A man sits in front of his house in the devastated neighborhood of Karm Shamsham, bordering the old city of Homs, on Oct. 4, 2025. (Credit: Amélie Zaccour/L'Orient-Le Jour)
They met three years ago at university. Khodor worked evenings in a café to pay for his art studies. Nada dreamed of becoming a teacher. Their faces still carried traces of adolescence. They were supposed to get married in the spring, after their final exams.Everything was ready: the house, the bed, the kitchenware. At 24, Nada and Khodor had their whole lives ahead of them.It came to a brutal end on Feb. 18. The couple were returning home around 9:30 p.m. to the Alawite neighborhood of Akrama, where Khodor lived. Two masked men on a motorcycle suddenly appeared outside the building, shattering the night in an instant. More on Syria Why Syria renewed its boycott of Israeli products One bullet to Khodor’s head. Another near Nada’s heart. He died on the doorstep. She died an hour later in the hospital.In Akrama, grief is etched on...
They met three years ago at university. Khodor worked evenings in a café to pay for his art studies. Nada dreamed of becoming a teacher. Their faces still carried traces of adolescence. They were supposed to get married in the spring, after their final exams.Everything was ready: the house, the bed, the kitchenware. At 24, Nada and Khodor had their whole lives ahead of them.It came to a brutal end on Feb. 18. The couple were returning home around 9:30 p.m. to the Alawite neighborhood of Akrama, where Khodor lived. Two masked men on a motorcycle suddenly appeared outside the building, shattering the night in an instant. More on Syria Why Syria renewed its boycott of Israeli products One bullet to Khodor’s head. Another near Nada’s heart. He died on the doorstep. She died an hour later in the hospital.In Akrama, grief is etched...
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