Tens of thousands of loyal fighters from the coastal region of Syria have become crippled and dependent on their families and society, after fighting to defend the al-Assad regime. Now that they are of no service to the regime, the regime offers them no support and they have no job prospects to gain their independence again.
-Women work to support men-
Activists identified several former soldiers and militia members in the village of Sinjuan who returned to the village with disabilities. They indicated that pro-regime household in the area has at least one injured or disabled person who requires material and medical assistance.
Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, activist Mohammed al-Saheli, found that more than 100 people from the village of Sinjuan alone, were killed fighting for the regime. More than 70 young men are still unaccounted for, about 50 fighters returned with permanent disabilities preventing them from working. More than 70% of the village’s youths are either killed, disabled, missing or escaped to seek asylum. Those still present in the village await a fate similar to those who preceded them.
The authorities neglect the majority of the fighters returning with disabilities. Their families are poor, and they are dependent on the women in the family to support the family financially. Many of the women work in agriculture, in the service sector or businesses “in jobs that were monopolized by men such as brickwork, carpentry, factory work, industrial workshops and even professional car repair.”
Meanwhile, disabled men stay at home or move around the village on wheelchairs. Many require help to conduct any action.
-Death Would Have Been More Merciful-
Wounded and disabled former fighters voiced their discontent with the regime and regretted the sacrifices they had made for the regime to survive. Some expressed their wish to die as an escape from their humiliating lives.
Speaking to Ammar Johmani, Ali. H, one former soldier, openly said he wants to die. He added, “We left our families and went to perform our duty and defend the homeland. But the homeland and the master of the homeland throw us into the road like dogs, and we wait to see who will be kind to us, and the Red Crescent provides us with assistance that is funded by the enemies of the homeland."
“I need everything, and my wife’s salary, who works as a temporary laborer in the Agriculture Directorate, is barely enough to pay the rent and the expenses of my three children. So far I have not been accepted as a war casualty because I was a National Defense volunteer which they do not consider to be part of the army. They treat me as a mercenary who fought for a daily wage, and so I do not deserve any compensation according to them. I am still following up with them, but I have not reached any solution despite the many promises that I will receive a permanent salary. My treatment will continue for a long time according to what the neurologist told me as I suffer from a fracture in my spinal cord, which caused me to lose movement in my lower body,” he said.
-Murder through Neglect-
Samar J. wrote on the Jabla News page, “My name is Samar M.J., and I am the sister of the wounded soldier R.M.J from Jabla, Hamimim village. My brother was wounded by a sniper, and they took him to 601 Hospital in al-Mazi where they conducted operations to remove his spleen, another operation for his kidneys and three of his spinal disks were crushed. He lost feeling in his legs. They checked him out of the hospital in under a week and handed over to us with a wound in his back still own. He suffered from a strong convulsion and went into a state of shock from the strength of the infection because they did not give us enough medication. I felt like 601 Hospital treated my brother like a terrorist and not a wounded army fighter. He was referred to Tishreen Hospital in Damascus, but they would not receive him so we went to al-Watan Hospital, but my brother was finished and died by that point.”
“Imagine, because I am an amputee who has provided all I have for the homeland, I am unemployable,” said Qusoura A. who lost his legs while defending the regime in the Palmyra desert.
He added, “An official said, you war wounded have destroyed the country’s economy. How do you want to be employed when your legs are amputated, we can no longer benefit from you.”
Still hopeful, Qusoura A. directed an appeal to Bashar al-Assad, as if al-Assad knows nothing of his and similar cases. He said, “Mr President, we know that you are the compassionate father and do not accept the humiliation of an injured person, see what they did to the dignity of the homeland’s wounded.
