Lauren Booth – Pain and hope of liberation and the bond between Syria and Palestine I Interview with brave activist

Lauren Booth
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AI: Summary ©

The speakers discuss the struggles faced by Sy obsessed people in Syria during the war and the lack of control and control, including attacks on buildings and Israeli bombings. They express concern over the dangerous attacks and the potential for conflict with the Turkish regime. The speakers also discuss the struggles faced by the Iranian Kurds and the unrest surrounding the arrival of Islam. They express hope for relief and encourage people to take action, including a charity called Ikra for the children.

AI: Summary ©

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			As-salamu alaykum, I just got back from
		
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			Syria and a trip that the horrors of
		
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			which I will never forget.
		
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			In fact the only reason that I'm able
		
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			to sleep at night and to move forward
		
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			is because of our beautiful faith of Islam
		
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			subhanallah.
		
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			For the first time we were able to
		
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			travel all the way from the south of
		
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			the country Damascus to the border of Turkey
		
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			along with a stream of Syrian people who
		
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			have not seen their country in 14 years
		
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			subhanallah.
		
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			In this video I am speaking to Raquel,
		
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			a friend who I've known for several years,
		
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			originally from London.
		
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			She and her family are aid workers who
		
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			have started great projects and they've survived all
		
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			of this hardship plus an earthquake.
		
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			I spoke to her about what it was
		
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			like in the new free Syria, what it
		
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			had been like and the question that many
		
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			of you have been commenting on.
		
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			Wasn't Assad one of the axis of resistance
		
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			for the Palestinians?
		
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			Wasn't he therefore useful to the Palestinian cause
		
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			of justice?
		
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			After this is a quick appeal which I'm
		
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			sure you'll want to be a part of.
		
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			I would never recommend a project that I
		
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			hadn't seen with my own eyes and ICRA
		
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			is doing great work.
		
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			I've just returned from seeing their projects in
		
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			Syria and they are changing lives.
		
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			40% of Syria is in ruins.
		
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			Half the country are displaced subhanallah and ICRA
		
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			have been on the ground since day one
		
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			and now they have projects in every major
		
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			city from Damascus in the south to Azaz
		
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			in the north.
		
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			You're probably asking yourself will my donation change
		
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			lives?
		
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			I know it will.
		
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			I love what they do and I encourage
		
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			you to let all your friends and family
		
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			know that this is a charity you can
		
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			support together.
		
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			Join us to help rebuild lives and Syrian
		
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			communities.
		
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			Assalamu alaikum.
		
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			Welcome to a podcast here in Syria in
		
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			a camp in the north Azaz run by
		
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			ICRA and my guest is my friend mentor
		
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			in activism Raquel Hayden Best who's been here
		
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			for 12 years and you know what today
		
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			I want you to listen to all of
		
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			this inshallah you're going to want to listen
		
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			to all of this because we're going to
		
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			be unpicking the politics and the people around
		
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			the changes in Syria from someone who's lived
		
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			through it and a real first-person account
		
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			because I don't know about you but I've
		
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			been getting seriously confused what is our role
		
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			as the ummah in this?
		
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			How do we make sense of the geopolitics?
		
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			Do we even need to as an ummah?
		
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			Put geopolitics above human beings?
		
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			These are some of the questions we're going
		
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			to be going through today.
		
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			Inshallah.
		
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			Assalamu alaikum.
		
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			Waalaikumsalam.
		
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			Alhamdulillah.
		
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			We've got a bit of sunshine today.
		
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			Yeah it's so nice.
		
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			I'm enjoying it just sitting here in the
		
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			sun.
		
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			This for a busy person right is a
		
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			bit of a break.
		
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			Yeah no it is.
		
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			Just to get that you know that break
		
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			feel the sun you know on me is
		
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			nice.
		
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			MashaAllah.
		
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			Alhamdulillah.
		
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			Please how would you introduce yourself?
		
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			How would you describe your time here and
		
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			what you've been doing and why you came?
		
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			Okay so my name is Raquel Hayden-Burst
		
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			as Lauren gave me a really nice introduction.
		
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			Alhamdulillah.
		
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			We left the UK in 2012 on a
		
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			journey here to Syria not knowing what that
		
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			journey would unfold for us but Alhamdulillah 12
		
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			years later we're still here.
		
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			Alhamdulillah Allah has made it possible for us
		
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			to start many projects to help the Syrian
		
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			people and obviously as well as our aid
		
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			work we are activists.
		
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			We came here because we wanted to help
		
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			stop the oppression on the Syrian people and
		
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			speak up against oppression and what was going
		
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			on here on the ground in Syria because
		
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			we felt that we had it was an
		
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			amanah for us to get that voice out
		
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			there to the Western world in English to
		
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			let people know exactly what has happened and
		
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			what is happening in Syria.
		
