, before the war on Syria about 500 women regularly came to pray at the mosque. “Six or so months ago, a mortar hit the mosque. It bounced off the dome and fell outside in the courtyard. There were about 400 children here learning the Quran. If it had gone through the roof, it would have killed a lot of children,” he said. The worshippers at this mosque are predominately Sunni, in a city secured by the Syrian government. This is notable in that it contradicts the Western media’s blatant propaganda about a sectarian war, a “Sunni uprising against the government”. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/aleppo-and-nearby-villages-ravaged-by-the-wests-moderate-terrorists-photo-essay/
Rev. Ibrahim Nseir, pastor of the Arab Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Aleppo, with three top Sunni scholars and leaders, Dr. Rami Obeid, Rabih Kukeh, Sheikh Ahmed Ghazeli, who reject Wahhabism. Dr. Kukeh said of the terrorist factions: “Those who are killing the Sunnis are the same who claim that they are defending the Sunnis.” Nov. 2, 2016. https://www.mintpressnews.com/aleppo-how-us-saudi-backed-rebels-target-every-syrian/222594/
Aleppo University residences, which by November 2016 had been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside for around 4 or more years. One of the residences was hit by a terrorist missile the week prior, killing four from one family. From: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/overview-of-latest-month-long-visit-to-syria-aleppo-and-damascus/
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
Aleppo, Nov 2016. See: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/overview-of-latest-month-long-visit-to-syria-aleppo-and-damascus/
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
Aleppo May 2018. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqtTjbrm4Ec&
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
Family from Sukkari, Aleppo’s east, housed in Aleppo University residences, which by November 2016 had been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside for around 4 or more years. One of the residences was hit by a terrorist missile the week prior, killing four from one family. From: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/overview-of-latest-month-long-visit-to-syria-aleppo-and-damascus/
Latakia tattoo artist studio, summer 2016, getting my Syria tattoo.
In Nov 2016, I went to an exhibition of goods hand-made by women in Aleppo. One of the main organizers and trainers in teaching skills emphasized her desire that people stay in Aleppo, in Syria, and that women work, not stay at home, when possible. Many of the women, while showing beautiful products and smiles, shared the pain they bear inside from the years of war on Syria and their own immense personal losses. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cc1agDxkws
Aleppo, Nov 2016. Watch: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/videos/vb.100000000104830/1620289141314407/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
Aleppo, Nov 2016. Watch: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/videos/vb.100000000104830/1620289141314407/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
Croissant shop owner is displaced from Aleppo, from one of the first areas to be infested by terrorists. He lost he three apparently very-well known and loved croissant/bakery shops, all the equipment, his home and all furnishings when he and family fled the terrorists to Latakia. His personal loss also of course affected the 10 employees he had in Aleppo. Here, he worked for about 4 months in Jableh before opening his first croissant shop in Latakia, which has since blossomed into two apparently very popular croissant shops. More here: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/updates-from-on-the-ground-in-syria-june-to-august-11/ or here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1244053205604671
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
Not far from Latakia. Can’t imagine such a scene in sectarian Saudi Arabia…
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
*The secularism and support for President al-Assad which the Western-Gulf-Zionist-Turkish attack on Syria has tried–and failed–to destroy. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/aleppo-and-nearby-villages-ravaged-by-the-wests-moderate-terrorists-photo-essay/
Latakia shop.
Secular Syria, Latakia: getting my Syria tattoo, summer 2016.
Family from Sukkari, Aleppo’s east, housed in Aleppo University residences, which by November 2016 had been housing well over 10,000 internally displaced Syrians from areas of Aleppo and its countryside for around 4 or more years. One of the residences was hit by a terrorist missile the week prior, killing four from one family. From: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/overview-of-latest-month-long-visit-to-syria-aleppo-and-damascus/
Aleppo May 2018. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqtTjbrm4Ec&
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
Secular Syria, Latakia: getting my Syria tattoo, summer 2016.
*The secularism and support for President al-Assad which the Western-Gulf-Zionist-Turkish attack on Syria has tried–and failed–to destroy. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/09/22/aleppo-and-nearby-villages-ravaged-by-the-wests-moderate-terrorists-photo-essay/
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
Aleppo May 2018. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqtTjbrm4Ec&
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In hills outside of Tartous.
Shop owner fled an of Aleppo when terrorists invaded, losing his garment factory (where 76 people worked), all of the equipment inside (including 40 machines), and his shop in the Old City of Aleppo, which like the factory was looted by western-backed “freedom-loving” “moderate-rebel” terrorists. He re-opened in Latakia, starting slowly, first getting a small space in one of the markets here and selling others’ clothes, then acquiring a small workshop to manufacture his own again. His story is filled with sadness and loss, including a 20 day old son…of kidnappings by the thugs the west calls “rebels”, and also of the steadfastness exhibited by Syrians over and over during this dirty war on the sovereign nation. I often ask simple questions to allow Syrians to speak their opinions. My question about the role of the SAA was met with this reply: “If you have a chicken, and a snake is attacking it, aren’t you going to attack the snake to save the chicken?” More here: https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/updates-from-on-the-ground-in-syria-june-to-august-11/
Secular Syria, Latakia: getting my Syria tattoo, summer 2016.
Aleppo May 2018. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqtTjbrm4Ec&
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria. I was also treated with an unplanned visit to the sea, where I saw normal beach scenes, and more: Syrians of varying ages and faiths, living, loving, resisting the war of terror on their country. While there, my host made sure to note: “Do not think these people haven’t suffered.There isn’t a house here that hasn’t lost a family member or relative,” she said of Syria’s fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security. Videos here: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1611030225573632
In old Damascus, with youths who spent their night singing in a park. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajc8QXbXZoE
Hama city, which has 4 frontlines with terrorists (countryside Latakia-Idlib, Aleppo-Ithriya, Salimiya, southern Hama province, houses internally displaced Syrians from Idlib, Raqqa, Deir ez Zor, Homs…Hama has 12,500 martyrs, of whom 10,000 are Syrian soldiers. Photo May 2018
