No Country For All Men
The Syrian civil war has exacted a devastating toll on the country's population. Based on first hand reporting in Aleppo province, in northern Syria, in addition to Beirut and the Bekaa valley in the Lebanese hinterland, this in-depth feature article reflects on the destruction, divisions, despair, brought about by conflict. I wrote this article at the end of 2013 following an intense year of reporting on the Syrian civil war, and its fall-out in neighbouring Lebanon.
In March 2013, driving through the Aleppo suburb of Kafr Hamrah, the sound of mortar rounds punctuated the still, spring air. A group of men stood around a crater measuring ten square metres – the result of a stray rocket attack. A couple were taking selfies, a strange yet fairly common phenomenon to encounter in theatres of conflict in the Levant. The driver slowed the van to observe the scene. In the back of the vehicle Cookie, a kid no older than eight wearing a Max 10 utility vest and a grin simultaneously angelic and demonic, sat playing with a pistol – another strange yet fairly common phenomenon. Caressing the cold steel in his hands, Cookie clicked back the safety before pointing the weapon playfully at a Hungarian journalist who formed part of the retinue.
“Bang,” said Cookie, smiling that angelic-demonic smile before Kareem Ramadan, a former English student at the University of Aleppo fighting within the ranks of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), took the gun from the boy’s hand. Cookie looked crestfallen but his disappointment was short-lived; within half an hour he’d be holding a Kalashnikov ...
(To continue reading please follow the link: http://www.soitgoesmag.com/diary/archive-no-country-for-all-men-syria-issue-3)
