ROCHELLE JUNIOR

Sweida- Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its jihadist armed groups have been killing, kidnapping women and violating their rights in Syria.

Women have been leading politics, resistance and armed struggle in Sweida despite the blockade imposed on the city.

In an interview with NuJINHA, Samahe Al-Andari, a political activist in Sweida, talked about the suffering of the people, the attacks on Sweida, the blockade imposed on the province and the role of women in the resistance, stressing that they reject all non-international commissions of inquiry.

‘We are under a heavy blockade’

“We are in chaos,” said Samahe Al-Andari. “Contrary to what reported by the Syrian media, the entry of humanitarian aid has not been allowed and we have no safe environment. We are under a heavy blockade, without water, medication, food and power. We were forced into a conflict that we do not want. We are a community that loves life and humanity; however, instability has been imposed on us.”

‘They thought they would break the will of society by breaking the will of women’

Samahe Al-Andari thinks that women have paid a heavy price in attacks by armed groups backed by HTS.

“Women have been killed, kidnapped and burned. What we have experienced does not destroy us but makes us stronger. They (armed groups) thought they would break the will of society by breaking the will of women; however, they failed because women of Sweida are resistant women.”

In Sweida, many women took up arms to defend their homeland and protect themselves and their people. “Some women took up arms to defend their homeland along with men,” Samahe Al-Andari said. “Sweida belongs not only to men but also to women. We resist because we are the granddaughters of revolutionary women.”

Samahe Al-Andari told us that the people of Sweida had built their own system because of the absence of official authority. “Today, we do not have neither a governor nor official institutions. We organized ourselves and built an autonomous administration. We are at the bottom of the ladder but we have revolutionary women and men. We see the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria as a model and we want to implement this model in our homeland.”

‘Women’s solidarity must be beyond borders’

Samahe Al-Andari called on all women in Sweida to make their voices heard all around the world. “They burned down our factories and polluted our water resources to intimidate us. But they cannot intimidate us because the people of Sweida always support each other. Women should make their voices heard all around the world. Women in North and East Syria and Syria’s coastal areas should be in solidarity with each other against attacks because our solidarity can build an equal, democratic and free Syria. We want a secular state that is free from terrorism and despotism and respects and protects all ethnic and religious groups. Women’s solidarity must be beyond borders.”

‘We do not trust local commissions of inquiry’

Local commissions of inquiry are untrustworthy, Samahe Al-Andari noted, adding:

“The interim government says it will form commissions of inquiry to investigate massacres. The massacres that took place in the coastal areas were covered up and witnesses were threatened. We do not trust local commissions of inquiry. We demand an impartial international commission.

Samahe Al-Andari called on the international community to put pressure on the Syrian interim government to lift the blockade on Sweida and reopen the border crossings. “34 of our villages have been completely destroyed. The dead bodies of young people are still in the villages. If these crimes are not documented, they will be erased from history like the massacres in the coastal areas. Therefore, the border crossings must be reopened not only for the entry of humanitarian aid but also to make the truth heard all around the world.”

Samahe Al-Andari concluded her speech saying women of Sweida would never give up resisting. “They attacked us. Our only option is to resist. We may not have access to water, medicine, or food, but we will never lose our dignity. We will never give up. We believe that one day we will build a safe future.”