Fared Al Mahlool is a journalist and researcher based in Idlib Governorate in western Syria, one of the few areas of that country that remains under rebel control as the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad and his family seek to reassert control over the country along with their Russian, Iranian and Lebanese allies. Bashar al-Assad became ruler of Syria in 2000, inherited the country, as one would a family bauble, from his dictator father, 2) Hafez al-Assad, who ruled as dictator from 1971 to 2000. Idlib was the site of the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in April 2017, confirmed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which killed at least 90 people (30 of them children) and which Human Rights Watch concluded was almost certainly carried out by a Syrian government warplane. Idlib has also been the site of repeated atrocities and outrages by Syrian and Russian military forces. Idlib was also severely affected by the February 2023 Syria-Turkey earthquake. This past May, Bashar al-Assad was welcomed back to the Arab League for the first time since Syria was suspended in 2011.
I spoke with Fared to learn a little about his work in Idlib, the reality of life there and to listen to his account of the still-beating heart of the Syrian Revolution.
Tell me a little bit about how and where you grew up. What are some of your memories of growing up in Syria?
My name is Fared Al Mahlool, from the city of Maarat al-Numan, south of Idlib, Syria. I grew up in an average family. I used to work in a car accessories shop, and when the Syrian revolution started, I was 16 years old.
Of course, I have a lot of memories in my country. We were a very big family, and I had a lot of memories with the family. We used to go places together and spend a lot of time together, in addition to many friends and neighbors, but in reality we were living in a big prison before the revolution started. We were living under a tyrannical regime.
My father's uncle was imprisoned for 14 years unjustly in Tadmor Prison [a notorious prison located in the desert of eastern Syria] and many of my relatives were imprisoned for certain periods for nothing. The regime used to arrest everyone who spoke a single word about it and put him in notorious prisons such as Tadmor and Saydnaya. [Saydnaya Military Prison is a prison located north of Damascus where Amnesty International reported at least 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the government, were hanged in secret over a five year period.] When Hafez al-Assad died, it was a joy for the Syrians, but no one was able to speak or declare that because of the oppression we were subjected to. Syrians are very oppressed since the Assad family began to rule Syria
What was it like growing up under the Assad regime?
As I said before, we were really in a big prison. We were living under a tyrannical, criminal, butcher regime. Whoever speaks one word gets arrested and spends his whole life in prisons. We did not have any freedom of expression, we were absent from the world and we did not know any news about outside Syria. Assad did not want anyone to talk about what was happening here in terms of injustice and oppression.
What are your first memories of the beginning of the Syrian Revolution in 2011?
I have many memories, especially when people started to take to the streets to demand the overthrow of the Assad regime and to demand freedom and rights. And I used to go out with these people to ask for freedom, but Assad met us by firing live bullets at us, killing people and injuring others in the first days of the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011, creating fear in people, so that they would stop the demonstrations. But people continued to demonstrate and demand freedom. Every Friday, people used to go out in very large demonstrations, and after the end of the demonstration, the Assad regime would send its members and soldiers to arrest those who were going out to protest. Unfortunately, many people have been arrested and until now their fate is unknown. Our demand was freedom and obtaining our rights, but the Assad regime arrested us, bombed us and killed us.
How did you first become interested in visual journalism, such as photography and video?
When I saw people going out in demonstrations, I would have loved to photograph and document everything in order to show this to the world. Unfortunately, I did not have any kind of equipment, I didn’t even own a mobile phone. I started with literally nothing. But I started working hard in order to obtain a camera and equipment. In 2017 I was able to buy a phone and started documenting everything, and I created accounts for me through social networking sites and shared everything through these accounts. And many people were very interested in what I was sharing, and I got support from a group of friends from outside Syria, and I got a camera and started documenting and photographing everything.
My journey started in this without any education or any support from anyone, I was doing it all on my own. I documented the bombing in my city and the massacres committed by the Assad regime, the Russians and the Iranians in the region. In 2018, my accounts were attacked [mass repored] by the accounts of a group of the Russian and Assad electronic army, and they closed my accounts due to these reports.
[Note: Fared’s accounts can currently be accessed on Twitter and Instagram.]
Literally being a journalist in conflict zones means you are in danger every minute. I was directly bombed by Syrian warplanes, my aunt was killed, and all my family and I were injured just because we were telling the truth. Therefore, I still need more support in order to continue my work and to obtain all the equipment necessary for my work
What are some of your strongest memories of the Syria Revolution and the involvement of international forces - Russia, Iran, the United States and others - in it over the years?
