Suhair Al-Idlibi

Idlib – The bomb attacks have targeted civilians in the streets, markets, and facilities in NE Syria. Women have been also affected by the attacks. There are many wounded Syrian women.

Alia Al-Hassoun (40) is one of these women. She sits in her wheelchair in front of her tent in Batbu camp, north of Idlib, and sells bread.

Alia Al-Hassoun lost her right leg due to a bombardment on her village Al-Fatira, at the end of 2016.

Alia Al-Hassoun still remembers the moment and she says, "I wish I only lost my leg on that day, but I also lost my son Omar (four years old)".

Alia talks about that day. She went shopping to buy some vegetables with her son, Omar, when the warplanes started to drop bombs on the market, “I did not realize what was happening, I saw black smoke around me and people were running away, I looked for my son Omar among the corpses, I could not stand up and did not know that I lost my leg, I saw Omar lying on the ground in blood, I realized that he had died.”

Alia Al-Hassoun's tragedy didn’t end; her husband abandoned her and married another woman because he said he couldn’t take care of a disabled woman. Alia now has to earn a livelihood for her six children without any support.

 Today, Alia Al-Hassoun lives in Batbu camp thanks to the support of charity and humanitarian aid organizations.

Munaf al-Raei (36) is a medical appliance technician. She says that wounded people cannot afford the costs of treatment, because they are suffering from poverty and inability. Also, the decline in the activity of charitable and civil society organizations regarding services provided for wounded people is due to the high costs of long-term treatments.

The cost of a single prosthesis is between 800 – 1500 US dollars, while the cost of the smart prosthesis is about 40,000 US dollars, according to the expert sponsor.

Faten Al-Suwaid is a psychological counselor, she talks with us about Psychological effects and deep wounds left by civil war for Syrian women of all ages. She says, “Disabled persons have suffered from disappointment, frustration, inferiority, loss of self-confidence, depression, trauma, anxiety and a sense of loss due to the loss of a part of their bodies, and these symptoms are doubled for wounded women, they suffer from marginalization and neglect in a male-dominant society.”

Faten Al-Suwaid adds that disabled women usually get disappointed and don’t have dreams or hopes for the future, they only think about how they adopt their situation, losing all of their rights to security, family, and normal life.