The View From Inside Syria
Syria's civil war has created the worst refugee crisis in the world, with more than 4 million people fleeing the country. Millions more have been displaced inside Syria, though we rarely hear from them.
Over the past year, NPR's Morning Edition has spoken three times with Saeed al-Batal, a photographer and filmmaker who doesn't use his real name for security reasons.
He lives in the rebel area of Douma, just a few miles outside the capital, Damascus, and he spoke with Morning Edition host Renee Montagne about the worsening conditions.
Interview Highlights
On losing his home again
Actually, three days ago, I had to move again. Sadly, it's become a habit of mine, you know, to find a new home and try to find what we see as safe. There is nothing or nowhere exactly safe here.
A few days ago ... I was out doing something and when I was back, half the house was destroyed by a missile attack. And we had to move again. And that's how I lost my laptop and my stuff. Actually, I have been practicing to not be attached to stuff, because we are losing them every time.
On the situation during Ramadan
We are in Ramadan now, the fasting month of the year for the Muslim people, which is the majority over here, and situations are really bad. Usually we have those charity works that provide food to people in this month. But this year there's a lot less, there's a lot of people who do not find anything to eat.
No one eats more than one meal a day, even if it's not Ramadan. But, you know, the situation gets harder in Ramadan. We used to, before the revolution began, we used to have special months when you have a family meeting on the meal and you have a table with all kinds of food. Now you are down to one type of food, if you can find one.
Nothing can make you less human than being hungry. One kilogram of sugar is now costing like $18, and to make you understand what $18 means here, you have to know that before the revolution, it used to cost less than 15 cents.
On the siege of his area
The only road that you used to have now is a front line and there's heavy fire on it, so things are, like, really getting bad. People here are really hungry and they are on the point of breaking, close to the point of breaking. I know that the siege can bring [out] the bad side of any human, you know.
Little by little, people here can be turned ... a little less human and a little more [like] animals. You know, you have to think of your meal all the day long, nothing else. You don't have time to think about anything else.
I think we're going to be living in a jungle or something like that. Like people might get into a fight for a cigarette or half a cigarette.
On the lack of electricity
People have sold everything because we don't have electricity. Because you don't have electricity, stuff is very cheap. For example, you can get a 42-inch TV for less than $50, which used to cost like $400 before the revolution. You can buy a refrigerator — a big one — for about 5,000 Syrian pounds, it's like about $10. No one can use it because there's not enough electricity for that. So people are selling everything ... so they can provide food.
On thinking only about the present
No one thinks about the next day. Maybe tomorrow you lose not your refrigerator, maybe you lose your family or maybe you lose your house. For example, a friend of mine just lost all of his family in one airstrike. He had four casualties in his family. He lost his father and his mother and his sister and his younger brother and that was, like, in the blink of an eye. And he didn't even cry. He was like expecting that something like this was going to happen sooner or later.
On keeping track of the wider world
We created ways to find always a connection to the Internet. So we depend on that satellite and the Internet connection, and we run it on plastic, we're on generators on plastic fuel, and and that's how we get most of the information.
Most of the people get the news, they have this two hours a day of electricity and they watch television. But they don't watch it with that much care anymore. They are more interested in the local news.
The only thing that's changed is the number of people who die; nothing major has changed.
Even this morning we had two airstrikes. So people are walking in the street. They hear the plane coming, so they just look up, wait for the bomb to fall, and after that they keep walking normally like nothing had happened.
They used to care more in the past. Now they care a little less and they got used to that. That's one side of human nature — that you can get used to anything.
On his perspective on the future
To be honest, to stay or not to stay, it's a very difficult thing, you know. But if the situation allows anyone to get out of here, he would. No one can take it anymore. Not because he lost faith, but basically because he got nothing else to lose, so even if the road is a very dangerous one, people are trying to take it.
I don't try to think about the future, because thinking about that can really make you frustrated and put you more in a bad place.
All of this now, there is a different perspective, where every time before you go to bed, you say to your friend, 'Goodbye, maybe I won't see you tomorrow.' And tomorrow when you meet with him, you say, 'Thank God, you stayed alive.' And that's how we do it.
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Transcript
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The civil war in Syria has generated the greatest exodus in this century. Four million people have fled the country. Millions more have fled to other parts of Syria. One man who has not been driven out of his neighborhood is Saeed al-Batal. He lives in a rebel stronghold just outside Damascus called Douma, long under siege. As a photographer and moderate activist opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, he doesn't use his real name for safety reasons, but al-Batal has been posting images of daily life in Douma to his Facebook page. And we've been talking to him when we can reach him over the last year.
Yes, hi. Saeed, it's Renee Montagne.
SAEED AL-BATAL: Hi, Renee. How are you?