One evening, I heard the music of Lebanese singer Julia Boutros coming from the Old City’s Zeitoun church (Greek Catholic Patriarchate) region, so walked through the courtyard and around the corner to a courtyard where a group of teens were practising their brass and drum band music. I asked them if they would play the song I’d heard them playing from afar (“Righteousness Is My Weapon”). Also asked them which group they were. Scouts, affiliated with the church. I asked them why they chose this song. The band leader said, for our country. Teens on a Saturday night in Damascus, playing Resistance music. https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/videos/vb.100000000104830/1266020453407946/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria.
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria.
In August 2016, I went to the village of Ta’aouna, I met with residents of neighbouring Aqrab, which in December 2012 was attacked by the so-called “Free Syrian Army” who massacred between 120-150 Aqrab residents. Standing on the roof of the home to which three Aqrab survivors had come to give their testimonies, the village of Aqrab, roughly 500 metres away, was distinctly visible—as are any people in Ta’aouna who go rooftop (for laundry, water or other reasons) to terrorist snipers in the hills near Aqrab. The home owner pointed out holes from such snipers’ bullets prior. Two hundred metres down a lane, some fifteen houses remain inhabited by local Ta’aouna families (including children), in homes 300 metres from where terrorists and their snipers lie. When terrorists massacred villagers in Aqrab in December 2012, they were then known as “Free Syrian Army” terrorists. Now, occupied villages in the region comprise terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, and Da’esh (ISIS). As most Syrians I’ve met say, they are the same, with different names and financial backers, but commit the same heinous beheadings, assassinations, kidnappings and other western-sanctioned crimes in Syria. Rooftop the home closest to the dirt embankment beyond (this particular house uninhabited, although only 5 metres from the next inhabited one), Abu Abdo, a local defense volunteer explains how he and others in the village take night shifts to watch for attempted terrorist infiltrations. The Syrian Arab Army has hilltop posts around Ta’aouna, but nonetheless the village defenders (including many who are family men and formerly served in the SAA) watch to see if/where terrorists are shooting from/at. “We organized ourselves, since 2011. We communicate with the army and give them targets, and they do the same with us,” he says of the watch for terrorist attacks. We sit behind a wall of tires, some concrete blocks to one side serving as a defensive wall from behind which to watch for and shoot at terrorists. A second local defender appears, greets me with a friendly handshake, explains that in late 2013 terrorists managed to advance to the low hills to our right. But not since. I ask Abu Abdo what he did prior to the war on Syria. A school principal, and he still is, he does the defense volunteering after hours. I ask about his family. He has 5 kids, including the pretty 9th grade girl with long curly hair who had served us coffee and cold water in the home where Aqrab residents gave their testimonies. “I’m a principal. I used to teach in Raqqa years ago. We all got along, were peaceful. I’d walk for many kilometres in areas I wasn’t familiar with but I never had problems. I also taught in Aqrab for two years.” They point to the land between Ta’aouna and the low hills flanking the village, and the start of Aqrab beyond. “That small cement building on the land, right near there, about one month ago, a university student was shot in his head and killed, by a terrorist sniper. He was an engineering student.” Earlier they’d told me about this, and about another university student who roughly 2 weeks ago was torn apart by shelling from terrorists in Aqrab. “He had just finished his exams,” they had said. Descending from the roof, we walk past a nearby house, the children on the porch stoop. The second defense soldier tells me, with a proud smile, they are his kids. He takes me to the side of the house to show three creatively covered holes, “Dushkie” shots from the terrorists about 10 days ago. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/updates-from-on-the-ground-in-syria-june-to-august-11/
Swedia driver.
In August 2016, I went to the village of Ta’aouna, I met with residents of neighbouring Aqrab, which in December 2012 was attacked by the so-called “Free Syrian Army” who massacred between 120-150 Aqrab residents. Standing on the roof of the home to which three Aqrab survivors had come to give their testimonies, the village of Aqrab, roughly 500 metres away, was distinctly visible—as are any people in Ta’aouna who go rooftop (for laundry, water or other reasons) to terrorist snipers in the hills near Aqrab. The home owner pointed out holes from such snipers’ bullets prior. Two hundred metres down a lane, some fifteen houses remain inhabited by local Ta’aouna families (including children), in homes 300 metres from where terrorists and their snipers lie.  When terrorists massacred villagers in Aqrab in December 2012, they were then known as “Free Syrian Army” terrorists.  Now, occupied villages in the region comprise terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, and Da’esh (ISIS). As most Syrians I’ve met say, they are the same, with different names and financial backers, but commit the same heinous beheadings, assassinations, kidnappings and other western-sanctioned crimes in Syria. Rooftop the home closest to the dirt embankment beyond (this particular house uninhabited, although only 5 metres from the next inhabited one), Abu Abdo, a local defense volunteer explains how he and others in the village take night shifts to watch for attempted terrorist infiltrations. The Syrian Arab Army has hilltop posts around Ta’aouna, but nonetheless the village defenders (including many who are family men and formerly served in the SAA) watch to see if/where terrorists are shooting from/at. “We organized ourselves, since 2011. We communicate with the army and give them targets, and they do the same with us,” he says of the watch for terrorist attacks. We sit behind a wall of tires, some concrete blocks to one side serving as a defensive wall from behind which to watch for and shoot at terrorists. A second local defender appears, greets me with a friendly handshake, explains that in late 2013 terrorists managed to advance to the low hills to our right. But not since. I ask Abu Abdo what he did prior to the war on Syria. A school principal, and he still is, he does the defense volunteering after hours. I ask about his family. He has 5 kids, including the pretty 9th grade girl with long curly hair who had served us coffee and cold water in the home where Aqrab residents gave their testimonies. “I’m a principal. I used to teach in Raqqa years ago. We all got along, were peaceful. I’d walk for many kilometres in areas I wasn’t familiar with but I never had problems. I also taught in Aqrab for two years.” They point to the land between Ta’aouna and the low hills flanking the village, and the start of Aqrab beyond. “That small cement building on the land, right near there, about one month ago, a university student was shot in his head and killed, by a terrorist sniper. He was an engineering student.” Earlier they’d told me about this, and about another university student who roughly 2 weeks ago was torn apart by shelling from terrorists in Aqrab. “He had just finished his exams,” they had said. Descending from the roof, we walk past a nearby house, the children on the porch stoop. The second defense soldier tells me, with a proud smile, they are his kids. He takes me to the side of the house to show three creatively covered holes, “Dushkie” shots from the terrorists about 10 days ago. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/updates-from-on-the-ground-in-syria-june-to-august-11/