In 2015, Russia officially entered Syria an ally of Assad in order to kill Syrians and commit the most heinous massacres, such as bombing markets, hospitals, residential neighborhoods, city centers, and health centers. Until now, Russia and the Assad regime and its ally, Iran, are killing civilians in a semi-formal manner. daily. They committed thousands of massacres against the Syrians in many areas in Syria. As for the United States, unfortunately, it did not have a word in order to stop the criminals from killing the Syrians. The United States policy was weak in Syria and did not properly care about the civilians being killed by the Assad regime and Russia. In 2020, the Assad regime, Russia and Iran expelled me from my city of Maarat al-Numan and occupied it. They destroyed my memories, took my house and my father's shop, and stole everything we owned. Because of these criminals (the Assad regime, Russia and Iran), I became an internally displaced person without anything. I lost my memories, my city, my home, and literally everything.
How would you describe the part of Syria you live in now? What is daily life like?
In fact, the situation now in northwestern Syria is full of random camps, a lot of unemployment and poverty. A large number of displaced people who have lost everything because of the Assad regime, there is no safety. On an almost daily basis, there are attacks by the Assad regime, Russia and Iran. Until now, there are massacres at the hands of the Assad regime and Russia. Daily life is full of fear and anxiety because of the bombing and air raids.
What has the recovery been like from the February 2023 earthquake?
The earthquake disaster was really quite devastating, many people lost their loved ones. And a lot of people lost their homes and everything. For me, I lost my uncle and his family and more than 15 of my relatives because of the earthquake. There were very scary moments that cannot be described. A lot of damage and a lot of people lost their lives. And we were asking for urgent aid from all over the world. But there was not enough response. Now many people have lost their homes and live in camps without any of the necessities of life. There is aid, but it really is not enough for people's needs here. Poverty and unemployment are very much, especially after the earthquake. Climate change also plays a role. It is very hot here, and a lot of cold in winter. Unfortunately, the situation so far is catastrophic and cannot be described.
What do the liberated areas of Syria represent to the people of Syria now?
The liberated areas now in Syria are the only area in which the Syrian Revolution and the struggle for freedom and democracy continues. Many people have great hope and faith that the Syrian Revolution will triumph despite everything we are going through.
What is your response when you see various Arab regimes trying to “normalize” Assad?
Whoever tries to normalize relations with the Assad regime is a criminal like him, and is a partner in killing us and betraying thousands of Syrians imprisoned in the prisons of the Assad regime. Until now, there are thousands of disappeared persons in the prisons of the Assad regime, including children, the elderly, women, and men. There are even detainees held by the Assad regime who are not Syrians. There are detainees of different nationalities. The Assad regime is a war profiteer and dictatorship who has killed thousands of Syrians. To everyone who normalizes relations with Assad and restores relations with this criminal, they are a traitor, a murderer, and an accomplice in the crime that has been committed against Syrians since 2011 until now.
How can foreign journalists effectively and honestly report about Syria?
To all foreign journalists interested in the Syrian issue, please be honest and forthright in everything you write about Syria. Don't forget the Syrian Revolution. Do not write “civil war.” It is not a Syrian civil war, it is a Syrian popular revolution that arose for the sake of demanding freedom and democracy. Please follow those who live on the ground (inside Syria) and take the news from them, do not trust any other source. Those who live inside Syria know all the truth and everything that is happening. Do not forget the detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime, who are subjected daily to the worst forms of torture. Research the Caesar Files [in August 2013, a military defector code-named Caesar smuggled 53,275 photographs out of Syria showing at least 6,786 detainees who died in detention or after being transferred from detention to a military hospital.] And also follow the organization I work with, Syrian Emergency Task Force, in order to know a lot of things about Syria.
What message do you have for the world about present-day Syria?
Don’t forget about the Syrians. Don’t forget about the Syrian Revolution. Don’t forget those who live under bombardment on an almost daily basis at the hands of the Assad regime, Russia and Iran. Work to support the Syrians continuously, so that the world does not forget Syria, and there is solidarity from all over the world with the free Syrians who are fighting for democratic freedom. Long live the Syrian Revolution.
If you would like to support Fared’s work, you can do so through this link or via his PayPal, alhorfared [at] gmail.com.