Enab Baladi – Muwafaq al-Khouja

During his only leave before his defection, Hussein al-Kabsh (34 years old) realized that it was the last time he would see his mother and family, and this indeed happened.

In late 2012, the thirty-something young man defected from the Syrian regime’s army and joined one of the opposition factions fighting in the city of Douma on the outskirts of Damascus. He later moved with several members of his faction to his hometown, Aleppo.

Since that day, Hussein has lost direct contact with his father and siblings, although he did manage to call his mother to inform her of his decision to defect while she was crying and lamenting her fate.

His mother’s tears and her emotional attachment to him did not dissuade him from his decision; instead, he made justifications to prevent her from convincing him to return. If he went back to his military barracks, long prison sentences awaited him.

His justifications included destroying his motorcycle, which was in his possession, along with all his personal documents, and calling the officer in charge of him to insult him.

Military confrontations

Hassan, the brother who is one year younger than Hussein, joined the ranks of the regime’s army shortly after him. Unlike his older brother, the younger sibling adhered to the family’s supportive stance and was soon sent to fight in Aleppo.

While Hussein was stationed guarding the area around the Kindi hospital in Aleppo, he learned that he was confronting his brother Hassan, who was fighting for the regime from within the hospital at that time.

Hussein did not believe he was facing his brother; rather, he was fighting against the “wrongness” that Hassan was standing with, as he put it.

After the death of his younger brother, who was enlisted in the regime’s army at the Ramousseh front in Aleppo, Hussein remarked that his sorrow for his brother was less than his grief over the loss of a friend who had been killed alongside the opposition fighters.

Alongside Hussein, Enab Baladi met other cases that were also divided because of political alignments, such as Suad al-Jazaa from Deir Ezzor, who has been desperately trying for 12 years to reunite with her brothers, Jihad and Imad.

Jihad is a fighter in the ranks of the Free Syrian Army, while Imad joined the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after they took control of parts of Deir Ezzor.

Despite all three siblings living in the same city, Suad has not been able to receive a hug or even a phone call from either of them.

According to what the lady told Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Deir Ezzor, the division between the siblings stemmed from her husband’s position as an officer in the regime’s army, which forced her to choose between staying with him or leaving to meet her brothers.

What causes the division?

Since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, the Syrian community has been divided into supporters of the regime and opponents calling for its downfall.

This division has intensified over time, reaching a point of estrangement between family members due to differing political views, even thirteen years after the revolution began.

Because of the division within Syrian geography among the multiple conflict parties and the variance in political allegiances within the same family, these families have also witnessed affiliations on the military level, even leading to confrontations and fighting at times.

Social researcher Dr. Safwan Qassam told Enab Baladi that what has happened in Syria is not a natural division but rather a “pathological” division resulting from a violent shock that has shattered social relationships.

Qassam added that it is not strange for communities during times of crisis, especially political ones that involve adopting viewpoints and alignments, to experience a “horizontal and vertical” division in their social structures.

Geographic polarizations

The polarization towards either the regime or against it has taken on a regional, tribal, sectarian, and familial character, as indicated by social researcher Safwan Moshli.

Moshli added that these polarizations have acquired their own geography, explaining that Syrian geography has been divided into what are called “useful” areas, “liberated” areas, Kurdish territories opposed to Arab areas, in addition to sectarian divisions that have their own borders and militias.

Writer Hamza Rastanawi published an article at the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies last July, stating that the political division among Syrians arose based on a specific political perspective, and the political alignments were influenced by personal experiences.

His family opposed his defection

In addition to following news and events in the region, Hussein al-Kabsh was a witness to the protests and the campaigns of arrests that targeted Syrians, who were brought to Palestine branch and Branch 92 during his service in the army.

Since he served on al-Tawjeeh street in Damascus, he also witnessed acts of torture from the records building that overlooked the security branches’ squares, which propelled him to defect, as Hussein recounted.

