Reports | 25 05 2020
Many people chose to stay in their hometown of Zabadani, despite the difficult circumstances and being forced to eat grass and thistles, as essential meals in Ramadan!
After it was teeming with life, the town of Zabadani in Damascus countryside became almost deserted, was left with only 170 people, as a result of became severe siege exposed by the Syrian Regime Forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah, since more than ten months.
Abu Majd, one of the city activists, decided to stay in his hometown, despite all the suffering, preferring to wait for death in his city than leaving it, as he said, and with the beginning of the fierce campaign on the city since July last year, the hunger knocked his door like all the others, so he was forced to live with the new situation.
The man says bitterly: "I remember well how we were surviving on animals’ food, and how we were looking for grass to eat under the snow and rain, and when the United Nations entered the aid trucks three months ago, our food was limited on the lentils and bulgur, and on radishes and berries we planted."
Even the leaves of trees ran out
For the first time in human history, the city was completely empty of women and children, according to “Abu Majd” and other sources, after the displacement of many families to the city of Madaya and its neighboring towns.
" We stayed weeks without eating anything, we ate the leaves of trees until it runs out, we share one rice Cup, if any, with each other," says Ahmed, a young man, who preferred to stay in the city, adding: "At one point we were forced to slaughter a horse owned by the Syrian regime and ate its meat, and people were racing whenever they saw a spot of grass, frankly, the life is very difficult in this square kilometer."
People of Zabadani try to regain their strength amid this massive destruction, after the truce agreement between the Syrian regime and Hezbollah on the one hand, and the armed opposition groups on the other hand, which also included the pro-regime towns of “Kefraya” and “Fouaa” in Idlib (northern Syria).
Under the agreement, more than 120 gunmen and civilians were evacuated from Zabadani to move to Turkey, and more than 335 people, including wounded civilians of Kefraya to Lebanon, as an implement to the second phase of the agreement, which was held in September last year under the sponsorship of the United Nations, where the first phase included a cease-fire in the three regions and entering aid.
Medical crisis!
The town of Zabadani suffers from catastrophic medical conditions, after bombing the only field hospital in the city for four times.
The head of the medical staff “Amer Burhan” confirms that the bombing led to the hospital destruction and the death of many patients and nurses in it, and the loss of a lot of medical supplies, but the people there managed to re-build it.
Burhan says: "with the beginning of the siege, we experienced a significant shortage of medicines and supplies, we used bed sheets as a bandage for wounds, and the number of wounded were more than 250 wounded, some of them were in critical condition, and what worsen the situation is targeting the only doctor in the city by Hezbollah."
The case did not improve despite entering the assistance of UN assistance to Zabadani and Madaya last March, according to Amer, prompting some nurses to flee through the mountains, and led to a large medical crisis there, especially after the prevalence of malnutrition among the besieged people, and some cases of fainting among them.
veterinarian?
After the displacement of many residents to Madaya, the suffering of more than 40 thousand people in the town of Madaya has exacerbated, which is also straining under an unjust siege since July last year, where more than 150 civilians died as a result of hunger.
Amer Burhan explains: "the situation in Madaya is tragic, since it includes many children, women, and elderly, and on the other hand, there is no medical staff or medicines to treat difficult medical cases, in addition to the Non-sterile drinking water, and more importantly, the main doctor in the city is veterinarian, who becomes responsible for treating the chronic diseases."
All the claims failed to lift the siege on Madaya, after many attempts by Syrian activists in several areas of the countryside of Damascus, through launching campaigns to save the besieged city, including the campaign that demanded the United Nations to take immediate action in order to lift the siege, especially after the starvation in Madaya.
Only one medic in Zabadani
Amer insists on staying in the city and keep working in his profession, as the only medic in Zabadani. when people see him, they know that death is very far from them.
He said to Rozana that he loves every stone in Zabadani, explaining: "in every street in Zabadani I have a martyr who was a friend before, if I had to wait for death; I will wait for it in the most beautiful place, but today I feel bitter because we are defeated in our city because of what is happening."
According to activists, the secret agreement took place between the movement of ‘Ahrar Sham’ and the Lebanese Hezbollah recently, without declaring its clauses, but the media leaks reported that the agreement eliminates that Zabadani will be handed over on 28 June 2016, in exchange for ceasing fire in Idlib.