Reports | 28 11 2016
Issa did not want to enter the field of militarization, but what happened to him on one of the Syrian regime checkpoints, was the cause of transforming his life from a civilian to a soldier, and forced him to drop out his study.
Issa said that his future was lost on the regime checkpoint exists between the regime-held Hama and the rebel-held Hama, where he had to pass on his way to university exams.
Issa says: "I'm from the South Hama that is a rebel-held, and now joined the ranks of opposition fighters because I want to take revenge from the regime forces, especially after they prevented me from entering Hama and having my exams."
Even food is being confiscated!
People in Hama countryside count to ten whenever they decided to travel from the countryside to the city and vice versa, where the Syrian regime forces are deployed all along the way and continue to harass the travelers, according to testimonies from people who ran the experiment.
The regime forces take even the foodstuffs carried by travelers and accuse them with illogical charges.
"Hassan" -a young man from Hama- says: "Dealing with the Syrian forces checkpoints in Hama is very difficult, and the traveler must think twice before going through this journey, where there are four checkpoints affiliated with the Syrian regime, and each one of them stop you nearly for an hour."
On one occasion, Hassan was stopped by one of the soldiers on the checkpoints on his way to Hama, who asked him about the situations of the area he came from in Hama, and the way people live there and their situations. Hassan said it sounds like a trap to him, where the soldier was waiting for any mistake in Hasan’s answers so he can arrest him. He adds: "Another time I was returning from Hama to its countryside, and all the foodstuffs I was carrying with me were confiscated by the Syrian regime checkpoint."
Hama’s Traders have another story
"Karim" works in the field of domestic trade, where he transports goods from Hama to its countryside and vice versa, but he has been harassed by military checkpoints a lot during his journeys, what forced him to behave in a new way that was not carried out by him before.
Karim confirms: "I pay money for each checkpoint in order to let me pass ", and continues: "Sometimes they attack us and confiscate the goods for several hours, and the purpose is to increase the money is being paid to them, and then give me back my goods and my car. Their only concern is to collect money, and recently they have become asking for larger amounts of money in order to allow the merchants to pass. "
The last journey carried out by Karim was very bad, where the regime checkpoint confiscated his goods for not paying the money they asked, and above all that, they accused him of dealing with terrorists.
"Shabiha" investigate travelers
The National Defense soldiers - known as "Shabiha"- investigate all the passengers heading to the city of Hama or coming back of it, and sometimes, they abuse and accuse travelers with flimsy charges, according to many testimonies by people in the region.
That has already made the opposition forces open a new battle aimed at the elimination of the military checkpoints affiliated by the Syrian regime that bother travelers, according to Abu Mohammed who is a leader of an opposition faction in Hama countryside.
Abu Mohammed says: "We had to announce a new battle aimed to attack these checkpoints in reaction to the practices against the travelers, and many of these checkpoints have been eliminated indeed after fighting long for days, and the fighting is still continuing, of course, this is the least that can be done to protect civilians in the region and save their rights. "
Many practices have changed the lives of a lot of people in Hama, like Issa, who became on the battle fronts, instead of being in school!