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			So just to clarify something when you say
		
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			we came yeah did you come to Syria
		
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			with?
		
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			So I came with my husband so we
		
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			made the journey we came on an aid
		
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			convoy so we came bringing vehicles, ambulances, lots
		
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			of aid blankets to the Syrian people and
		
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			then we started off our projects really small
		
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			so the first project we did was we
		
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			used to teach English in one of the
		
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			refugee camps so I would teach to sisters
		
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			he would teach to brothers and then we
		
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			made a Tannour type ovens for bread and
		
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			then we had the idea of the school
		
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			and then the project just grew and grew
		
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			and grew.
		
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			Alhamdulillah.
		
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			One of the things that's really struck me
		
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			Raquel driving for the first time from Damascus
		
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			all the way north with this open area
		
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			now that people can move around and see
		
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			for themselves even the Syrians going back to
		
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			their homes you just went to Damascus for
		
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			the first time in 12 years what shocked
		
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			you what amazed you?
		
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			This is like one of the things that
		
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			a lot of Syrians said to me was
		
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			that what you've seen of Syria you haven't
		
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			seen anything so we had just been obviously
		
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			in Idlib we lived in a small village
		
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			called Asma then we've moved here to Azad
		
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			so these villages, well they're literally like little
		
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			towns now but they were small little villages
		
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			that have become you know bigger towns because
		
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			most people have moved from the areas that
		
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			are being bombed to these areas so obviously
		
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			after the areas got liberated and were open
		
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			and we went and visited the rest of
		
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			Syria you know subhanAllah one thing obviously is
		
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			how beautiful Syria is and how really what
		
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			we've seen in these areas is you know
		
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			a tiny tiny bit of the beauty of
		
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			Syria obviously you have the beauty and the
		
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			Islamic history side of it but you have
		
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			the destruction I didn't think that when I
		
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			would go to Homs for example I would
		
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			see that scale of destruction and buildings literally
		
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			bombed out you know we went past one
		
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			building bombed out and there was one uncle
		
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			sitting on his rocking chair in his bombed
		
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			out home subhanAllah so that obviously opportunity that
		
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			was us not being from the land from
		
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			Syria having that reaction so we couldn't imagine
		
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			that feeling of the Syrians from those areas
		
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			going back to their home and seeing the
		
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			destruction and seeing how it's changed you know
		
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			over the past 12 years you know it's
		
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			heartbreaking but at the same time obviously it
		
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			was a very and it still is a
		
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			very very historical and happy moment for many
		
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			many people here We'll go back in a
		
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			second about what we didn't know but take
		
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			us now through those moments and hours yeah
		
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			when the news started to come through oh
		
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			there is a resistance you said to me
		
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			last night you said something really telling you
		
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			said you were almost hitting hopelessness this is
		
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			it for the rest of our lives describe
		
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			that yeah yeah so before about a week
		
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			before it had all happened I was just
		
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			like because we kind of what we say
		
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			like an Arabic you say Mahasa so you
		
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			can't we're kind of like we was kind
		
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			of locked off from the whole world so
		
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			in this area that we're in borders were
		
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			impossible to get out of them it was
		
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			always difficult bringing people in you know we
		
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			were just in these little areas and we
		
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			were not able to go to just say
		
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			Aleppo or go to Homs or Hama so
		
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			I was feeling you know is this what
		
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			it's gonna be like for the rest of
		
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			my life are we going to be stuck
		
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			in this place or is there going to
		
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			be an end to this are the people
		
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			going to see an end you know to
		
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			the suffering that they've been going through and
		
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			then within with one day that it was
		
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			announced that the battle had started and then
		
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			it was just literally updates and all the
		
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			groups a village after village then city then
		
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			town was just being taken up one after
		
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			the other and I tell you no one
		
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			slept that whole week no one slept literally
		
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			like obviously the people in the camps were
		
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			all from the areas inside of Syria so
		
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			when just say their village was taken their
		
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			village was liberated there would be like celebrations
		
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			everywhere gunshots people in their cars obviously here
		
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			they celebrate gunshots and shooting and stuff so
		
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			there were people going out on the street
		
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			and so the time leading up to the
		
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			liberation and the fall of Bashar al-Assad
		
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			it was very intense it was very intense
		
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			and it felt like it was like no
		
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			one kind of believed it it was like
		
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			is this really happening like they got to
		
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			Hama they really get to Hama they got
		
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			to Aleppo city do they really get to
		
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			Aleppo city and then can we really actually
		