MONTAGNE: And with that, the line dropped, but we were quickly able to reconnect.
Thank you for joining us again.
AL-BATAL: Well, thank you for being interested. I think the situation is the usual, and by usual I mean, like, the siege is still on. For example, the airstrikes - two times at the city of Douma at morning and killed four people. And that's what I mean by usual (laughter)...
MONTAGNE: Yeah.
AL-BATAL: ...Sadly.
MONTAGNE: When we last spoke, which was several months ago actually, things were not so good. You were having to move because your house was destroyed. Am I right?
AL-BATAL: Actually three days ago, I had to move again. I was out doing something and half of the house was destroyed by a missile attack. And that's how I lost my laptop and my stuff. Actually, I have been practicing to not be attached to stuff because we are losing them every time.
We are in Ramadan now. It's the feasting month of the year. And situations are really bad. We used to - before the revolution began, we used to have, like - it used to be a special month when you have a family meeting on the meal and you have a table with all kind of food. Now you are down to one type of food, if you can find one.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, when you said Ramadan - and it's the fasting month - when people fast, there's always a feast in a way in the evening.
AL-BATAL: Yeah.
MONTAGNE: But that's not happening there.
AL-BATAL: There's a lot less than you can imagine. Nothing can make you less human than being hungry.
MONTAGNE: Are you seeing something now in the way people really act that is a result of this terrible hunger?
AL-BATAL: We have been under siege for, like, two and a half years. It's close to be three. Any stash that you have been hidden have been already spent, and there's almost nothing left. People have sold everything. And because we don't have electricity, we can buy a refrigerator for, like, 5,000 Syrian pounds, which is like $10. No one can use it because there's not enough electricity for that, you know? So the people are, like, selling everything. You can see it on the street - people sitting on the street, putting their house stuff for less than nothing.
MONTAGNE: Well, so to say that a family is selling its refrigerator because there's no electricity to run it, really suggests pretty vividly that people only see today - the $10 that they could get possibly get - right? - for food or something. They don't see that they will not have a refrigerator next week because there is no next week.
AL-BATAL: No one think about the next day. Maybe tomorrow, you lose your family or maybe you lose your house. Like, for example, a friend of mine just lost all of his family in one airstrike. Like, he lost his father, his mother and his sister and his younger brother, and that was, like, in a blink of an eye, you know? You have to think about what you can do in this present moment. So they say that people outside, they don't - maybe they care about the weather more than they care about them. So maybe if I say that the weather here is raining barrel bombs and high degree of dictators, maybe someone will care then.
MONTAGNE: Wow. Well, let me ask you, when we first spoke with you late last year, you were quite angry that the U.S. was paying so much, at that point, attention to ISIS. And what you said was, what about the regime? The Assad regime - more people have been killed by far by them in Syria than by ISIS. I wonder, though - it's been months now - what about ISIS? Or - are they coming into your neighborhood? Is there a threat?
AL-BATAL: Most of the population here, like, do not agree with how ISIS think or act. So they don't have any place to grow any followers here. But what I am afraid is that the more you have been feeling injustice and the more you feel that you have been left alone, that you have been pushed to maybe sometime even make a deal with the devil to get out of here. So we manage to push back those ridicules, but the more the situation get bad, no one knows what going to happen.
MONTAGNE: How are you getting news, and how much news are you getting about what is happening outside?
AL-BATAL: Most of the people get the news. They have this two hours a day of electricity, and they watch television. But they don't watch it with that much care anymore. They are more interested in the local news because they say that the news here, like, it has been the same for, like, three years. The only thing that's changed is the number of people who die. Nothing major have change. There's always an airstrike. There's always someone dying. Even this morning, we have two airstrikes. So people are walking the street. They hear the plane coming, so they just look up, wait for the bomb to fall, and after that they keep walking normally like nothing had happened. That's one side of human nature - that you can get used to anything. I told you my friend of mine lost all of his family, and he didn't even cry. He was, like, the meaning of death have been changed. And he was like, maybe they are relieved now or out of the siege in the one way that no one can stop them - up to the sky.
MONTAGNE: For you, you talk about people around you getting hungrier and hungrier and, as you put it, you know, less human. What about you? Do you see a future there?
AL-BATAL: About me, myself, I don't try to think about the future because thinking about that can really make you frustrated and put you in a more bad place. So what I do is I think about it step by step. There's a different perspective where every time before you go to bed, you say to your friend, goodbye, maybe I won't see you tomorrow. And tomorrow when you meet with him, you say, thank God, you stayed alive. And that's how we do it.
MONTAGNE: Well, please do take care of yourself. And we'll talk to you soon.
AL-BATAL: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Saeed al-Batal is a photographer and an activist against the Assad regime. He's living outside Syria's capital, Damascus, in a place called Douma that is under siege. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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