Teary-eyed Syrians share stories of their loved ones

Muhammad Al-Sulami
Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — Syrians living in the Kingdom are praying for a peaceful end to the massacre in Syria. Some of them are calling for an international intervention to end the killing of innocent men, women and children.

Expatriate Syrians are finding it difficult to live a life of normalcy when their family and loved ones are suffering back in their homeland. Tragedy has touched many Syrians here who have lost their loved ones or heard that they have been imprisoned.

Abu Thamer, in his late 30s, said that his wife and three of his children back home had almost faced death with the continuous shooting and bombardment of the city of Homs. His family was one of the few fortunate ones that managed to escape from Syria to a neighboring country.

He said, “I was dying everyday because my family back home were facing death every day and I could not do anything about it. Only the Free Syrian Army was defending the people against the Assad regime.” He added that the majority of his family back home managed to get to safety except for his uncle who stubbornly refused to leave Homs.

Abu Adnan, another Syrian expat living in Jeddah for 10 years, said his sister and all her children died when one of the bombs fell on her house and buried the family beneath the rubble.

“Many Syrians living in the Kingdom are sharing similar pains. The majority have people back home who were either killed or injured or escaped from the area. The living conditions in Syria are extremely bad. There is no food or medicine. If people step outside their homes, they are targeted by Assad’s snipers. Right now the only source of food and medicine is through the Syrian Liberation Army.”

Saudi Gazette contacted a Syrian living in Homs. In a Skype conversation, he talked about the daily anguish and suffering of the residents throughout the city. He described the city as a disaster area, where not a single house could be found that did not suffer from destruction or was peppered by bullet holes.

The man added that his father was executed in front of his eyes because he openly opposed Assad. “I have lived for many years in the dark. We cannot dream about the word freedom or hope. We never learned how to spell them.”  He said that he was inspired by the Arab Spring and further encouraged when a tyrant like Qaddafi was brought down by Libyans who were aspiring for freedom. He was hoping for something similar in Syria when Assad is finally brought down and people’s hopes and dreams about freedom are realized.

Meanwhile, he said, “Bullets are flying everywhere and everyday many innocent people are killed. There are many people missing or kidnapped by the Assad regime. We believe that the more they are killing people, the more desperate they have become and that signals that the regime is coming to an end. They think that by causing massive destruction they will kill the hope of people for freedom. Such false thinking is based on slavery and fear and no matter how long the darkness lasts, there will be light at the end.”

He concluded by adding that the Free Syrian Army is defending people and are not terrorists as claimed by the Assad regime. Most of the people in the free army are people who escaped from Assad regime because they are against the killing of innocent men and women. “My dream is to ensure that my family will not live in the same fear I have lived. I want them to live in peace and harmony and to see a better future.”