Amal Al-Sibai Saudi Gazette Eid in Syria forgot to bring with itself happiness, celebrations, sweets, and laughter. Instead, it brought destruction, death, and broken promises. No festivities were to be attended as families used the Eid holidays as a time of solitude and prayer, and countless people visited cemeteries to put flowers on the graves of their loved ones. When Al-Assad's regime agreed to a mutual ceasefire in order to pay tribute to the sacredness of the holy days of Eid, members of the Free Syrian Army were duly skeptical. They knew that Al-Assad's army would break its promise once again. Nonetheless, to show their commitment to the truce announced by the United Nations Arab League, some troops from the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo even decorated one of their military tanks with colorful flower garlands, bouquets of fresh flowers, and children's dolls. The Free Syrian Army declared a ceasefire and waited nervously. “The regime is used to treachery and scheming. It is not to be trusted,” said Col. Ahmad Hijazi, an officer of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo. The revolutionaries' cynicism was justifiable because the ceasefire and a semblance of peace lasted for a little over four hours on the morning of the first day of Eid. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported civilian deaths from missiles, tank firing, and snipers in the towns of Maaret al-Numan, Harasta, Homs, and Idlib. Bombs dropped from the air during a mid-day raid on old residential areas in Homs. A large car bomb exploded on Friday near a children's playground in a Sunni neighborhood in Southern Damascus just outside the Omar bin Khattab mosque. The government blamed rebels for this attack but activists retaliated by claiming that this was a façade orchestrated by the government in order to abandon the UN truce. The Free Syrian Army stated that their armed activities never target civilian areas. By dusk, the death toll of civilians across several cities in Syria reached 65 on the evening of Eid. Syrians spent their Eid trapped in whatever remained of their homes, or in public schools converted into shelters, or in their relatives' homes that have still not been destroyed. Fear for their lives and loved ones replaced joy and hope and optimism took over misery and despair. Kitchens that should be overflowing with the heavenly aroma of freshly roasted and grounded coffee, homemade biscuits, baklava, rich kunafa, and fruits are now bare. Hosts have nothing to share with their friends except for tea, stale biscuits, and sad stories. During this time of the year, women in Syria would be, normally, busy preparing the delicious pastries (ma'mool), filled with different varieties of dates or pistachios or walnuts with cinnamon powder. I vividly remember those days of cheery chatter, carefully molding the dough, and begging my aunts to let me eat from the sweets before the guests arrive. Now, you find the women silently sitting in the corner of a room staring out into space, wondering about their future and worrying about their captured husband, or a brother who has volunteered with the Free Syrian Army. Those unfamiliar with the customs in Syria may not fully understand the scope of the women's ordeal. Syrian girls for years have been raised and brought up from a young age to believe that their entire lives revolve around the father-figure. They are taught that the man in the family is the backbone of the house. “The man is to be revered and served, and in return he offers her protection and generosity. Female independene was never encouraged. For these women, who have been programmed to rely on the man for counsel and advice, finance, wait up for him, cook for him, respect, and serve him, their loss is unbearable,” said Fareeha, a widow. As for the children, they are not dressed in new and beautiful Eid clothes. They are wearing hand-me-downs; clothes sent from the Gulf that have been used and rewashed for months and have a tattered appearance. Instead of visiting relatives, collecting Eid money from the elders, and buying candy from the shops, Syrian children are roaming the streets and playing games of hide and seek amid the rubble and shattered homes. The older children craft toy guns out of scraps of wood they find on the streets for the little ones to play with and run around chanting, “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” Their frightened mothers call out to them “Do not go too far, do not stay out for long, and beware of the snipers stationed on the tops of tall buildings!” From Idlib, Ahmad Tayeb said: “The spirit of Eid is absent this year. In the past, when any Syrian was blessed to make the wonderful Haj journey, the family would throw lavish celebrations to greet the pilgrims upon their return. We would traditionally prepare elaborate feasts, wrap gifts, decorate homes, and distribute sweets to the entire neighborhood to honor the pilgrims.” Ahmad said due to the crisis in our country, very few members of his family went for Haj and no celebrations were planned. “During this Eid, our involvement with this great occasion was limited to watching the pilgrims on TV with tears in our eyes and longing in our hearts to be in the Holy City. From our homes we recited the Talbiya and prayed for the victory of our people against the oppressive and murderous regime.” Activist Omar Tallawi from Homs said: “There was no ceasefire to start with. On the third day of Eid, houses in the centuries-old historical neighborhoods of Homs, countless shops and businesses, and schools were fired from tanks and shelled by air raids.” Saudi Gazette met Maha Droubi from Homs who performed Haj this year, she said: “I performed Haj 18 years ago and at that time I was soaring with happiness, elation, inner tranquility, and spirituality. This year the Haj was so much easier physically and much more organized, but my heart was heavy with sadness, concern for my sons, and anxiety over the fate of my hometown and my loved ones there.” The message this Eid from the Free Syrian Army to the rest of the Arab world is that their troops are not fighting some sort of civil or patriotic war, nor are they after lands or governmental positions. The Free Syrian Army is defending women's honor, protecting children and delivering food to them. They are fighting for the cause of Islam, for the sake of the holy mosques that have been bombed, for the sake of the pages ripped out of the Qur'an by Al-Assad's soldiers, and for the sake of the young men who were tortured and killed in cold blood simply because they refused to prostrate before the picture of Bashar Al-Assad and chose to die rather than pronounce him as God.