In 2016, I visited Tartous, to see the transportation terminal which was attacked by Western-backed terrorists on May 23rd, the same morning a transport hub (and street and hospital) in Jableh (which I also visited) was attacked. Tartous houses 1 million internally-displaced from all over Syria, including people from Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Aleppo, Homs, and elsewhere, according to the Governor of Aleppo (as of mid-2016), who said the city is known as “mini-Syria” in recent years due to its hosting of Syrians from all over. “The 1 million IDPs share Tartous’ resources, schools, and hospitals with 1 million inhabitants.” They are not housed in tents and camps, but in schools/other buildings-turned refugee centres, as well as houses. I visited one of these centres while in Tartous, also visiting centres in Latakia, Aleppo, Damascus over the past few years. While in Tartous I saw an endless sea of posters of martyred soldiers, billboards listing their names, to give respect to their defense of Syria.
Eastern Qalamoun, en route to visit Jayroud, the mukthar of Muadamiyat al-Qalamoun welcomed me and insisted on a photo. May 2018 . According to a Wikipedia entry, Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims.
In liberated Kafr Batna, where life is returning to normal.
Latakia tattoo artist studio, summer 2016, getting my Syria tattoo.
In Al-Naseriyah, Qalamoun, where residents lived under terrorist mortars, sniping and car bombing. Now, peace, after the Syrian army and allies resecured all of eastern Qalamoun in late April 2018.
In Hadar village, Quneitra, SW Syria, surrounded on three sides by terrorists, attacked since 2012 (see this report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxneZ_yzVjM). In Nov 2017, terrorists again heavily attacked Hadar, but villagers and Syrian soldiers pushed them back. According to Hadar residents, at least 130 have been killed from the village, including this couple’s son. Their grandson, Minhal, is named after him.
In liberated Douma civilians told horror stories of life under Jaysh al-Islam rule, including executions by sword, starvation, imprisonment. Now, there is peace.
Homs, June 2014. Locals celebrating the results of the presidential election. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XDbHZdF9HU
Youths bringing the old city of Homs to life. June 2014
An event of prayers for peace and local youth musicians on Oct 31, 2016, at the Melkite (Greek) Catholic Patriarchate, also known as the Zeitoun Church.
Masyaf, summer 2016.
Masyaf, summer 2016.
An event of prayers for peace and local youth musicians on Oct 31, 2016, at the Melkite (Greek) Catholic Patriarchate, also known as the Zeitoun Church.
An event of prayers for peace and local youth musicians on Oct 31, 2016, at the Melkite (Greek) Catholic Patriarchate, also known as the Zeitoun Church.
In Dara’a, May 2018.
Father Georgis Rizk, who refused to be bought or bullied by terrorists who tried to get him to stand against Syria. May 2018. Some of my posts from Dara’a: https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1925005744176077 https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1925893510753967 https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/posts/1925960184080633
One evening, I heard the music of Lebanese singer Julia Boutros coming from the Old City’s Zeitoun church (Greek Catholic Patriarchate) region, so walked through the courtyard and around the corner to a courtyard where a group of teens were practising their brass and drum band music. I asked them if they would play the song I’d heard them playing from afar (“Righteousness Is My Weapon”). Also asked them which group they were. Scouts, affiliated with the church. I asked them why they chose this song. The band leader said, for our country. Teens on a Saturday night in Damascus, playing Resistance music. https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/videos/vb.100000000104830/1266020453407946/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab
Swedia driver.
In Madaya region, after having visited the town and taken civilians’ testimonies, lunch at the mayor’s (mukthar). Read: https://www.mintpressnews.com/order-returns-to-western-syria-civilians-recount-horrors-rebel-rule/232380/
In August 2016, I went to the village of Ta’aouna, I met with residents of neighbouring Aqrab, which in December 2012 was attacked by the so-called “Free Syrian Army” who massacred between 120-150 Aqrab residents. Standing on the roof of the home to which three Aqrab survivors had come to give their testimonies, the village of Aqrab, roughly 500 metres away, was distinctly visible—as are any people in Ta’aouna who go rooftop (for laundry, water or other reasons) to terrorist snipers in the hills near Aqrab. The home owner pointed out holes from such snipers’ bullets prior. Two hundred metres down a lane, some fifteen houses remain inhabited by local Ta’aouna families (including children), in homes 300 metres from where terrorists and their snipers lie. When terrorists massacred villagers in Aqrab in December 2012, they were then known as “Free Syrian Army” terrorists. Now, occupied villages in the region comprise terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, and Da’esh (ISIS). As most Syrians I’ve met say, they are the same, with different names and financial backers, but commit the same heinous beheadings, assassinations, kidnappings and other western-sanctioned crimes in Syria. Rooftop the home closest to the dirt embankment beyond (this particular house uninhabited, although only 5 metres from the next inhabited one), Abu Abdo, a local defense volunteer explains how he and others in the village take night shifts to watch for attempted terrorist infiltrations. The Syrian Arab Army has hilltop posts around Ta’aouna, but nonetheless the village defenders (including many who are family men and formerly served in the SAA) watch to see if/where terrorists are shooting from/at. “We organized ourselves, since 2011. We communicate with the army and give them targets, and they do the same with us,” he says of the watch for terrorist attacks. We sit behind a wall of tires, some concrete blocks to one side serving as a defensive wall from behind which to watch for and shoot at terrorists. A second local defender appears, greets me with a friendly handshake, explains that in late 2013 terrorists managed to advance to the low hills to our right. But not since. I ask Abu Abdo what he did prior to the war on Syria. A school principal, and he still is, he does the defense volunteering after hours. I ask about his family. He has 5 kids, including the pretty 9th grade girl with long curly hair who had served us coffee and cold water in the home where Aqrab residents gave their testimonies. “I’m a principal. I used to teach in Raqqa years ago. We all got along, were peaceful. I’d walk for many kilometres in areas I wasn’t familiar with but I never had problems. I also taught in Aqrab for two years.” They point to the land between Ta’aouna and the low hills flanking the village, and the start of Aqrab beyond. “That small cement building on the land, right near there, about one month ago, a university student was shot in his head and killed, by a terrorist sniper. He was an engineering student.” Earlier they’d told me about this, and about another university student who roughly 2 weeks ago was torn apart by shelling from terrorists in Aqrab. “He had just finished his exams,” they had said. Descending from the roof, we walk past a nearby house, the children on the porch stoop. The second defense soldier tells me, with a proud smile, they are his kids. He takes me to the side of the house to show three creatively covered holes, “Dushkie” shots from the terrorists about 10 days ago. https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/updates-from-on-the-ground-in-syria-june-to-august-11/
 

