Marwa, aged 14 years from Damascus countryside, shouted out loudly “Hurry up brothers to your dust holes.. a death military fighter has just taken off, activists announced it moment ago; it is coming to us”.
This is the case of most citizens of Damascus countryside in the wake of the random bombardment and intense airstrikes launched by regime forces and its allies who do not spare even trees and buildings.
Young lady Marwa quickly took her little brothers with motherly tendency and care after their mother passed away, to already made ditches by their father who needed long time to dig them where he was crying as if he would have prepared graves for his children; but there is no other way, for losing one is much easier than losing all the family, particularly after losing his wife in similar conditions.
The young lady looked at the ditches saying: “May Allah protect my father and brothers… they all I have in this life”.
Marwa’s family is not the only family who use these individual potholes and ditches fearing airstrikes which target civilians on daily bases.
Only moments later, the roar of a fighting jet could be heard, it bombed a nearby area leaving big explosion in the area, here the citizens came out thanking Allah for safety.
Marwa held her little brother and walked slowly kissing him and saying” Thanks Allah for your safety my little one, I will clean your innocent face from dust”.
A neighbor looked at her and said: “You will need a bar of soap and a sweet heart to wash out your brothers.. may your deceased mother rest in peace”.
“In daylight it is easy for the children to go to their own ditches, but at night when they are asleep, the mission is difficult for I need to wake them which means it will take longer time. My body sleeps but my mind never sleeps; I am afraid of new misery”, Marwa’s father revealed in grieve their daily suffering.
This is how Syrians are going through every day. So many of them could not leave their towns and villages refusing to abandon their land. They dig potholes and ditches that become their new houses; however, sometimes those holes turn to be mass graves as many innocent souls were claimed.
By Bayan al-Ahmad
translated by Sabah Najem
Syrian Press Center
