Syria conflict:
Defiance inside Damascus rebel suburb
In the Syrian capital, Damascus, the three-year war continues unabated, with government forces trading fire with fighters in the suburbs. In his second exclusive report, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen crosses into Qaboun, a rebel-held district on the fringes, battle-scarred but still defiant.
In Damascus, two worlds exist very close to each other. One belongs to President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters. The other, in narrow streets and blasted buildings, is where the rebels fight on.
Fighters from various local opposition militias started appearing openly on the streets of the capital early in 2012. It was one of the regime's lowest points, as rebels seized sections of Ghouta, the belt of suburbs and satellite towns on the city's perimeter.
In some of the suburbs now, there are local ceasefires. The Syrian army was strong enough to stop the rebels breaking through into central Damascus, but not strong enough to push back into areas which are often a tangled maze of alleys and rubble. So local truce agreements have been made.
Qaboun has a fragile, informal ceasefire with the Syrian army, but no truce agreement yet. The fighters in Qaboun are loyal to the Free Syria Army.
Three years of war has taken a heavy toll on Qaboun
My guide was Abu Ammar, a man in his 30s with a beard, a leather shoulder holster and a posse of men who said they had known each other before what they called the revolution began.
Abu Ammar said his fight was with the president, not with Assad's sect, the Alawites, which dominates the regime.
"This is our home, our country. We have no other place. God willing, the rebels are going to win. The regime is unjust and unfair. History shows that injustice doesn't last."
Abu Ammar and his men said they would fight on until Bashar al-Assad and the regime were kicked out.
'Fight to the end'
Government forces have tried to push into Qaboun, but have met stiff resistance.They were mostly middle-aged, all staunch Assad supporters, all wearing camouflage fatigues and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles. Malek and his neighbours were in the National Defence Force, a sort of Home Guard.
"God protect the Syrian army, we will continue fighting until the last drop of our blood, until finishing the last armed person in our country, we will keep on them and we will smash them."
The Geneva peace talks, which failed earlier this year, revolved around ways of getting the president to stand down to allow for a transition of power.
Now, whatever the outside world says about the poll, for President Assad's people, it is proof that his place at the top is with the consent of the Syrian people.
It is very sorry to hear that they say they will continue fighting until the last drop of their blood,until finishing the last armed person in their country.If only they come to realize their fighting is merely Satan's Control over their thoughts and ideologies.It is meaningless to fight each other on vain man's fame and man's power which leads to the graves in Satan's snares. God is love and life.If only they understand and realize God's true Meaning of Life and His true Will over mankind.If only they both are sons of one true God their Heavenly Father.Then Peace in syria shall come true,moreover
World Peace on the earth which God and mankind have been longing for so long.If then God will dwell in us
and live in us with eternal love.That will be a true Paradise and Utopia and El Dorado,the Land of Promise.
God bless them
답글삭제Please, May God Forgive them~!
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