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			see Aleppo city now because back in the
		
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			day when we first came the kid promised
		
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			to take me to Aleppo city but I
		
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			never got to go so he got to
		
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			see the city before and he said look
		
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			you're gonna go I'm gonna take you and
		
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			then obviously the siege happened and then it
		
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			fell and I never got to see the
		
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			city so even just to go and see
		
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			the city after 13 years it was it
		
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			was an amazing moments of Panama amazing moment
		
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			so so there's so so the opening comes
		
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			yeah and then you you travel down and
		
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			of course there's this immediate mitigation of joy
		
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			yeah by Israel bombing and invading going through
		
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			the Golden Heights Heights invading parts of Syria
		
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			were you where were you were you in
		
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			Damascus yeah so yeah so literally we made
		
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			the journey to Damascus the first day of
		
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			its liberation and we made the journey on
		
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			the same day so literally the news came
		
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			at Fajr that Bashar al-Assad had fallen
		
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			we were like that's it we're going so
		
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			we've got in the car we went and
		
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			by the time we reached Damascus it was
		
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			Maghreb so the whole skyline of Damascus was
		
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			just smoke so there had been Israeli bombings
		
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			there were burning of buildings containing any type
		
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			of evidence anything from the Assad regime they
		
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			were burning those buildings down and there were
		
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			also Israeli bombings happening at the same time
		
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			our first night in Damascus there was like
		
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			a whole hour of constant bombing bombing bombing
		
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			how do that it's it's it's an inane
		
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			question but I want you to describe how
		
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			it feels to have heard those bombings again
		
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			yeah were you afraid or were you like
		
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			oh it's just bombing does it ever reach
		
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			that yeah for me I think it's all
		
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			because my kids didn't go with me so
		
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			I was like had I made the right
		
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			decision to go as soon as I did
		
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			obviously as a mom you know you have
		
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			to make those decisions and hum that produce
		
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			the heart about at the same time I
		
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			don't think you can ever get used to
		
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			the bombs like we've been close to some
		
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			like some real big bombs but that night
		
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			I really felt like subhanAllah like can the
		
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			Syrian people not have you know a bit
		
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			of rest a bit of relief that hundred
		
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			in now the main aim that the people
		
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			wanted the main thing that everyone worked for
		
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			and sacrificed their lives for the fall of
		
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			Bashar al-Assad happened and still a few
		
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			hours after that they were still getting bombed
		
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			you know still being bombed it wasn't just
		
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			in Damascus also there was a bomb in
		
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			Tartus which some people actually say was a
		
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			nuclear bomb the way that it was so
		
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			huge that it caused an earthquake there was
		
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			a there was a tremor from from that
		
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			bomb so in my mind I was thinking
		
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			you know subhanAllah other people literally no no
		
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			rest you know subhanAllah and Israel obviously you
		
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			know there were talks saying that Bashar al
		
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			-Assad before he had left he told Israel
		
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			where the strategical points were and where the
		
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			military stuff was so they were targeting those
		
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			areas but literally it was like you've got
		
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			the good news in the morning come evening
		
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			it was it was a good week or
		
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			so that Israel was was in Damascus subhanAllah
		
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			so you can never get used to the
		
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			bombings and yeah I did have a sense
		
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			of fear definitely subhanAllah and Israel is that
		
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			part of this great confusion yeah as ever
		
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			yeah in the affairs of the Muslims yeah
		
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			about the Palestinian cries for justice and solidarity
		
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			and I know that there's been a lot
		
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			of confusion because I've been reading it too
		
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			and I almost got sucked into it that
		
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			the idea of geopolitics means that a cause
		
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			is more important than a people see what
		
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			I mean I just want to hear from
		
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			you on the ground in Syria the attitude
		
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			first of all towards people who are saying
		
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			Bashar al-Assad was useful to the Palestinian
		
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			cause yeah this is the thing that it
		
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			was a whole new whole new conversation discussion
		
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			that happened when the fall when the fall
		
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			of Bashar al-Assad happened I didn't expect
		
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			to be seeing these comments and I thought
		
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18
			that most of the people would understand and
		
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			be with us and be you know have
		
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			the same kind of understanding so when we
		
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			even have people on following us pro-Palestinian
		
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			supporters saying you guys you know Bashar al
		
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			-Assad had helped the Palestinian people and he
		
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			tell me in what in what way was
		
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			Bashar al-Assad helping the Palestinian people when
		
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			Palestinians fighters and Palestinians were taken out of
		
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			his prisons so after obviously the prisons were
		
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			liberated and the families were released there were
		
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			actually Palestinian Hamas fighters inside the prisons of
		
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			the Syrian regime you know so this is
		