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During my visit in June, I met with Syria’s Minister of Reconciliation, Dr. Ali Haidar. Established in June 2012, the Ministry has successfully dialogued with tens of thousands of armed Syrians to enable and facilitate return to their civilian lives.
 

In a June 2014 interview, Minister Haidar told me that over 10,000 Syrians had reconciled and returned to their civilian lives. According to his office, as of June 2017, that number was over 85,000.

…I asked how life was in Madaya before 2011. “Madaya was a tourist’s paradise,” the mayor replied, smiling, eyes closed, remembering. “People who came from outside of Syria would come to Madaya,” to enjoy the environment of natural beauty.

Further on among the hillside dwellings, we stood near an apartment that had been occupied, one floor turned into a prison to hold locals until their fates (including execution) were decided in terrorists’ Sharia trials.

Nestled behind the apartment, out of view, was a factory where terrorists manufactured mortars and rockets. [video]

Above that factory, one of the food storage caches was found after militants had left Madaya. The mayor said, “Last time the army found a storage with more than 400 cartons of food.” Syrian authorities filled five trucks with medicine hoarded by the armed groups, he said.

Walking gingerly over rubble, not yet cleared by engineers of any unexploded ordinance, we reached the bomb workshop, a single ground-level room. Equipment and materials for manufacturing explosives still lay scattered.

Down the lane, another villa had also been used as a headquarters and prison until it was hit by Syrian army shelling, forcing the “rebels” to relocate. Another mass food storage was found in a neighboring building, the mayor said.

Entering the relocated prison through a hole blown into the wall [video], I walked past a room containing a cooking stove and refrigerator, both booby-trapped by terrorists to kill whoever tried to move them. I had learned of this tactic in 2014 in the old city of Homs.

