In the family apartment in Jableh, Abdallah places a blanket over the window to block the light for fear of being noticed by the security forces. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient-Le Jour)
"I will be dressed in black and my aunt will wear a white veil. You will recognize us."Just 30 minutes earlier, Hoda*, in her 40s, was still unsure whether she would come to the meeting on the morning of May 30. Around the corner of an almost deserted street in the costal Syrian town of Jableh, there she is — waiting on the sidewalk alongside Umm Ali*The two women then slip into a small downtown apartment, which belongs to Umm Ali's sister. A simple wooden branch barricades the front door, and blankets hang over the windows. "Forgive us for all the scheming, but if they find out that we are speaking to the press, God knows what they will do to us," murmurs the old lady, hastily pulling off her veil with a theatrical gesture. "This, this is me."Since leaving the Russian military base in Hmeimim, in the Latakia governorate, where she had...
"I will be dressed in black and my aunt will wear a white veil. You will recognize us."Just 30 minutes earlier, Hoda*, in her 40s, was still unsure whether she would come to the meeting on the morning of May 30. Around the corner of an almost deserted street in the costal Syrian town of Jableh, there she is — waiting on the sidewalk alongside Umm Ali*The two women then slip into a small downtown apartment, which belongs to Umm Ali's sister. A simple wooden branch barricades the front door, and blankets hang over the windows. "Forgive us for all the scheming, but if they find out that we are speaking to the press, God knows what they will do to us," murmurs the old lady, hastily pulling off her veil with a theatrical gesture. "This, this is me."Since leaving the Russian military base in Hmeimim, in the Latakia governorate, where she...