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			where you see what we see that the
		
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			reason why Bashar al-Assad was getting involved
		
00:12:54 --> 00:12:55
			in the situation of Palestine was for his
		
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			own personal benefits but not for the benefit
		
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			of the Palestinian people and one message that
		
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02
			you know we try to get out to
		
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			people is that Bashar al-Assad was as
		
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			much as an oppressor and a war criminal
		
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10
			as Netanyahu so how can you how can
		
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			you support any one of them you know
		
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			it's impossible for us as Muslims and as
		
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			us as humanitarians and humans you know to
		
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			support anyone that had done that much oppression
		
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			and that much killing to you know you
		
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			know humankind and that's where obviously we try
		
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			to explain that to a lot of people
		
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			and I think that over time with videos
		
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			coming out from Palestine Palestinians celebrating with the
		
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			Syrians are saying they're happy for the for
		
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			their Syrian brothers and sisters people kind of
		
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			realize look even the Palestinians are happy for
		
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			Syria because at the end of the day
		
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			their struggle has been won and their struggle
		
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			they feel what the Syrians have felt their
		
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			feet they're still feeling it till this day
		
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			you know and I can say inshallah you
		
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			know alhamdulillah we've got to Masjid Umayyad you
		
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			know inshallah we pray that inshallah it's Al
		
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			-Aqsa next I mean I mean and in
		
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			fact that's not the first time I've heard
		
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			that dua here by the way brothers and
		
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			sisters the majority of people that you speak
		
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04
			to and the ones that don't mention this
		
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			I've forgotten to mention it at that particular
		
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			moment say Umayyad Masjid, Khalid bin Waleed Masjid,
		
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			tomorrow Al-Aqsa it's on the lips and
		
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			it's not impossible people you know like how
		
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			I of subhanallah was losing that hope and
		
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			how Allah changed the situation in a few
		
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			days you know Allah liberated the whole of
		
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			Syria in a few days you know subhan
		
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			even now as Palestine is going through the
		
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			worst that we could imagine you know it's
		
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			not impossible that Allah can change the situation
		
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34
			of the Palestinians and give victory for us
		
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36
			inshallah you know just like how he gave
		
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			victory here there's a weird thing about this
		
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			idea of clever people creating geopolitical narratives and
		
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			almost like Astaghfirullah this this Nafsi ego of
		
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			being a God who can see over what
		
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			everybody Putin's here and Biden's there and if
		
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			you move this and it's all gonna be
		
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			fine and a few hundred thousand dead never
		
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			mind it'll it'll work out in the end
		
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			when did we become a people I'm talking
		
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			to the Muslims here because you know if
		
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			you're not Muslim you I don't know do
		
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			you know you I don't know we all
		
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			have an ability to be humane yeah but
		
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			we don't want us as an ummah to
		
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			write off a hundred thousand believers in Allah
		
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			to Allah as dust for a cause the
		
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			mate yeah you know it reminds you of
		
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			the hadith about how valuable the blood of
		
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			one Muslim is and then you think about
		
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			the hundreds of thousands that have lost their
		
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			lives in Syria alone you know subhanAllah so
		
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			this is the thing that we know when
		
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			we hear that hadith about how valuable the
		
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			death the blood of one Muslim is and
		
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			how we should feel the pain of our
		
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			ummah are we really feeling that pain you
		
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			know are we really sincerely you know in
		
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			unity and feeling that for our brothers and
		
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			sisters because we don't want it to be
		
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			just okay Palestine is big in the news
		
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			let's help Palestinians Syria is big in the
		
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			news let's help Syria no as Muslims we
		
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			need to help our ummah you know whether
		
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			you are high in Iman or low in
		
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			Iman this is a duty upon us and
		
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			this is the thing you know a lot
		
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			of these Western propaganda tries to divide the
		
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			Muslims and even at the beginning of the
		
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			liberation where you had the comments of people
		
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			saying oh you know because you're against Bashar
		
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			al-Assad that means you're with Israel and
		
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14
			I was like how in the world does
		
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			that how does that make how does that
		
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			make us now with Israel because we're against
		
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			Bashar al-Assad yeah you know but then
		
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21
			it was like okay people had their own
		
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			concoctions going on in their in their in
		
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			their in their minds because of what they
		
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			were reading and what they were seeing and
		
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			all it done was create division between the
		
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			ummah and division between the main cause you
		
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			know which was bringing that that freedom and
		
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			that victory for the Muslims you know I
		
00:16:36 --> 00:16:40
			wonder how the Palestinians feel when that were
		
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43
			about Yarmouk camp yeah remind us about Yarmouk
		
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45
			okay so for people who are you're sitting
		