“They left booby-trapped explosives in the houses, all over, even behind paintings on the wall,” I was told. Similarly, in Maaloula in June 2016, I was told: “They rigged houses so that when someone opened the door, an electrical trigger with a small charge would detonate and explode a gas canister.”

Two rooms, metal doors welded onto the entrances, had been used as cells. In the middle of another room, a metal bed frame with a piece of cloth tethered at one end. “They interrogated and tortured people here,” a former FSA militant said. An unwilling participant, he said he was forced by other militants to join, and that he was among the first to take the government-offered amnesty when peace was restored to Madaya in May 2017.

**

Further on in the district, three men worked clearing rubble from around a home badly damaged on the ground level. They waved and greeted us as our taxi stopped, but went silent and refused to speak when noticing my camera. A level up, a woman’s face peered out a small hole in the wall, then her hand reached out and gestured to come upstairs.

She was one of the many who left al-Waer, departing in 2013 and renting elsewhere in Homs. She said her life prior to 2011 was wonderful, and was strongly optimistic for the future:

“People are coming back home. Although many houses are destroyed, they are inhabited. If they are destroyed, we’ll rebuild them. What matters is that we’ve got rid of those bastards,” she said of the militants dubbed “moderate rebels” by western media and politicians.

The men below, it turned out, had been militants, but took amnesty and reconciled with the state, and are returning to their lives.

This was hard for me to process: living in the same building is a family evidently patriotic—the woman’s brother is in the Syrian army and she herself praised both the army and government—and the very former militants the family fled from, men who took up guns against both the government and in many cases civilians.

I asked if she knew her neighbors well. “Of course,” she answered. “But some people were brainwashed by others about ‘bad people, oppressing people.’ So, there were guys who joined those bastards,” she said of the militants.

As we spoke, one of the men came into the room. We shifted the conversation to casual talk about her family. After he left the room, she explained quietly that he was keeping an eye on her, what she might be saying to me. I was again struck by the strangeness of the situation, and when he had left, asked her if she wasn’t afraid to be living above the men.

“The state is here, we aren’t afraid. They’ve provided everything for us, are helping us, mash’allah,” she replied.

I stopped on the stairs leading from her apartment, listening to the call to prayer coming from the nearby mosque, watching as life trickled along the streets of the badly damaged district.

-from my September 2017 article on Madaya and al-Waer, Syria War Diary: Order Returns To Western Cities, Civilians Recount Horrors Of “Rebel” Rule

 
 

When in the eastern district Bab al-Hadid in June 2017, I interviewed a man in his small hardware shop who spoke of what the West deemed “rebels”:

“They are criminals! They call themselves ‘rebels’, but actually they are all terrorists, with no exceptions. They’re all the same but with different names. ISIS is like Nusra, Nusra are like the FSA, the FSA are like ISIS.”

When armed groups arrived in his area, the man stayed for one month, then left, taking his family to the government-secured area of Hamdaniya, which he described as “one of the most dangerous areas. We were targeted the most with missiles, mortars and Hell Cannons.”

Following the liberation of Aleppo, like so many others, he came home. “Wherever the army is, there is safety,” he told me. “Life is back, we’re safe again. We used to fear for the safety of our children when they were going to school or going to relatives.”

Down the street from the small shop, in the courtyard outside of a mosque, a group of Aleppo youths were preparing Ramadan meals for the district’s poorest, part of the Saaed Association’s “Break the Hunger” campaign which began in Damascus years ago.

One volunteer explained to me that they chose to cook and serve the food in the Bab al-Hadid district of Aleppo, “an area that was filled with fear and destruction,” to say that there is still life and hope there.

-from my August 2017 article, Syria War Diary: What Life Is Like Under ‘Moderate Rebel’ Rule

 

Aleppo’s religious leaders defy divisiveness

Inside his church, a new structure built about a year ago to replace the historic church destroyed by terrorists in years prior, Rev. Nseir introduced three Sunni leaders from the city: Dr. Rami Obeid, Dr. Rabih Kukeh, Sheikh Ahmed Ghazeli.

“These Sunni leaders are considered ‘infidels’ by al-Nusra and company,” Nseir said, explaining that they don’t follow the distorted Wahhabi ideology guiding the Western-backed terrorist factions like the Nusra Front and others which had been deemed “moderate rebels” and “opposition forces.”

Before turning the floor over to these religious leaders, Rev. Nseir noted:

“When the church was destroyed, the first person to call me was Mufti Hassoun, who told me, ‘Don’t worry, reverend, we’ll rebuild the church.’”

Dr. Kukeh spoke generally on the multi-denominational culture of Syria:

“The mosaic we are living in Syria is incomparable to any way of living all over the world. Christians and Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites. There is no discrimination based on religion or sect. The propaganda spread throughout the media have no roots here.”

In regards to the terrorists who portray themselves as freedom-fighting jihadists, Dr. Kukeh said:

“Those who are killing the Sunnis are the same who claim that they are defending the Sunnis. The shells that hit us daily are sent by them.”

He named six Sunni sheikhs in Syria, most in Aleppo, who were assassinated by terrorists for not joining them. One of them, Sheikh Abdel Latif al-Shami, was tortured to death in July 2012.

