What is left unsaid about the siege on Ghouta
"And for those who do not know – or know- what happened in eastern Ghouta:
The Syrian people rebelled against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The latter had inherited power from his father after more than 40 years of rule by the Assad family. The revolution was modeled on the revolutions of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain which sought democracy and some of which went as far as to achieve it. The revolution was peaceful in its first months. During that time, thousands of martyrs fell; Hamza al-Khateeb, Ghyath Matar, Meshal al-Tammo, Maan Awdat and countless peaceful revolutionaries…With the failure of the international community to take a serious and effective stand to end this tyrannical rule, the people were left with no other choice but to resort to the right of self-defense. So many revolutionaries armed themselves and were able to liberate a lot of areas. And as the regime continued to wage its war on the people, some powerful and regional countries with interests in Syria managed to become key players in the course of the Syrian revolution. Many revolutionaries became beholden to the decisions of those countries when the latter started funding their military operations which were no longer possible without the support of those countries. In addition, other countries were backing the Assad regime, which had besieged many liberated areas, by sending logistical support and militias. And as the war went on and the Syrian people found themselves exposed to crimes against humanity on a daily basis, the most virulent and fundamentalist discourses gained in popularity among the people who had embraced the revolution when they saw themselves standing alone and alienated from everything they hear on the news regarding human rights, freedom and dignity.
Some liberated areas were already being subjected to bombardment and daily death when, after the siege on Ghouta and other areas, they found themselves also dealing with a scarcity, and sometimes complete lack, of necessary basic supplies. None of the necessities of life were readily available anymore- neither water, nor food, nor medicine, nor fuel, nor electricity and not even air which the Assad regime had repeatedly filled with chemical gases.
Who among those besieged would have believed that he would live through all those horrors? Thousands of martyrs, thousands of wounded, hundreds of thousands of starved people and thousands of deprived children…Life was crushing and no one heard their moans.
Consider for a moment that one mother had to leave her two sons by a garbage container to be seen by passersby, another mother accidentally caused the death of her infant son when she ate soya bread because she could not find any alternatives and a crying mother was heard chanting “our soul and our blood, we sacrifice for you Bashar,” when she found herself unable to buy flour, which some charities sell at half the market price."