https://www.facebook.com/TheSyriaCampaign/

7 & 8 dic 2016

 

Daily Story: “Please do something to stop this hell"

 

Mohammed Hardan, a video editor with the Aleppo Media Center, writes about life in besieged Aleppo.

 

“I moved to the regime controlled part of Aleppo in June 2014 when I started studying Aviation Engineering at University. I used this student life as a cover for six months whilst I reported on regime crimes. It was a risky decision, I could have been arrested or exposed. Thankfully I have a strong heart. Aleppo is our city and I believed it’s our duty to protect it by documenting these crimes.

I left Aleppo for a while on a scholarship to Turkey but I returned when the first siege started in 2015. I couldn’t stay in Turkey any longer; my mind was in my city and my country.

In life before the siege, I used to wake up, drink coffee, eat biscuits, and drive to work. I didn’t experience the psychological stress I do today. We used to find everything we wanted in the markets. Due to the current siege, there is nothing left in the markets. Nowadays, we only eat thyme and drink tea, if it's available.

The only way to get from one place to another is by walking because there is no fuel left. Photographers are no longer able to cover everything that is happening around us. The bombing never stops and there is no transportation left in the city.

It’s really hard to work on rushes of footage of body parts and blood. In the beginning, it’s impossible to finish but you know you have to continue so you can show the world what’s happening. After a while, these images become normal.

I am not afraid of the bombing, hunger, or injury. But when my little brother asks me for food or sweets or when my mother tells me she is afraid or you feel afraid for your family being injured then I feel scared and as though life has no meaning. When you are away from home and you hear that there is a bombing or shooting close to your house, you can't just leave your job and go home. You worry and your heart won’t calm itself down until you know your family is ok.

Even though we got used to the bombing, we are innately afraid of hearing the sound of a plane. We always run to the closest thing to protect us from the bombing. Recently, we can see the pilots inside the planes because they fly so low. You feel like the pilot is coming to snatch lives and leave. The sound of a plane approaching and the sound of machine guns firing are the sounds that take away life."

 

“When we were on our way home from school, the air force targeted our school with a rocket. It landed very near to our school. The force  of the blast propelled me a few meters and I was left with some shrapnel in my body. Nothing serious. My friend and teacher were killed and I couldn’t do anything to help them.

The medics had to take me to the hospital. I was conscious of what was happening around me. I saw them lying on the ground but I couldn’t  move. There was blood covering the street that we used to take from our homes to school. I saw death in front of me.

A week passed by. I didn’t know what was happening around me. I didn't speak to anyone. The shock of losing my friend and teacher was too much to bear.

After this painful incident, I ran out of feelings about anything. I lost my sense of pain.

My neighbour was killed a couple days after. I saw his body parts. My eyes have become used to seeing death.

When you enter any medical point in east Aleppo, you see bodies and blood all around you. You can’t feel anything anymore. The screaming and crying is the only thing that awakens the humanity in you again.

People in Aleppo are really tired, especially after the recent regime offensive on eastern Aleppo. People’s spirits are down.

The world went completely silent even though everyone knows exactly what's happening in Syria, especially in Aleppo

After more than 100 days days of the siege and non-stop bombing no one has done anything. All of the meetings denouncing the atrocities happened in vain.

I wish the world could be inside Aleppo for just one day, living with us under bombing and siege, to feel our suffering. No one can handle it.

Please try to push your governments to do something, anything. Please put pressure on the international community. The world’s silence is a stain on the Security Council and humanitarian organizations. This feeling of helplessness is a shame for those fighting for human rights.

Please do something to stop this hell.”

 

Given the circumstances, it is very hard to come by data from Aleppo.  We will do our best to get you accurate information every day.

Katarina and Artino