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			there and I know you have love for
		
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			Palestine and you know I know that you
		
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			are most likely feeling my god what these
		
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			people have been through you know they've been
		
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			forced into refugee status for 75 years plus
		
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			Yarmouk yeah so did you get to go
		
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			to Yarmouk I did you went to Yarmouk
		
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			but I don't want to say I want
		
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			you to say so I haven't actually been
		
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			yet right then I'll say it but yeah
		
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			yeah yeah but obviously I've heard stories yeah
		
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			my god when I what it is like
		
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			what they're doing to Gaza it was Gaza
		
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			before Gaza Yarmouk you have to understand this
		
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			absolute cataclysm of bombs and snipers and emptying
		
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			of the area and starvation people eating grass
		
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			people eating cats okay people starving people freezing
		
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			that famous awful picture of you know half
		
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			a million Palestinians going for across the bread
		
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			bread being delivered by by aid workers Palestinians
		
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			being tortured by Oh Bashar al-Assad so
		
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			we care about Palestinians there but not there
		
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54
			we're for a cause that that negates humanity
		
00:17:54 --> 00:17:57
			as long as there's a principle you know
		
00:17:57 --> 00:17:58
			what is the principle what is the principle
		
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01
			so far yeah that's that you know like
		
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02
			what I said so far now you know
		
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			it's a it's a on my thing it's
		
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			not about okay a Syrian or a Palestinian
		
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			you know at the end of the day
		
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			so far now this is all be like
		
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			the sham you know so it's all one
		
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14
			but we cannot be okay because of he
		
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			was the the head of Syria we stick
		
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			with Syrians or we only want this victory
		
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			for Syrians no you know the struggle is
		
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			for for the whole for the whole of
		
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			my everyone that is suffering everyone that is
		
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27
			under oppression and like the Palestinians they have
		
00:18:27 --> 00:18:31
			been through so much even under the ruling
		
00:18:31 --> 00:18:32
			of Bashar al-Assad they were not helped
		
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35
			they were still put under much oppression and
		
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37
			so upon that obvious I think many people
		
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38
			probably have seen a lot of videos that
		
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40
			came out of your morgue of children that
		
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			were really really malnourished the same as water
		
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			the same as you know so many areas
		
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			that were besieged here in Syria and literally
		
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			left to eat the grass animal feed you
		
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52
			know subhanallah so this is the thing you
		
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54
			know so upon that it was a war
		
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56
			war against Islam and this is still happening
		
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59
			right now you know in what's happening right
		
00:18:59 --> 00:19:00
			now in the world you know because inshallah
		
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03
			Islam will be victorious and you know that's
		
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06
			what the aim is and you know they
		
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08
			the West you try to put to put
		
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10
			their agendas and try and make it look
		
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12
			like a bad thing but we know that
		
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14
			Islam will bring good and the Islam that
		
00:19:14 --> 00:19:16
			they portray is not the Islam that we
		
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			believe in so when we talk I mean
		
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20
			if you're not Muslim and you're watching this
		
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23
			listen this is a stain on humanity you
		
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25
			know and if your heart hurts that like
		
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28
			our hearts hurt that's because we have a
		
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31
			fitra a natural propensity to feeling for one
		
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34
			another and to having regret and shame good
		
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37
			things to a degree that it doesn't debilitate
		
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39
			us so let your heart be your guide
		
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41
			here and when someone like Bashar al-Assad
		
00:19:41 --> 00:19:48
			is supported and accepted by the mainstream politics
		
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50
			around the world because he was he went
		
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52
			to the banquets and the dinners and he
		
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54
			met the Queen of England and he was
		
00:19:54 --> 00:19:59
			you know around those wealthy people he was
		
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01
			not enough of a pariah because nothing was
		
00:20:01 --> 00:20:04
			done then it hurts all of us I
		
00:20:04 --> 00:20:08
			think it hurts the human body on this
		
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10
			planet it hurts all of us and him
		
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13
			going we should breathe a bit we must
		
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16
			breathe a bit easier alhamdulillah we say all
		
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19
			thanks and praise to Allah so in the
		
00:20:19 --> 00:20:23
			first few days yeah being an activist instead
		
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26
			of celebrating and going around and you know
		
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28
			handle a handing out sweets you and your
		
00:20:28 --> 00:20:34
			husband went straight to hospitals yeah in it
		
00:20:34 --> 00:20:37
			down in Damascus yeah tell us what you
		
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39
			were looking at looking for what you saw
		
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40
			so the first trips that we made to
		
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43
			Damascus you know obviously when you hear Damascus
		
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45
			is free you think you know I want
		
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46
			to go pray in the Umayyad and it's
		
