Syrian fighting in Ukraine: I don’t want my children to experience what my parents experienced in Syria.

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1. Translation:

   Hassan quickly draws attention to himself, as he is distinguished from his peers in the 14th Brigade of the Ukrainian Army by his appearance and dark skin, and despite his surprisingly clear and fluent pronunciation of the Ukrainian language, he was born into a Syrian family and grew up in Damascus, where he obtained his high school diploma, after which he decided to move To Kiev to study dentistry. Hasan began fighting with the Ukrainian army since Russia announced the annexation of Crimea in 2014, but just under a year ago, he became a health trainer in the 14th Brigade.

   Hasan worked in teaching survival methods, and gives skills that help soldiers preserve their lives on the battlefield. Hassan tells the Ukrainian newspaper “Volyn News”: “As a paramedic, and as a person who fought for a long time and was injured many times, I always assure my colleagues If you can stop the combat bleeding properly, you really have a chance of survival, and the combat medics will complete the job.”

   “I do not want my children to experience what my parents experienced in Syria.” In 1999, Hassan came from Syria to Ukraine to study as a dentist. He married a Ukrainian girl, and soon became the father of four children. He now lives with his family in Volyn Province, northwestern Ukraine. Despite this, Hassan has not forgotten his roots and his motherland, as he painfully follows the tragic events in Syria, due to the brutality of the Syrian regime and Russia against civilians in the country.

   Hassan adds, “I really wanted to take my children and my wife to my home in Syria, to see the house I grew up in, but my house is gone after Russia destroyed it, so I will do everything in my power so that my children in Ukraine do not experience what my parents lived in Syria.” Hassan continues: “I have been living in Ukraine for 23 years, and I have children who grew up here, and here is my home as well, and here I work and pay taxes, so Ukraine has become my land, my motherland, and like any person residing in Ukraine, regardless of my nationality, I have a duty towards it.” towards protecting and preserving their land.

   Russia’s tactics in Ukraine are similar to what it applied in Syria Russia does not hide its benefit from its experience in Syria to develop and test its weapons on civilians before using them in Ukraine, and experts confirm that Moscow is working to implement the strategies it followed during the “Syrian experience” in Ukraine as well, by following a scorched earth policy.

   The number of victims of Russian attacks on civilians in Syria has reached more than 12,000 dead and wounded since the declaration of direct Russian intervention in the war against the Syrians to the Syrian regime until September 2022, according to the “Syrian Civil Defense” (the White Helmets). The Russian forces also targeted 3,825 residential homes, 70 hospitals, 53 popular markets, and 48 public buildings, in addition to 46 schools, 35 mosques, 33 laboratories and factories, 24 camps, 19 gas stations, and 18 bakeries. Dozens of other attacks also targeted poultry farms, drinking water stations, electricity generation and other vital facilities and infrastructure.