ROCHELLE JUNIOR

Sweida-A ceasefire was announced after a week of clashes in Syria's Druze-majority province of Sweida following heavy bombardment and attacks targeting civilians. However, the ceasefire was soon violated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Armed groups backed by the Syrian interim government’s Ministry of Defense deployed near the village of “Al-Hayat” west of Sweida and attacked local fighters, killing and injuring some of the local fighters. The people of the village have mobilized against possible new attacks for two day.

NuJINHA spoke to women of the village of Curin, in the western countryside of Sweida, southern Syria, about what they experienced during the attacks on their village.

“I was sitting at home with my mother when bullets started raining down from three sides,” said Gunve Ebu Hassun. “The authorities in the village told us, ‘Respond to them and protect yourselves.’ I carried my mother to a safer room. My sister was outside and she was able to crawl home.”

‘Not a fight but a massacre against civilians’

Gunve Ebu Hassun told us that what they had experienced was not a fight but a massacre against civilians. “An army did not fight another army. An army fought civilians, attacking us.”

Following the start of the attacks, Gunve Ebu Hassun first took shelter in a house along with 19 women and children and then went to the village of Ariqa. They then left Sweida in despair.

“All we wanted was to protect our home, our homeland,” she emphasized. “We are not the attackers. Our people were killed at their homes, in their homeland. What has happened must be documented.”

‘Those who could not flee were killed’

Hanan Abu Hassun told us that men had responded to the attacks to protect the people. “We fled without taking anything with us. There was no food, no medicine, no shelter. Those who could not flee were killed. One of the women from my village is still missing.”

‘I told my daughters to leave me and flee’

Sumiye Abu Hassun, one of the elderly women in the village, could not flee due to her health problems when the attacks on the village started. “I told my daughters to leave me and flee; however, they refused and stayed with me. Our places of worship were burned, our houses were looted, and the village's infrastructure was destroyed in the attacks,” she told us in tears. “Now, we have no water and power and do not know how we can live in the village without them. We did not attack anyone, they attacked us. All we do is to defend our homeland. I want the end of this violence.”