Haneen, aged 17 years, stood near the buses of evacuation that would transport displaced people from their neighborhood Qaboun to a new reality. With tears in her eyes, she watched a pile of stone here and another pile of rubbles and remains of a house with yard next to them that was earlier a playground for children of the neighborhood. She told her brother “It will not be long till we get back…back to our land that has been watered with blood of martyrs”.
The first batch of civilians and fighters of opposition factions left the neighborhood of Qaboun east the capital Damascus and headed the northern Syrian, where it included 1500 civilians and fighters of armed opposition.
This evacuation comes within a deal between opposition and regime, where it is carried out in hustle, since it means regime’s control of Qaboun neighborhood after finishing its articles. There is nothing new about this deal in comparison with other former ones in (Barzeh and Tishreen neighborhoods); those neighborhoods were the lifeblood of the areas held by opposition through tunnels from both sides through which foodstuff and other basic materials were transported; the thing tightens the siege as being held by regime forces.
Mazen completely aware of her feelings watched his sister who was saying goodbye to her place, heartbreak does not mean defeat since displacement is about choosing human over stone. He got on the bus saying, “We will get back no matter how long it takes “.
It is a dire compromise which regime has forced on the citizens of Damascus regarding its last offer for them; “life goes on” means abandoning land, according to what regime considers. Regime with this deal and the earlier ones, has pursued forcing displacement operations and staying alive on one hand, or destruction and killing on the other hand. Besides this means ass well investment of those victories on the Syrian ground regarding politics specially that the importance of controlling in the capital Damascus is counted with meters.
Pleas and SOS of the citizens in those neighborhoods were pointless, like the ones of thousands citizens in eastern Ghotah, where the international community stands still about them in utter silence.
Abo Nidal who is one of the neighborhood citizens said before leaving: “Regime believes it has won and defeated us, regime deprived us from taking the precious to us.. not realizing that we have the love of land; the land which has been mixed with the blood of our martyrs”.
As displaced reach the northern Syria (Idlib) that is seized by rebels, the question arises, “What kind of destiny does it await the displaced citizens after the alleged “national reconciliation” according to regime which considers it one of the positive outcomes of de-escalation areas deal signed in Kazakh’s Astana?”
By Bayan Alahmad
Translated by Sabah Najem
#Syrian_press_center