Dr. Kukeh, who said he named his oldest son after the former Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, “because I love that man,” explained that in 2012 he was living in eastern Aleppo when terrorists began to occupy districts there. He was targeted for assassination because he did not agree with the terrorists’ ideologies.

He said he was convicted of charges related to his writing for a local publication, his son’s name, and a lack of anti-government demonstrations emanating from his mosque. Those demonstrations never occurred, he said, because he never encouraged them like other Wahhabi sheikhs did elsewhere.

The conversation drifted from the source of terrorism in Syria, Wahhabism, and its distorted, un-Islamic nature, to the unity I’ve heard Syrians all over speak of.

-from my November 29, 2016 article, Aleppo: How US & Saudi-Backed Rebels Target ‘Every Syrian’

 
 
The roughly 65,000 people of Nubl and Zahra’a villages, under siege from terrorist factions of the so-called FSA, al-Nusra, and affiliated factions for three and a half years, were on February 3, 2016, liberated from the choke-hold which strangled them. Zeinab Sharbo, 25, and Mounthaher Khatib, 26, each have young children who suffered for want of food and basic elements of life, and who were traumatized by the terrorists’ bombing of the villages. Although corporate media, when deigning to mention the villages, usually focused on their predominately Shia composition, Sunnis also live in the villages. According to Zeinab, “Sectarianism wasn’t a problem before, we were brothers and sisters, we intermarried with neighbouring villages.”
 
 
 

In Damascus I met with various leaders of internal opposition, who notably all rallied behind President al-Assad and against the external Riyadh and Turkish-backed “opposition” put forth by the West. The Kurdish representative, Berwine Brahim, stated, “We want you to convey that conspiracy, terrorism and interference from Western countries has united supporters of the government and the opposition, to support President Bashar al-Assad. We opposition members see that President al-Assad is the guarantee of Syria.”

On two occasions I have met Syria’s highest Muslim religious authority Grand Mufti, Dr. Ahmad Badreddin, whose own son Saria, 22, was assassinated in October 2011. The following day, Mufti Hassoun publicly called for the pardon of the assassins, who in turn sent a message they would kill him next. Hassoun continues to use his platform to call for Syrians to lay down their weapons and “come back” to their country. He rejects the sectarianism sent to Syria by Saudi Arabia and calls for the rehabilitation of European mosques influenced by Wahhabism.

…Staying in the Old City of Damascus, I got a taste of the daily mortar terrorism, then primarily from “moderate” “rebels” in their stronghold of Jobar, just east of the city. I visited a hospital where children from the mortared Manar school were being treated for mild to severe injuries. On another visit, in Damascus, I visited the University Hospital, where children, women and men were being treated for injuries from mortars and missiles fired by terrorists in Douma. Many had amputations, many were in intensive care, including those with severe brain injuries.

…Most Syrians request that I tell exactly what I have seen and to transmit the message that it is for Syrians to decide their future, that they support their president and army and that the only way to stop the bloodshed is for Western and Gulf nations to stop sending terrorists to Syria, for Turkey to stop warring on Syria, for the West to stop their nonsense talk about “freedom” and “democracy” and leave Syrians to decide their own future.

-from my March 2016 article, Syria Dispatch: Most Syrians Support Assad, Reject Phony Foreign ‘Revolution’

 
 

Reverend Ibrahim Nseir is head of Aleppo’s Presbyterian church (destroyed by terrorist factions in 2012), and his charitable work is an example of the types of efforts which arose as a direct result of the different needs of communities during the war on Syria.

“Our church helps 200 families per month, around 40% of whom are Muslims. We have a building in al-Kora Ardiya neighbourhood (western side of Aleppo) which we gave to an organization called Ahl al-Khayr. It is not a Christian organization, but we cooperate with each other to decrease the pain of people. All of the community there are Muslims.”

Over the years, terrorists have repeatedly cut the city’s water lines, meaning a dearth of water to many Aleppo neighbourhoods—although both the Syrian government and independent associations have dug wells and sought to provide alternative sources of washing and drinking water for the residents.

Reverend Nseir’s church also helps provide water sources. “Last year, when Aleppo was greatly suffering due to lack of water, we dug two drinking water wells there for them. The churches have played a very important role in cooperating with Muslim organizations to decrease the suffering of the population in Aleppo.”
 
 
 –Glimpses from Syria, Dec 2015 photos and notes
 

The Sectarian Card: Slogans and Massacres

What sectarianism we see in Syria today was delivered primarily by the Wahabi and Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regimes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar and by Turkey, with NATO’s blessing and backing. The cross-sect make-up of both the Syrian State and the Syrian army alone speaks of Syria’s intentional secularism, as well as the prevalent refusal of average Syrians to self-identify along sectarian lines.

On the other hand, from the beginning, the West’s “nonviolent protesters” were chanting sectarian slogans, notably, “Christians to Beirut, Alawis to the grave.” Other popular chants included: calling for the extermination of all Alawis; pledging allegiance to Saudi-based extremist Syrian Sheikh Adnan Arour and to extremist MB supporting Egyptian Sheikh, Yusuf al-Qardawi.

