Life in Syria: Horror of Haram, Nobbul, and Zahra

Horrors from Haram, Nobbul, Zahra

by Eva Bartlett - In Gaza

I'm working on translating an audio interview I did a few weeks ago in Latakia, with Syrians who have for over a year been displaced from their homes in northern Syria, after their villages were invaded by armed mercenaries.

The tormented man I spoke with from Haram, right near the Turkish border, told of being kidnapped by the terrorists for 3 months and 5 days... and of them kidnapping others, murdering them, and sending their decapitated heads back to the families.

"They had tanks and guns, like an army, just like an army. They killed around 110 people, and kidnapped around 250... children, civilians, soldiers. Until now, we don't know what's happened to them." (This was a year and three months ago, he said. I'll get his full interview posted as soon as I have it translated.)

Later, speaking with a group of women, Mother Agnes-Mariam translated:

"150 of their men were abducted and taken to Turkey. They were be-headed and their organs were taken for organ-trade."

"Nobody could help them because they were completely besieged. They had to flee with the children, walking 10 km. Then men walked 70 km through the mountains to escape."

She spoke of other areas that are constantly attacked, particularly the repeatedly invaded towns of Nubl and Zahara, whose population are mostly Shia.

"Nubbol and Zahara are 2 villages in the countryside of Aleppo that are Shia. Because they are Shia, they are besieged. Each time the terrorists invade, they take the woman, they rape them, they execute them naked, they cut them in pieces. It's like this since more than 2 years."

She, and a friend who lives in Latakia, stressed that many children have been abducted and not returned by these democracy & freedom armed mercenaries. The Latakia friend, Steven, Sryian-American, also noted that the residents of Zahra and Nubbol, being under siege, don't have food supplies; the Syrian army airdrops supplies to the area and it is smuggled in by others, at great personal risk of being sniped.

This article from Sep 2013 highlights once incidence of what seem to be rampant kidnappings of civilians in the Zahra and Nubbol areas:

"According to the reports from the countryside of the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists have hijacked a passenger bus with over 40 civilians, including children and women. The passenger bus was underway in the countryside of Syria’s city of Aleppo.

The abducted Syrian civilians, including women and children, were residents from the Syrian towns of Al-Zahra (Al-Zahraa) and Nabal (Nubbol), both towns located in the countryside of Aleppo (Halab).

The passenger bus was underway on the road between the cities of Aleppo and Idlib (Idleb). The attack by the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and jihadists from the al-Nusra Front (Jabhat al-Nusra) took place when the passenger bus was near the Syrian town of Zorbeh on the road between Aleppo and Idlib. The al-Nusra Front has stopped the passenger bus and kidnapped the over 40 Syrian civilians from the nearby towns of Nabal (Nubbol) and Al-Zahra (Al-Zahraa)."

In an earlier report, from May 2013, Press TV interviewed a resident of the area who managed to escape:

Residents of the Syrian cities of Noble and Al-Zahra, in dire condition

"Sharbu is a surgical assistant who has escaped from these areas. For the past year foreign backed armed terrorists have invaded these cities. Both cities are located about 20 kilometers from the strategic city of Aleppo and 40km from the Turkish border. Both cities have a combined population of around seventy thousand, in dire need of basic needs like electricity, gas, medical aid and food." 

**if the video doesn't play, watch it at this link.