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TESTIMONIES

'Every day, I breathed torture': Souheil Hamawi, a Lebanese man, recounts 33 years in Syrian prisons

Originally from Chekka, the man is the first Lebanese detainee freed from Syrian prisons to return home. For his wife, Josephine, “everything has changed.”

'Every day, I breathed torture': Souheil Hamawi, a Lebanese man, recounts 33 years in Syrian prisons

Souheil Hamawi is presented with a cake by his grandchildren in Chekka, northern Lebanon, on Dec. 9, 2024, after spending 33 years in a Syrian prison. (Credit: Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP)

Dec. 3, 1992. Lebanon has been under Syrian occupation for 16 years. Syrian army checkpoints across the country monitor movements, while the intelligence services of Hafez Assad's regime, both in uniform and plain clothes, control the Lebanese...
Dec. 3, 1992. Lebanon has been under Syrian occupation for 16 years. Syrian army checkpoints across the country monitor movements, while the intelligence services of Hafez Assad's regime, both in uniform and plain clothes, control the Lebanese...