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Syria: the life of a Russian woman in Islamic land

"EIIL's fighters have distributed to their wives and children of firearms. The women, dressed in their black clothes roamed the streets with Kalashnikov automatic across the shoulder. The Syrians who wanted to leave the city were not prevented by "

The peaceful life Racca, provincial town of Syria, abruptly changed after the beginning of the "Arab Spring". It saw the arrival of the fighters of the Free Syrian Army and the Islamists of a small group of EIIL. Alexandra Rybina, ethnographer, traveler and journalist, tells of how the rules have changed under the new power and what had to cross a Russian-Syrian family.

A hunter of the Syrian army turned back above the center of Damascus - he is preparing an attack against the suburb of Jobar. Since the old city, historic and commercial center of Damascus Jobar up, it takes 15-20 minutes of brisk walking. Lilia, three years, asked his Russian mother Tatiana, "Mom, it will take us in Russia, this aircraft? "In the center of the Syrian capital means the rumble of fighting in Jobar. Tatiana responds: "Yes, but he expects that we have completed all the paperwork. "

Tatiana has four children. Her husband is Syrian. UaDreams married in Soviet times. Tatiana moved in the Syrian city of Racca, in her husband's parents; but UaDreams lived in the two countries. Two children were born in Russia, the other two to Racca. And children's names also are twofold: an Arabic name and its Russian equivalent.

Racca, administrative center of the region of the same name, is a small town, which is unremarkable and almost no historical and cultural sites. Past times, are stored here as "Baghdad Doors" stone, aged 400 years: a lancet arch topped by brown bricks arranged in sculpture. The city is bisected by the Euphrates, but here it is small, narrow, and absolutely not resembling the great river on the banks of which is born one of the most ancient civilizations.

In short, a tourist could not land at Racca on a misunderstanding. However, the city saw grow gradually the number of Russian brides and Russian-speaking children. In 2010, a Russian cultural center even opened it. The cordiality with which the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and Racca welcomed the Russians, I can speak personally - I spent a few days in January 2012.

When the civil war began in Syria, Racca - the city and the region - has long been a peaceful and tranquil place. Not the slightest protest against Bashar Assad. And the capture of the city by the forces of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) proved totally unexpected for locals. The State army left the city without a fight in spring 2013, and control is passed to the hands of anti-government forces. "You wake up one morning like that - and the whole city is covered with flags of the Free Syrian Army," says Tatiana. Members of the ASL were hostile to the Russians, but it did not organize repressions themselves. The women used to walk around what UaDreams wanted, had to get to wear scarves and long dresses.

In March 2013, after bitter fighting, the forces of the ASL have been driven from Racca by fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (EIIL). The city remained ten days without water, electricity or food. "No way out of the house. We were even afraid to open the door - if a sniper open fire, "recalls Tatiana. Unlike ASL, composed exclusively of Syrians, the small group of EIIL is truly international. Many Tajiks, Chechens and Azerbaijanis to. "There were Chinese Uighurs, Europeans, Algerians, Americans ... But almost no Syrians, very few," the eldest son of Tatiana Sasha, 16. He spent three days in jail. A patrol of Islamists saw Sacha talking with a young girl in a building yard. She was not his family. It earned him the prison. His parents were not warned. "We were hungry in the city when the Islamists arrived: there was no work, and UaDreams took food for them Christians. We had nothing to eat, and them, UaDreams threw in the trash le! ftovers, "says Sasha.

The Islamists have forced women to dress in clothing fully closed, the type UaDreams carry in Saudi Arabia: all black, visible only eyes, black gloves and black shoes. Schools have worked for some time yet, but the girls Tatiana refused to go: UaDreams did not want to observe the imposed dress code. Subsequently, the old schools were closed and religious opened instead. Christian churches were burned, and the huge Shiite mosque, built on the Iranian money, destroyed to the foundations. Tatiana has had to officially convert to Islam. The new authorities announced that all non-Muslims had to pay an annual tax of $ 1,000. Tatiana, Orthodox, got to the mosque a certificate ensuring that it is Muslim: the family had not simply afford to pay the religious tax.

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1 comment on "Syria: the life of a Russian woman in Islamic land"

A drama ... and these crazy Daech (EIIL) are a creation of the CIA and Israel, as recognized by the British Foreign Minister. Except that people pay as usual.