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Defecting Syrian soldier tells of his marriage torn apart by brutal conflict in Homs
Telegraph UK ^ | Saturday, December 10, 2011 | Ruth Sherlock in Akkar, Lebanon

Posted on 12/10/2011 4:19:10 PM PST by SunkenCiv

As Major Haitham Emhammed prepared to return to Syria from his hiding place in Lebanon and fight for the overthrow of President Bashar al Assad's regime, his wife called him repeatedly on his mobile phone.

Mrs Emhammed, who is still inside Syria, wasn't calling to urge him to fight for freedom, or even to beg him to be careful. His wife, a member of the Alawite ethnic group that make up Mr Assad's hard-core of support, was calling her Sunni Muslim husband to lambast the rebel movement he has joined, and bemoan the fact that he had left his family...

An army defector aged 42, he has been married to a wife of the minority Alawite sect for 15 years. He fell in love with her instantly when he saw her on a bus, and wooed her at some risk to his safety -- they had to marry in secret after members of her family were outraged when she fell for a Sunni...

For years they lived happily in an Alawite neighbourhood of Homs. Then in March, as the Arab Spring swept across the region, the Syrian uprising began in their own town, which has since suffered more than any other in the country...

Now he fears that he may never see his family again, at least not as a loving husband and father.

"My wife, she loves the army and she loves Bashar al Assad. She watches the state television and becomes saddened by the soldiers and state security men being killed every day," he said, at a small house in Akkar, near the Syrian border, one of a string of small towns that have become a refuge and gathering point for men like himself.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: aljazeera; israel; qatar; russia; ruthsherlock; syria; waronterror
Major Haitham Emhammed hides his face to protect his family -- Photo: RUTH SHERLOCK

Major Haitham Emhammed hides his face to protect his family Photo: RUTH SHERLOCK

1 posted on 12/10/2011 4:19:21 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Sounds like his first job should have been to shoot his Alawite wife. But y’know, I wasn’t there, and would really prefer murder-suicide for Muzzie couples.


2 posted on 12/10/2011 4:21:06 PM PST by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

HK 33,nice weapon.


3 posted on 12/10/2011 4:25:14 PM PST by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: SunkenCiv
It is impossible to understand a culture that has known nothing but violence for generations and will know nothing but violence for generations to come.

Now, what's the deal with that "Religion of Peace" stuff, again?

4 posted on 12/10/2011 5:51:46 PM PST by Baynative (The penalty for not participating in politics is you will be governed by your inferiors.)
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To: SunkenCiv

“ethnic group”

A two word phrase which has done this world plenty of harm. Douglas Adams skewered such “tribal” attachments perfectly.


5 posted on 12/11/2011 11:33:56 AM PST by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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