The Syrian Arab Army is our Family. Interview with a true Syrian patriot and heroine - Salam Alawi, President of Al Thawra basketball club, Damascus.
Meeting Salam Alawi was one of the most meaningful encounters of my whole time in Syria. A woman with a depth of compassion and kindness that outshone all of the tragedy we talked about during our short time together.
Al Thawra club came under almost daily attack during the occupation of Eastern Ghouta and other suburbs of Damascus by the terrorist gangs supported and armed by the West and their allies in the Gulf states, Turkey and Israel.
On the 26th June 2014 three children defied the risks of terrorist attacks to come and practice at the club. Maya Wahbeh, Elias Raaed and Robert Qoozma came with Maya's mother to the court. Maya and Robert were on the sidelines watching Elias practice when the mortar struck the club.
Maya and Elias were killed immediately. Both Robert's legs were so badly damaged in the blast that he was rushed to the French hospital, his legs were amputated. He died in the hospital on the 3rd July 2014. The emotion Salam still feels about the loss of these children five years after the attack is evident in her voice and tears as she is remembering the awful day when the children were murdered by the so called "rebels" promoted by the West as the purveyors of "democracy".
Salam spoke to me of the grief and pain of the families at the time, but also of their resilience and determination to remain steadfast, to not desert their homes and neighbourhood despite the terrorist entities that stalked and preyed upon them from less than 300m away at certain times.
Salam also epitimosed the Syrian spirit of courage and determination to survive such unbelievable shock and tragedy and to convert it into hope and a fragile optimism for the future of Syria - underpinned by the unshakeable belief in victory, in the glory of the Syrian Arab Army "their family" and in the strength and power of the future generations who will rebuild and reshape Syria into a great country again.
This spirit is so typical of so many across Syria who have lost so much but found such reserves of resilience and refusal to accept the dark future designed for them by the neo-colonialists in the West.
Elias' father, Habib Raaed, also spoke to me and asked a familiar question:
"The West is killing our people. What did my son do? He didnt do anything wrong, he didnt make any mistakes, why did he have to die?"
"We have no trust in the so called international community, we don't believe there are any "great" people in the West." he told me.
Please watch Salam and listen to her testimony, it will move you, it will touch you very deeply because this courageous woman speaks directly from the heart and from a spirit that is both powerful and profoundly humble and compassionate.
Thank you Salam Alawi for your time, your words, your huge heart. I love you.
Some excerpts from her interview:
"Of course, we were affected by this matter but we had reserves of strength to say that we will not lose, we will be victorious - because we saw our Army and our leader. They are in the right, they are resisting. This Army is my family, and the families of these children. Their uncles, their brothers, everyone is joining the Army and is fighting and defending Syria. That is what was supposed to happen and that is what we had to do to stand by the side of our country against this terrorism whose darkness was visible to us...
God willing, in the upcoming days, we will recover every inch of the land of Syria.
I would like to say to those who think that they are sending us democracy from their country, that they are mistaken - we have democracy and we are happy with it, all of us with all our sects in Syria - Christians, Muslims, Druze, Alawites and everyone.
We had no problems with anyone. They (in the West) think that they are giving us democracy but we know that this is a fake “democracy”. "
Salam is really someone who brings a new dimension to the term heroine. She is touched by something so deeply inspirational and magical... Syria is full of people like her and I cannot help but wonder how she could ever have survived or shone in the same way if the West had had their way and Syria were ruled by the mysogynistic, extremist monsters they have financed and promoted.
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