Syria: “Two Years Later, We are All So Terribly Wrong”

In a must-read post on Facebook, Syrian Hiba Diewati reflects on the situation in her country, on the third anniversary of the Syrian revolution.

She recalls the early days of the revolution, including her own imprisonment for four days for protesting against the regime:

I would have loved to share something lighthearted today. Two years ago we stepped out into the Damascene sun and I started heating up in my San Francisco sweatshirt; I then realized how cold it had been those few days underground.

Two years ago, we thought a four-day prison sentence was nothing if but a celebration. And it was worth it because it would all soon be over, the revolution would be victorious, and we could stop this double life and move on to all working together to building and beautifying the Syria we dreamed of; a democracy, equality, peace from constant threats, and freedom.

Two years ago I was surrounded by friends, so many of them they were kicked out of the courthouse and told to wait outside. Amidst the hugs and laughs after our release, one of them jokingly told me, “Lucky, the revolution is almost over and I still haven't gotten detained; not fair!”

Hiba continues:

Two years later, one of the five young people I was captured with for peaceful protesting is gone again. He is a medical student, a field doctor, and has been detained under horrible conditions for almost a year now.

The friends who stood outside the courthouse on Al-Nasr Street, or “Victory” Street, are now scattered all over the world. Some are in America, others in Berlin, Istanbul, Iraq, Beirut and Amman, to name a few. Others are still in Damascus. Others yet are in the “liberated” areas.

In her note, she describes the situation in Syria today as follows:

Two years later, children in southern Damascus are eating crumbs off the street as they starve under siege. Aleppo, or what is left of it, is crumbling under TNT barrel bombs. Beautiful Kessab is getting bombed by Assad, despite all the warning signs. Mortar shells are falling on central Damascus , presumably by rebels who have no idea what they're doing. A dozen or more prisoners die under torture everyday. Zehran Alloush of the cursed “Islamic Front” is calling for ethnic cleansing of the coast. Civil society activists are detained and slaughtered by ISIS. Syrians break records in art and in refugees. Reporters are flying in fighter jets. Fighters are everywhere and food is nowhere.

Hiba adds:

Two years ago we never thought it would all fall apart. Two years ago we wouldn't have dreamed of the epidemic of hate and loss.

Two years ago, a Palestinian friend stood outside Damascus University and relayed his prediction of events. He had a sense of authority about him, the black and white koffiya, the leather jacket, chain smoking, and a head full of Marx, history and politics.

“The Americans will fly in and bomb us here in Damascus a few times. Nothing as bad as what the regime is doing to Homs now, but it will hurt, we are the capital after all. There will be collateral damage, maybe us even, but Assad will leave and we can start cleaning up this mess.”

She concludes:

Two years later, we are all so terribly wrong.

6 comments

  • Interested

    It’s so sad to see that the war in Syria has been hijacked by Islamists. My heart goes out to those Syrians who are suffering while fundamentalists destroy their country.

  • Fadi Ayat

    It was never a “civil” anything. It was foreign backed and sponsored from the start. . I am a syrian christian.. I should know. .

  • Fadi Ayat

    Please don’t don’t presume to tell me about my own country. The author of this article is Biased, and more likely NOT even Syrian. . As usual. .The ignorance level is RIPE around here. .

  • Angel Anas

    It’s a shame that those who are fighting for freedom and justice, are being killed by both the regime and extremists.

    I am Syrian and personally know the author Hiba and remember the story back when I was in Syria.

    And of course someone had to defend the regime here and accuse the rebels and extremists of being sponsored by the US… and had to mention he’s christian to try to gain sympathy and respect with the viewers.

  • dmaak112

    Whatever it was suppose to be at the start, the Syrian conflict has devolved into a bloodbath that has fractured the country and engendered hatred. The hows and whys of this descent into destruction and slaughter, however, has not been defined. If the struggle was for a democracy, why are we in the West supporters of dictators in Egypt or monarchs everywhere else in the Middle East? If we are at war with Islamic terrorism, why do we turn a blind eye to arming the very groups that attacked us on 9/11? Why are the same people and groups that pushed us into invading Iraq in 2003 are the same exact people that are pushing us into war with Syria today? If the goal of the rebellion is to create a free political system where all inhabitants are treated equally, why the sectarian violence, the destruction of non-Muslim communities, the language of al-Qaeda used to incite hostility against all that do not follow their creed? How can we support the likes of Saudi Arabia, who supply the rebels, when they are the biggest contributor to the very forces that are opposed to democracy and religious freedom? The facts about the Syrian cataclysm has not been revealed.

  • Rami Alhames

    Sometimes I think that this would never happened in a 2014 modern world, but yes, Syrian people suffered not from being revolutionists but from silence of the world, half solutions and long term humble attitude. It was the right time and right peaceful way faced with barbarian tyranny, power balance was against the people, but for how long?

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.