City of Sea, Gardens and Persistence

10


This was in May 2012, in the Syrian city of Latakia. We, a group of three Russians, go into a modest white house, immersed in flowering gardens. We are met by a young woman dressed in black - the wife of the fallen defender of Syria. We pass into the house. Other relatives are waiting for us in the living room: the mother and father of the deceased and a boy of seven - a son who has not waited for his father. An aged woman, bored, but strict and proud, speaks with passion and conviction:

- My son died, but I have five more. All of them are now fighting the terrorists. If, in order to protect the Motherland, you need to give them all away, I am ready!

Her son was killed in the province of Idleb after a siege by terrorists at a police academy in Jisr Al-Shugur. One hundred fighters, mostly from Latakia, for the entire month held back the onslaught of nearly a thousand well-armed and trained bandits. When, finally, the villains managed to seize the building, the wounded, captured defenders were brutally executed, and their bodies were dismembered and burned. It was June 2011 of the year, the Syrians were not yet accustomed to the war, and these events caused a severe shock to the whole society. World media then asserted that the protests in Syria are in the nature of exclusively peaceful demonstrations.

These are the young men of Lattakia. Without flinching, took an unequal battle. Such are the mothers of Lattakia: ready to sacrifice the most expensive - the lives of their sons.

On the same day we visited another family of the deceased. It turned out to be a family with truly heroic traditions - the walls are hung with mourning portraits of those who gave their lives in previous wars, including the October Liberation 1973 of the year. Another photo tells about the meeting of the wife and children of the fallen hero with President Bashar Al-Assad. After the events in Jisr Al-Shugur, the head of state personally came to Latakia and visited several such families. “One of our girls was supposed to meet him, as an excellent student, and met, like the daughter of a deceased fighter,” the relatives explained.



The province of Lattakia, as well as its neighboring province of Tartus, showed perhaps the greatest resistance during the fierce war unleashed against the SAR by Western intelligence agencies and Arab monarchies.

In Syrian society, it is not customary to talk about confessional differences, but for terrorists obsessed with prejudices and putting forward slogans like “Alawites to the graves, Christians to Beirut”, the residents of these two provinces are especially hated, also for religious reasons. They are considered "infidels." Of course, the hatred of the militants is caused not only by this, but also by the fact that the Latakians are courageous people who love their country ardently and are ready to defend it at any cost.



At the beginning of the crisis there were attempts to provoke unrest in Latakia, but they were stopped by local residents (army intervention was minimal). More such attempts were not repeated. Terrorists often took revenge on the recalcitrant city, leading from the mountain forests shelling of residential areas.

In the vicinity of Latakia it is now difficult to meet a young man - everyone is at the front. A lot of women - in mourning clothes. But this land, it would seem, was not created at all for grief. Wonderful air, smelling of the sea, flowering gardens, green mountains, tangerine plantations, cozy villages, dense forests - nature itself would like people to enjoy every day, every passing moment.



Their historical the roots of Latakia goes back to antiquity. In the third millennium BC, it was called Ramita and was part of the Phoenician city-state of Ugarit. It was Ugarit who gave mankind the first alphabet - even this word itself comes from the first letters of the Phoenician letter: "Aleph" ("Bull") and "Beit" ("House"). Millennia have passed, many nations and civilizations have changed, but so far the first letter of the Arabic alphabet is “Aleph” and the house in Arabic is “Beit”. On the ruins of Ugarit, located 12 km from Latakia, tablets were found with signs fixing the music - that is, musical notation also went from these places. Exhibits from Ugarit are not only in Syrian museums - many of them were laid hands on by the French colonial regime, and priceless artifacts are stored in the Louvre. But many more values ​​are still buried underground - the Syrian war actually stopped archaeological work.



After numerous vicissitudes, this land became part of the Persian kingdom, then was conquered by Alexander the Great. After the death of the great commander, she came under the authority of his comrade Seleucus Nicator, who founded a city called Laodikea in honor of his mother Laodike on the site of the oldest Ramita. The somewhat changed antique name of the city still bears it.

Now in Latakia says little about ancient times. War and earthquakes destroyed almost everything. A new city appeared on the ruins. But between modern houses you can find the ancient column, the Roman tetrapilon, the colonnade of the ancient temple of Adonis.





The archaeological museum, which keeps relics from the excavations, is experiencing hard times. Previously, it was visited by hundreds of foreign tourists. Now, despite the fact that Latakia remains a corner of relative calm, there are practically no guests from abroad.



The fish market, once large and lively, is also experiencing a bad state. Now in the huge hall only a few sellers and rare buyers. Fluffy beggars - cats waiting for treats - even more than visitors.



Many Arabs do not like fish, but the fishermen lived quite successfully thanks to the tourists. The owners of cafes and restaurants willingly bought seafood as well. Now there are very few tourists, the cafes are almost empty. In addition, because of the general decline in the standard of living, people switched to cheaper products, in particular, vegetables and fruits. And the fishing industry that has existed for thousands of years is in decline.





In spite of everything, the most resistant fishermen continue to go into the open sea. So, sometimes quietly and imperceptibly, even in the paradise of peace, affected by the consequences of war.

Small vessels were found on the ruins of ancient Ugarit. Scientists managed to establish that women gathered their tears in them while their husbands were swimming or in war. When the men returned, the wives showed them tear-filled vessels, as a sign that they missed them. After five millennia, women are again yearning, sneaking tears ... Waiting for their men, sons, brothers from the front. Unfortunately, many hopes no longer come true. As in many other cities, in Latakia there are many portraits of those who will not return from the line of fire on the walls of houses.