On the other hand, his family opposed his decision to defect, as they predominantly supported the ruling authority due to a tribal connection with the former Minister of Defense, Jassem al-Freij, who had conscripted them for the regime’s benefit at that time, as Hussein remarked.

Hussein began his mandatory service in March 2011; having previously worked in internet cafes, he was sufficiently experienced in using Skype and Facebook, which were both banned in Syria.

During that time, he constantly followed news from uncensored platforms, while his family only catered to official and regime-affiliated media.

Social reasons strengthening estrangement

The cases encountered by Enab Baladi cannot be generalized across the Syrian community; they represent “individual cases that deserve study” to understand the humanitarian motives behind human behaviors, as social researcher Safwan Moshli stated to Enab Baladi.

The familial relationship between Hussein and his siblings, or Suad and her brothers, was within the normal framework before the revolution, unlike Ahmed al-Mousa (49 years old), whose estrangement with his brother began before the revolution.

Political reasons were not the sole drivers behind Ahmed’s severing of ties with his brother; there were also social factors alongside the political ones.

Ahmed described himself as religiously committed, while his older brother was “morally lax,” which created a rift in their relationship even before the revolution.

The regime arrested Ahmed in 2005 due to his association with Mahmoud Qul Agassi, known as “Abu al-Qaqaa,” who played a significant role in inviting Syrian youth to “Jihad against the Americans,” as he described it, during the invasion of Iraq.

During his incarceration, Ahmed noted that his brother took advantage of his absence, provoked his wife, and took money and gold from her under the pretense that it was to help in securing his release from prison, adding, “He even went so far as to tell family members that he had been killed to obtain the inheritance.”

Ahmed’s imprisonment lasted six years, and during the first three years, his family could not determine his whereabouts. Even when they eventually succeeded in that, his brother did not visit him.

The real estrangement between Ahmed and his brother began just before the Free Syrian Army factions took over the eastern areas of Aleppo in July 2012.

Ahmed received his brother’s final call at that time, when his brother was part of what are known as the “popular committees” or “Shabiha,” and he informed him that he intended to join the ranks of the “rebels.”

Due to Ahmed’s knowledge of his brother’s pro-regime political stance, he felt a “trap” was being laid and decided to leave his place of residence and move to opposition-controlled areas for fear of being reported.

Will the rift continue?

Ahmad links the reasons for the rift with his brother to the continued rule of the Syrian regime; he believes that if this reason is removed, the rift will end.

Hussein also has a similar stance to Ahmad’s, stating to Enab Baladi that he does not want to be on the side of the “oppressor,” referring to the Syrian regime. He believes that if the regime falls, family relations will return to normal.

Social researcher Safwan Qassam observes that the division becomes more entrenched over time, as individuals who have disagreed on the initial narrative of the Syrian issue are unlikely to change the positions they have adopted throughout their lives and have worked to amass selective facts. For them, doing so would mean wasting 13 years of their lives.

Perspectives

In a dialogue between independent thinkers conducted by the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies last September regarding the “societal split based on political stance,” participants expressed two perspectives on the practical mechanism for addressing the disagreements among Syrians divided by political positions.

The first perspective argues that it is difficult to discuss any solutions before achieving an “acceptable justice path that includes everyone.” This path should encompass all parties that have committed violations against the Syrian people, not just the Syrian regime and its symbols.

Proponents of the first perspective link the solution to several factors, including the establishment of a political life in Syria and effective parties capable of undertaking impactful work regarding the political division.

Other factors mentioned by the research team include developing community participation and balanced economic development in all Syrian regions.

On the other hand, the second group of participants in the Harmoon Center dialogue believes that addressing the divisions among Syrians does not require the conditions mentioned by the first group of discussants.

They proposed several ideas for resolving the divisions, including enhancing and developing dialogue among Syrians and expanding the discussions from closed circles that include activists to broader circles that encompass all trends and affiliations.