Qatar-based Qaradawi advocates killing Syrian civilians: “It is OK to kill one third of the Syrian population if it leads to the toppling of the heretical regime.” The inflammatory Arour said about Syria’s Alawis: “By Allah we shall mince them in meat grinders and feed their flesh to the dogs.”

The NATO alliance’s terrorists have committed numerous massacres of Syrian civilians and soldiers, many of which were intended to sow sectarianism, including:

The June 2011 Jisr al Shugour, Idlib, massacre of up to 120 people (soldiers and civilians) by between 500-600 so-called FSA terrorists; blamed on the SAA as having killed “military deserters”. [see Prem Shankar Jha’s  article “Syria – Who fired the first shot?”]
The Houla massacre of over 100 civilians on May 25, 2012, which only 2 days later the UN claimed—without an investigation— had been committed by the Syrian Army. [See Tim Anderson’s detailed rebuttal, “The Houla Massacre Revisited: “Official Truth” in the Dirty War on Syria” In the same article, Anderson also looked at the August 2012 Daraya massacre of 245 people and the December 2012 Aqrab massacre of up to 150 villagers.
The August 2013 massacre of at least 220 civilians (including a fetus, many children, women, elderly) and kidnapping of at least 100 (mostly women and children) in villages in the Latakia countryside.
The December 2013 massacre of at least 80 residents (many “slaughtered like sheep”, decapitated, burned in bakery ovens) in Adra industrial village.
The continued terrorist-mortaring of civilian areas and schools; the repeated terrorist-car-bombing of civilian areas and schools. [see: “The Terrorism We Support in Syria: A First-hand Account of the Use of Mortars against Civilians”]
Yet, in spite of outside forces attempts to sow sectarianism in Syria, the vast majority of Syrian people refuse it. Re-visiting Syria in July 2015, Professor Tim Anderson recounted that Latakia alone “has grown from 1.3 million to around 3 million people – they come from all parts, not just Aleppo, also Hama, Deir eZorr, and other areas.” He also visited Sweida, a mainly Druze region, which has accommodated “135,000 families, mainly from Daraa – others from other parts”. Mainly Sunni families.

-from my October 2015, Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria

 

-Souria Samideen–words of a Syrian from Quneitra, post in Lebanon, Apr 9, 2015

Shaaban embodies the secular coexistence that is Syria. “I’m a Muslim, but I feel am partly Christian. I visit (Christian towns of) Saydnaya and Ma’loula. I celebrate Christmas, because it is something that I feel. There is an Arabic proverb which says: ‘Differences don’t mean that you don’t love one another.’ We each have our own different ways of life.”

She tells the story of a Jewish family from abroad who in 1999 visited Syria, went to their ancestral homes and were shocked to find graves of their ancestors untouched. This is Syria.

Mufti Hassoun calls his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Bishop Luca al-Khoury, his cousin and brother. “Our grandfathers, 1,400 years ago, were one family. My grandfather embraced Islam and his remained Christian.” He maintains that he, as Grand Mufti, serves the Syrian people, period. “In Syria, there are 23 million Christians, and 23 million Muslims. My title is Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab Republic, not the Mufti of a particular denomination.”

-from my: The real Syrian moderates: voices of reason, March 2015 article

“If America wants to continue financing terrorists, under whatever guise—including training of so-called ‘moderate groups’—this means they are against the three UN resolutions on terrorism. We really don’t know what the US administration wants. They have allowed or sent tens of thousands from at least 83 countries to fight against us. Can you imagine 40-50,000 coming from Europe without their Intelligence knowing? But when our allies, like Hezbollah, come to our support, they are deemed ‘terrorists’?!

The US, the UK, and France don’t say anything about the corruption in Saudi Arabia, Qatar…This is the real democracy that the Western countries want to establish? They don’t want a single man in the region to say ‘I am unhappy with the policies of ‘Israel’.’

When we are facing such a challenge that will end the sovereignty of Syria, and that of the Palestinians, then we, and they, have to Resist. We are the real force that is making achievements against Da’esh both on the ground and from the air. Once the training, harbouring, arming of the terrorists stops, Syria would again be a stable country.”

–Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Fayssal Mikdad

Grand Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Badr al-Din Hassoun, is an approachable man, usually wearing a broad smile or mirthful half-smile. He calls himself the Mufti of all Syrians, not solely of Syria’s Muslims. Having met Sara Flounders previously, Sheikh Hassoun embraces her with a friendly squeeze of both shoulders and big smile. Recognizing me from a visit last year, he welcomes me the same way, beaming widely.

We take our seat and listen as he welcomes us with the standard Arab hospitality of well-wishes and gratitude for our concern and our visit at this time of crisis. Then, he breaks from formality, the mirthful smile present, to tease Ramsey:

“Anyone who reaches his seventies in such good health has a girlfriend in addition to his wife.” Mufti Hassoun laughs louder than all of us, clearly enjoying our collective shock.

He resumes seriousness, speaking of his country, ‘a beautiful garden’.