Calligrapher artist Maxim Ahmad (from a mixed Syrian-Russian family) created an unusual image of President Bashar Al-Assad. The huge portrait that adorns one of the buildings of the University “Tishrin” is made from the calligraphically derived names of the fallen soldiers.



The university itself was established in 1971 after the educational reform of Hafez Al-Assad. The teaching staff consists of almost half of the graduates of Soviet universities. In the current war years, the university continues to work. Due to the influx of students from the “hot spots” - the provinces of Homs, Idleb, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor - 30% more young people were accepted than usual. All of them are provided with housing and everything you need. The burden on teachers has seriously increased. When there were not enough places in the hostel for young people, many employees placed students in their homes.

At least twice lately, Lattakia was in mortal danger. In the first days of August, 2013, the militants who penetrated into Syria from Turkey, attacked the north of the province and staged a terrible massacre of civilians in the villages. Here is what the head of the people's self-defense forces told about those events:



- Many people were stabbed to death. About five hundred women, children, and old men were captured. They grabbed an elderly sheikh Al-Ghazali, the brother of the provincial mufti, and brutally killed him. Among the terrorists were many mercenaries from Chechnya. We fought with them and destroyed many.

“In fact, it was a genocide,” the locals say about those dark days. The Western media have been silent about this, although Syria has sent an official letter to the UN Security Council and to international organizations. But three weeks later, they began to accuse the Syrian leadership of "using chemical weapons against the people." At the same time, as evidence, videos were shown in which the inhabitants of Latakia found their missing relatives dead. That is, people were captured and then killed for a cynical purpose: to use their deaths for large-scale provocations.

Another difficult moment was the March 2014 of the year when terrorists, again from Turkey, with the direct complicity of the Erdogan regime, attacked the city of Kasab in the north of the province, forcing Armenians to flee their homes. Several villages were captured, in which many ethnic Armenians also lived. The main objective of the raiders was the port of Latakia, where the loading of chemical weapons exported from Syria was carried out. Shortly before this attack, the port was fired with mortar shells, one of them exploded in 500 meters from the hotel, where the mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was located. Thus, the terrorists, obviously not without orders from abroad, tried to arrange a new provocation in order not to allow chemical substances to be taken out and to create an excuse for external aggression. But thanks to, first of all, the heroism of the defenders of Latakia, as well as the influential Armenian community, which brought the world's attention to the fate of the residents of Kasab, this plan failed.

- The West is used to parasitize on the body of humanity. It is like a predator - when it gets hungry, it attacks. All his life he oppressed the peoples of the East, Latin America, Africa, lived at the expense of these peoples. And they fought against him and won. And we, too, will win, ”said the mature warrior of Lattakia, wise with experience, told me so wisely, without forgetting to thank the people of Russia for their support.

The city of the sea, gardens and resilience continues to bloom, exposes its face to the jets of fresh breeze and is ready to protect both its inhabitants and the sea borders of the country.
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10 comments
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  1. +4
    11 September 2014 10: 06
    It is time for the East to turn its eyes to Russia and its allies and truly think about peace and religious tolerance. After all, they have one prophet at all.
    1. +3
      11 September 2014 20: 36
      damn mattresses when you disappear into hell ?? !!
  2. +4
    11 September 2014 10: 23
    Islamic fanatics and fascists are twins and brothers. And they have one dad. And while dad will incite them and support, the blood of the innocent will pour. How long ?! It seems that Russia is the only force that can put an end to this, and it is the main goal of the enemies. It is vitally important for us to be strong, persistent, united, patient, wise. We are with God!
  3. 0
    11 September 2014 10: 26
    Of course, the article is wonderful, very interesting. But the thesis that the countries of Latin America and Africa defeated the Anglo-Saxons is somewhat loud in my opinion. This is what invaders are sometimes expelled from the territory they occupy - a more correct expression. Still, the aggressor is very motivated, and the captive lacks coherence and unity in the ranks of the command.
  4. +4
    11 September 2014 11: 19
    wonderful country. no, Americans need to ruin everything -
  5. +6
    11 September 2014 12: 16
    I always wanted to visit Latakia, when the people of Syria and Assad win, I will definitely go see this beautiful city!
  6. +5
    11 September 2014 12: 18
    It is a very good tradition to print photos of those who died for their homeland on posters and place them in public places. In addition to memory, this also helps to raise patriotic moods.
  7. +5
    11 September 2014 14: 09
    Thank you Elena for the materials about Syria, it seems to be far from us, but in fact it is experiencing the same thing as New Russia. And the whole world also turned away from it, Syria was slandered as well as Russia. One thing is shocking, rootless, without history, without a past. America destroys the cradle of human planetary history, in all countries where the American soldier steps. Bitterly....
  8. +5
    11 September 2014 14: 35
    Thank you for the report, Elena.
    love
    GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND SYRIA.

    Photo: Syrian T-72M in Aleppo 2013.
    The machine of the first issues ... a veteran, but in service.
  9. +3
    11 September 2014 16: 01
    The Americans are going to bomb something in Syria. Syria and its governments are not going to ask. What kind of country, the USA and Israel are two boots of a pair. Both love to kill, bomb and destroy:

  10. +1
    11 September 2014 22: 16
    Good article. I remembered the past with my dad, sorry the bazaar wasn’t removed.
    But, unfortunately, everything is not so simple there, although if there wouldn’t be
    sov, so would live without death.

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