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48
			not the first trip that we made we
		
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50
			didn't even get to pray our Salah in
		
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52
			the Umayyad Masjid because we were just you
		
00:20:52 --> 00:20:56
			know subhanAllah the happiness of the liberation you
		
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58
			could see that but then you'd see people
		
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02
			in Damascus looking really sad and depressed and
		
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04
			we asked a few people like why are
		
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05
			you sad you know what is it that
		
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08
			you're feeling and one sister said to us
		
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09
			I tried to go and find my brother
		
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12
			and I couldn't find him so obviously the
		
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13
			reality of the situation was that it was
		
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15
			still such a sad time for so many
		
00:21:15 --> 00:21:19
			people so the first few days we were
		
00:21:19 --> 00:21:22
			in Sayyidinaya we went to Sayyidinaya prison there
		
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25
			were literally miles and miles of cars just
		
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27
			waiting to try and get into the prison
		
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30
			trying to find any type of any clue
		
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32
			that their relative was either in the prison
		
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35
			still in the prison had been released you
		
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37
			know one of the things that obviously I
		
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38
			wish that there was I wish that there
		
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40
			was more of a system in place because
		
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42
			there were a lot of prisoners that were
		
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44
			just let out to go and then they
		
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46
			were missing and obviously they've come out of
		
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48
			prison they're not in their right minds they've
		
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50
			literally forgotten everything you know so who was
		
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52
			supposed to be helping those people try it
		
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53
			you know try and get back to their
		
00:21:53 --> 00:21:57
			family so obviously we spent some time in
		
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59
			the prison and talk to us a little
		
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02
			bit about the feeling and yeah it was
		
00:22:02 --> 00:22:07
			really it was really horrible you know to
		
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09
			put it to put it like that and
		
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11
			we went to one of the hospitals where
		
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13
			the body bags were where the bodies were
		
00:22:13 --> 00:22:17
			and subhanAllah the hospital in itself felt like
		
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20
			a prison the hospital the smell was just
		
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23
			death it was dark it was dingy families
		
00:22:23 --> 00:22:26
			were just running around crying literally holding up
		
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28
			their phones to us asking like have you
		
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30
			seen this person like this is my husband
		
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32
			is my brother have you seen him so
		
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34
			we walked through the hospital and then we
		
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37
			got to this room and where there were
		
00:22:37 --> 00:22:41
			black body bags and subhanAllah there was probably
		
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44
			about nine bodies in this room and at
		
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45
			the same time whilst we were in there
		
00:22:45 --> 00:22:49
			and loads like just tens and tens of
		
00:22:49 --> 00:22:50
			people coming in to just have a look
		
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53
			and see if that was there you could
		
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55
			see the faces but the bodies you could
		
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57
			see the torture on the bodies and obviously
		
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59
			the smell obviously we don't know how long
		
00:22:59 --> 00:23:05
			those bodies had been in that room alone
		
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07
			there was nine but there were many different
		
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09
			other rooms where there were there are more
		
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11
			bodies and more bodies were being found in
		
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14
			that period so in one hospital more bodies
		
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17
			and one thing that really made me like
		
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20
			kind of like a bit shocked was in
		
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22
			that hospital we tried to speak to the
		
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23
			nurses just to ask them about how the
		
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26
			situation is for them what it was like
		
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29
			whilst you know before the liberation and the
		
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31
			fear that they had they didn't even want
		
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33
			to speak to us they said that you
		
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35
			know just be careful because they're watching you
		
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38
			because back when Bashar al-Assad was in
		
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40
			power he would have spies on every single
		
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43
			corner of the road spies in every everywhere
		
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46
			every supermarket cafe even in the hospitals so
		
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48
			they even still had that fear in them
		
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50
			not to speak to us or say anything
		
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52
			or give us any information although we're trying
		
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54
			to help but they still had that fear
		
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56
			that they didn't even want to give us
		
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58
			their names you know give us any bit
		
00:23:58 --> 00:23:59
			of information and I think we need to
		
00:23:59 --> 00:24:04
			clarify something well said Naya prison people are
		
00:24:04 --> 00:24:07
			hoping to find hundreds of thousands of missing
		
00:24:07 --> 00:24:10
			people because it's vast and people were crammed
		
00:24:10 --> 00:24:14
			in and their brothers and sisters and aunties
		
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16
			and uncles they all were missing but when
		
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18
			you went there on these days only a
		
00:24:18 --> 00:24:22
			few hundred emerged yeah so everyone's going okay
		
00:24:22 --> 00:24:24
			this is the biggest prison we know there
		
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			are other hidden prisons but where are they
		
