A photo of Ahmad al-Sharaa, the new Syrian leader, as a child, circulating on the internet.
Two months have passed since Maya Azem received the news, yet the moment feels as fresh as if it happened yesterday, the emotions still raw.It was Dec. 9, 2024. The phone rang. On the other end, her brother Majed was calling from the city of Qusayr, where he had been kidnapped in late September by an operative of Asma al-Assad, the wife of the ousted president.“Ahmad freed me,” he told her. Tears welled up. His captors repeatedly sent videos of him — naked, tortured, covered in blood. She thought he was lost. She prayed to God, pleaded with powerful figures, and did everything possible to gather the $10,000 ransom demanded for his release.In the end, it was her former neighbor, the one she still calls “little Ahmad,” who secured his freedom. Read more In Riyadh, Sharaa intends to build the new Syria The 50-year-old woman had first...
Two months have passed since Maya Azem received the news, yet the moment feels as fresh as if it happened yesterday, the emotions still raw.It was Dec. 9, 2024. The phone rang. On the other end, her brother Majed was calling from the city of Qusayr, where he had been kidnapped in late September by an operative of Asma al-Assad, the wife of the ousted president.“Ahmad freed me,” he told her. Tears welled up. His captors repeatedly sent videos of him — naked, tortured, covered in blood. She thought he was lost. She prayed to God, pleaded with powerful figures, and did everything possible to gather the $10,000 ransom demanded for his release.In the end, it was her former neighbor, the one she still calls “little Ahmad,” who secured his freedom. Read more In Riyadh, Sharaa intends to build the new Syria The 50-year-old woman...