“Today we are paying a tax due to our having the richest culture in the region. We never expected that terrorists from outside Syria—from our Arab brothers and those west of them, particularly from USA, Turkey and England—would come here to make unrest. The Syrian people did not support the terrorists. They are working to destroy not only Syria but humanity. ”

-From my: Excerpts from US delegation visit to Syria, Feb 2015

“Oh, my Syria!”:a Syrian Kurd from Aleppo countryside:”It isn’t a ‘revolution’”, post in Lebanon, Nov 14, 2014

-Grounding: Syrians from Hassaka Speak of the Peaceful Life They Knew, post in Lebanon, Nov 9, 2014

–As Foreign Insurgents Continue to Terrorize Syria, the Reconciliation Trend Grows, interview with Minister of Reconciliation, Dr. Ali Haidar, published August 2014

–Liberated Homs Residents Challenge Notion of “Revolution”, July 2014 article

–“freedom”: Homs resident speaks of the early days of the “crisis”, June 2014 post with audio

-Flagging down a taxi I assumed was a servis, the driver nodded “no” to my question “Cola?” (a main traffic hub). But the family inside said to hop in.The older woman with some tattooing on her face asked where I was from. Her pleasant looking son replied, “we are from Syria” (no surprise nowadays). From Hasaka, near the border with Iraq.

“Ana Kurdi, (I’m Kurdish)” she said. She said they fled 6 months ago, “Daash mawjud (ISIS is there).”

I asked if they had voted. Emphatic “yes”es all around. For who? “Bashar!”

-from my June 3, 2014 post, “I have worse things to tell you, but I can’t bring myself to talk about them”

As I sit outside the old city walls one afternoon, roughly one hundred metres from East Gate, bullets whiz closely past, coming from the direction of Jobar, a terrorist stronghold. [see: Not only mortars, but gunfire too, on Damascus]

Al-Midan, a district of Damascus known for its traditional Syrian sweets, still has local customers but faces the same loss of foreign customers as most in the tourism industry. “I used to bring delegations here specifically for the sweets,” says Anas, a journalist with Syrian television. “But as you see there are no tourists here now.”

Nagham, a university student, says even many local Syrians won’t go to Midan now. “People are afraid to come here now, because its so close to Yarmouk. Midan is safe, but people think that the ‘terrorists’ in Yarmouk will fire mortars here.”

A school in Zahara neighbourhood of Damascus has been converted into a shelter for displaced Syrians and Palestinians from Yarmouk. The children shine with bright smiles, the adults have tales of sorrow from their experiences and from being displaced by the snipers and other attacks by the armed gangs. They all say the same thing: “The rebels, those terrorists, came into Yarmouk, we had to leave.”

Their accommodations are sparse (there are so many displaced from various areas of Syria that accommodations become overcrowded), but the UN-provided accommodation is far worse, with rooms overcrowded with up to 25 or more people who sleep mattress to mattress for over one year. “We’re like sardines here,” says one displaced woman. “They keep piling more people upon us.”

…Elsewhere in Latakia, a city secured by the Syrian army but attacked from a distance with missiles, children and teens play in a fountain in a large, clean park, and men and women sit smoking shisha or hookah and chatting.

Fadia, an unveiled Sunni Muslim, sitting with a group of veiled and unveiled women, says that internally Latakia does not have serious problems. “Life is good here, we’re living happily, the army have protected us here. We love our president, our army, our country, but the outside forces want to destroy the country. There is no problem between Christians, Muslims, Armenians, Alawites here. We are all one family, no one can split us apart.”

This is a point Lilly Martin, who is from California but has lived in Syria for the past 22 years, drives home. [see conversation with Lilly Martin]

“At the beginning, we had a surge of violence, protestors attacking Syrian police and security, but right away the Latakian people turned against it. The population here didn’t accept it. We have Christians, Muslims, and minorities here. There is very little support for the ‘rebels’ here, so it’s been a peaceful city,” she says.

-from my May 2014 article, In Syria, Life Goes On Despite Everything

 

-“We love him. I’m Sunni, not Alawi,” Walid, from Raqqa, noted. “They’re afraid our voices will be heard,” he said–from my May 2014 article, Syrians Flock to Vote in Lebanon
 
-“I’m Sunni Muslim, but in Syria it’s not important what religion you are.”–from my May 2014 post, Meeting Syrians in Lebanon
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
–Easter celebration (video, my old Youtube channel)

8 thoughts on “Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the myth of sectarianism in Syria”

  3. Wonderful article and photos! Shared to FB and shared the article about no sectarianism in Syria my FB group, “As the Patriot Turns”-because there are those in it who think Islam teaches its children to be terrorists.

    Also shared to Twitter… and to my Google+ group “The Blessings of Liberty”, for the same reason.

  5. Ordinarily, I would say Nationalism is a stupid concept. After all, none of us had any input into where we were born, it wasn’t our own decision, the hand of fate so to speak. However, there are two notable exceptions. The Palestinians and the Syrians. Even though victory is still a long way from either of them, they can be truly proud of their tenacious, against all odds fight for survival. I can’t think of any people who have withstood such sustained and brutal attacks.
    I hear a lot of people say, ‘those Muslims, they aren’t happy unless they are at war’. I’m rendered speechless most of the time. I mean, where do you start? Great photos.

    At this moment in history, being able to say ‘ana souri’, is something a person can be really proud about.

  7. Thank you, Eva, for these wonderfuil pictures from Syria. It is indeed a wonderful country! Have you been in Maloula too? The interview of Dr Bashar al-Assad (31st of may) demonstrates the wisdom of his political leadership.

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