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			where are they yeah and then the mass
		
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			graves start coming to to site interview and
		
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			I stood on one in Al-Khatefa yeah
		
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			did you go to I didn't go to
		
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			Al-Khatefa I didn't go because that way
		
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			basically Tokia found that on his way back
		
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			from the second time he was in Damascus
		
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			so one brother stopped them on the road
		
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			and said guys go this way yeah there's
		
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			a mass grave over there so he filmed
		
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			there and one of the things that subhanallah
		
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			has made me really think and feel and
		
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			think about is those mass graves there were
		
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04
			actually civilians that were actually literally forced to
		
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06
			wash the bodies and you know the bodies
		
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08
			that were whole and put and to bury
		
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			them if they had said no or if
		
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			they had said anything they would literally have
		
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			the same fate so in that situation and
		
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			people knowing knowing that those mass graves were
		
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			there and living next to them you know
		
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			imagine the fear that these people were living
		
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			under subhanallah and then obviously with the prisons
		
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			you know a few days later after the
		
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			prisons were liberated and there was a kind
		
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31
			of like an app so you put the
		
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			name of your your family member inside it
		
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			and it would give you their status whether
		
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			they're alive or they're dead and subhanallah many
		
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			people that lost their family members from like
		
00:25:41 --> 00:25:44
			2013 literally found out that that same year
		
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			or even like the year later 2014 that
		
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			they had passed away but from that time
		
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			2013 from that time all the way till
		
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			2023 2024 they had been paying thousands and
		
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			thousands of dollars to get a visit to
		
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			get any news on their family members you
		
00:26:01 --> 00:26:05
			know and I just want to to remind
		
00:26:05 --> 00:26:09
			ourselves that the actual whole bodies were in
		
00:26:09 --> 00:26:12
			the minority yeah what what I saw in
		
00:26:12 --> 00:26:15
			Pataifa when I went yeah were bin liners
		
00:26:15 --> 00:26:21
			plastic bags industrial plastic bags of parts of
		
00:26:21 --> 00:26:25
			pieces some of them small bones some of
		
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26
			them and and it was it was like
		
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29
			a field like this right yeah feel like
		
00:26:29 --> 00:26:32
			this and you're and when I found out
		
00:26:32 --> 00:26:37
			that I'd been walking on 100,000 human
		
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			remains not bodies yeah that gives you just
		
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43
			a tiny sense of the scale of what
		
00:26:44 --> 00:26:46
			so what what's your what's your work that
		
00:26:46 --> 00:26:49
			you do and how do you see people
		
00:26:49 --> 00:26:52
			moving through this well you know subhanallah obviously
		
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54
			we've got many projects here we're building the
		
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			super village and at the beginning of the
		
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59
			liberation it was like you know what the
		
00:26:59 --> 00:27:02
			people that have homes and let them go
		
00:27:02 --> 00:27:03
			back to their homes now let's host how
		
00:27:03 --> 00:27:05
			the people from Damascus and the other areas
		
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07
			but I'm glad all the areas are now
		
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10
			free but the sad reality is is that
		
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12
			there are still millions of tents still millions
		
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14
			of refugees living in tents although Syria is
		
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16
			free it doesn't mean that every single family
		
00:27:16 --> 00:27:18
			has a home to go back to because
		
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20
			of the vast majority the vast amount of
		
00:27:20 --> 00:27:24
			destruction and literal towns areas are literally to
		
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26
			the ground and the sad thing is is
		
00:27:26 --> 00:27:29
			that as you know the regime were bombing
		
00:27:29 --> 00:27:32
			areas they were literally stealing anything from the
		
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34
			houses of these families so you know at
		
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36
			the same time whilst we are celebrating and
		
00:27:36 --> 00:27:37
			a lot of people are celebrating the victory
		
00:27:37 --> 00:27:39
			there are still people right now you know
		
00:27:39 --> 00:27:42
			we've had a week long of heavy heavy
		
00:27:42 --> 00:27:45
			rain they're still suffering in their tents you
		
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47
			know we really hope that they will feel
		
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49
			the real relief and the real victory of
		
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52
			this liberation by getting out of tents inshallah
		
00:27:52 --> 00:27:55
			and going into into homes and having that
		
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58
			honorable life and living you know a life
		
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00
			that they have linked we making dua for
		
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01
			the sad thing is obviously when you think
		
00:28:01 --> 00:28:03
			about those that have lost their lives along
		
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05
			the way due to the cold due to
		
00:28:05 --> 00:28:08
			sicknesses due to you know living in these
		
00:28:08 --> 00:28:11
			tents that are not made for this long
		
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13
			term living 12 years living in a tent
		
