Describing the seizure of the Syrian city of Palmyra by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad from the Islamic State as a switch “from one tyranny to another,” a refugee from Palmyra called both Assad and ISIS “enemies of normal Syrian people” during an interview published in The Independent on Thursday.
Mohamed Alkhateb was studying at a Homs university when the uprising against Assad began, at which point he returned home to join the revolution and helped form a group to coordinate peaceful demonstrations. However, security forces clamped down on the protests as they grew, killing tens of people.
The unrest in Palmyra continued for months, and Assad eventually sent about 50 tanks and 3,000 soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to quell it. Alkhateb and some of his friends tried to escape the city, but they were captured in the surrounding countryside by a group of SAA soldiers.
The friends were initially held in Palmyra, where they were subject to beatings. “During the interrogation, we witnessed all kinds of violence,” Alkhateb wrote. “[Perhaps] the greatest irony of all is that we were accused of participating in demonstrations and protests which had only ever been peaceful.”
Alkhateb was later transferred to Security Branch No. 291 in Damascus, an outpost of the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorat where he said he witnessed various forms of torture. The facility is known to use beatings, electrocution, and sexual abuse, according to Human Right Watch.
When the Assad regime released him after seven months, Alkhateb returned to Palmyra but swiftly left, fearing that he could still be targeted by the regime. He eventually reached Turkey.
By the time ISIS captured Palmyra last year, Alkhateb and his friends had all left the city, but those who remained there under the rule of ISIS were subject to “arbitrary” laws and draconian punishments.
The recent re-capture of Palmyra by Assad’s forces backed by Russian airstrikes could not be described as a liberation, Alkhateb wrote. Civilians were targeted by Assad’s forces and, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fewer than 100 remained in the city when it was retaken by Assad. Even now that Palmyra has supposedly been liberated, many of its displaced residents have no hope of returning to their homes as they are too afraid of being persecuted by Assad’s forces.
Towards the end of his interview, Alkhateb drew a parallel between the Assad regime and ISIS:
Assad claims he launched this campaign to protect Syrians and liberate the World Heritage Sites from Isis, but his bombs have destroyed as much of the city and its precious ruins as Isis did.
We, the people of Palmyra, consider both Isis and Assad to be criminals. Both commit crimes against humanity, kill innocent people and destroy cities and historical relics. Both displace hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens through their actions. Both detain, torture and kill political activists like me.
Palmyra has not been liberated. It has just been transferred from one tyranny to another.
[Photo: BBC News / YouTube ]