00:28:13 --> 00:28:17
			you know it's not something that's easy and
		
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19
			so inshallah we're gonna have you know inshallah
		
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22
			projects coming up where we're gonna inshallah be
		
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24
			hoping to rebuild Syria to be a part
		
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26
			of rebuilding Syria and I really feel that
		
00:28:26 --> 00:28:30
			our work starts now subhanallah you know the
		
00:28:30 --> 00:28:32
			main work the big work starts now inshallah
		
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33
			a lot of people messaged me like is
		
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35
			that it you're coming you're gonna leave Syria
		
00:28:35 --> 00:28:41
			now a couple days after the the opening
		
00:28:41 --> 00:28:43
			of Syria was so I guess the camps
		
00:28:43 --> 00:28:46
			empty now she's like no nobody's left and
		
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48
			you have to get to grips with this
		
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50
			they're not leaving but because they're getting reports
		
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52
			when when people have gone back there's nothing
		
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55
			there's not even a window pane or a
		
00:28:55 --> 00:28:58
			screw in light bulb or wiring they took
		
00:28:58 --> 00:29:01
			everything the regime and these were kickbacks for
		
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04
			their workers like whatever you can find go
		
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06
			and do this like the people those not
		
00:29:07 --> 00:29:10
			people those IOF invaders in Gaza they go
		
00:29:10 --> 00:29:12
			and and rip everything out and take it
		
00:29:12 --> 00:29:16
			and it's pillaging the exact term is pillaging
		
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18
			so the people need these supervillages they need
		
00:29:18 --> 00:29:22
			these new environments some of them I have
		
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24
			such bad memories of what went on there
		
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26
			they're willing to stay in as as so
		
00:29:26 --> 00:29:27
			to be part of the rebuilds we have
		
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30
			to be realistic and know what's going on
		
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32
			and what the people want and what the
		
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33
			people are definitely definitely and we want to
		
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35
			try and encourage people as well to go
		
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36
			back to their areas you know we don't
		
00:29:36 --> 00:29:38
			want to leave that the areas you know
		
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41
			empty you know we can inshallah Yanni had
		
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43
			home by home bring the life back to
		
00:29:43 --> 00:29:46
			these areas you know even after destruction you
		
00:29:46 --> 00:29:49
			know if the umma really works together it
		
00:29:49 --> 00:29:50
			can happen you know it can really happen
		
00:29:50 --> 00:29:53
			and you know it's upon those areas we've
		
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54
			seen here how humble now you can build
		
00:29:54 --> 00:29:56
			a block of flats you know within a
		
00:29:56 --> 00:29:57
			few months you know now we shall we
		
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59
			want to be putting that work in deeper
		
00:29:59 --> 00:30:01
			into Syria in these areas that have been
		
00:30:01 --> 00:30:03
			destroyed and allowing these homes to go back
		
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05
			to what you know their homes you know
		
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07
			the main door that you hear from the
		
00:30:07 --> 00:30:10
			Syrian people after all these years was may
		
00:30:10 --> 00:30:11
			Allah relieve this from us and take us
		
00:30:11 --> 00:30:14
			back to our home you know so alhamdulillah
		
00:30:14 --> 00:30:15
			we're at a moment now where we can
		
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17
			you know we can do that but obviously
		
00:30:17 --> 00:30:20
			we need the support from from people outside
		
00:30:20 --> 00:30:21
			and you know we hope for the future
		
00:30:21 --> 00:30:23
			that we see we don't see no more
		
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25
			tents I mean you know you know these
		
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27
			tents are inshallah that you know the end
		
00:30:27 --> 00:30:30
			inshallah you know tent by tent you know
		
00:30:30 --> 00:30:33
			get these families into homes inshallah I mean
		
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36
			I mean jazakum Allah for being with me
		
00:30:36 --> 00:30:39
			today this is one busy busy person mashallah
		
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41
			you can see stables back there her family
		
00:30:41 --> 00:30:45
			has helped build these via a fantastic charity
		
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47
			called Ikra it's for the kids these are
		
00:30:47 --> 00:30:50
			widows and orphans use this environment families who
		
00:30:50 --> 00:30:53
			are displaced then they no need to be
		
00:30:53 --> 00:30:56
			displaced anymore once we get the homes rebuilt
		
00:30:56 --> 00:31:01
			inshallah beautiful cities across Syria oh Allah give
		
00:31:01 --> 00:31:04
			freedom from the loom give bless our sham
		
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05
			bless our people of sham bless the people
		
00:31:05 --> 00:31:08
			of Gaza and the West Bank and maybe
		
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10
			we'll be joined to pray one day in
		
00:31:10 --> 00:31:10
			a free