First of all InformNapalm volunteer international society are interesting in the Kremlin regime’s crimes proof fixation. Though now it covers other aspects of this problem gradually: volunteers are investigating history and state structure, geography and culture of Syria, and always especially focusing on evidences of suffering and loss caused to the indigent people of this eastern country.

Present day information community’s singularity is the self-regulation, appearance of new communication channels which are providing news to the all of us, together with evaluations from competent persons, video and photo materials on the desired theme. And now one women contacted me and told her story, and this forced me to investigate the problem from different sides, to check and complement the information. This is what I get.

There is a city of Al-Zabadani in Syria, close to the border with Lebanon. It’s a mountain city, quite close to the Capital. Locals has two main engagements – tourism in the snowy winter and meeting Syrians who are coming to rest in chilly summer, especially from Damascus. The other business is related to geographic location of the city on the one of the convenient road close to the border, and it’s a smuggling. People who works this way are well armed, trained for marching conditions and combat operations. Al-Zabadani is the all-sufficient city, living apart from other people, and thus in 2011 when the war had started in Syria they didn’t enter the war, maybe waiting that it will come to the and by itself.. but then there was a first killed delivered in the city and they started to fight actively.

I’ll try to state the approximate story, not focusing on religious and social characteristics as they are tensed now, and actually the conflict is heated up by these characteristics, the situation is very complex and I think it’s not needed to talk about it again and again.

One of the significant event of this war is that government troops surrounded the city, cut off from all roads and the humanitarian disaster had happen there, poor people were suffering a lot. Opposition who was acting in the North captured another city which was the homeland of people surrounding Al-Zabadani. It caused the negotiations resulting in the one open road to every city for humanitarian goods delivery and cities population moving. It was functioning this way, and the fact of an agreement between government and opposition is good by itself as it’s an attempt to resolve the problem political way. But then the Russia took the stage and it’s not interesting in the peace in this region, started to bomb not the commandos but Syrian cities and infrastructure facilities. It broke the fragile balance. Al-Zabadani was cut from other world again, now the city is almost completely ruined and people are chased to move to another town of Madaya which is higher in the mountains.

I suggest you to check the information from a direct participant of events who was in Al-Zabadani first, now she managed to leave the city together with other refugees, she left friends and relatives in Sirya, she is trying to contact them and get some information, and also monitoring social networks for the bad news.. I saw people with this attitude before, they can’t live another way even when being in secure Europe – they are always about miserable homeland and people there.

I was trying to pass all her words precisely:

“Al-Zabadani is completely ruined, literally wiped from the map. Bombing, shooting, blockading. Inhabitants has being intentionally annihilated buy hunger. Almost all men were killed or prisoned, women, children and aged people were chased to the Madaya village, which is next to Al-Zabadani. More than 170 days it’s not possible to go in neither go out from there. Recently they stopped bombing, but before they were launching directly to civilian, women, children. Everyone who was trying to escape was shoot by snipers. Everything around the village is full with mines, more than 170 days there is no food, clothes, fuel, medicines. Children are dying due to the hunger and cold, sickness. No one knows about them and doing nothing for them. There is more than 40’000 people: women, children, old people, there are my relatives. I want to help. But don’t know how. We had barely got out from the bombing there.

It seems the Russian terrorists took part in the fights at Al-Zabadani, the terrorists who were in the Donbass region before. It was a hell in the Al-Zabadani, there were a lot of videos of the bombings. They were bombing 3 months in a row with everything they could, maybe only the nuclear bomb was not used. The disaster happen there was unique as no one was able to help. I was told the Russian military base will be constructed there, and Russian soldiers are already at the place and will be building a military airport. All this border territory was already sold and they had to put people somewhere.

There are a lot of mines in the ground around the Madaya. It’s horrible. And the worst thing is that the world is indifferent to all this situation. Children are losing limbs all the time as they are going to grab firewood and grass to eat. Recently they start bombing again. Something similar was in the Al Yarmouk, they were trying the same in Aleppo. They are trying to starve to the death everyone who don’t want to server Assad and Putin.

Now I have only one problem to solve: they are helpless there, not armed, starving, children are dying, I want to help but don’t know in what way. I can’t seat in the warm Europe in silence and attend that nothing is happened. There are my relatives, my land, my people.. I don’t want to keep silence but I don’t know what to do. People in Madaya are dying from hunger, there is no hope. I want to help by bringing their voice and information to the world to get them free.”

So what we have at the bottom line.

There is real humanitarian disaster is happening in the West Syria, children are suffering and really need help. Looking to the photos from there there is no doubt it’s really happening. It doesn’t matter who is fighting with whom: civil people and especially children shouldn’t be bombed and shoot, but this is provided by Assad’s and Russian regimes with usury. Because of this we need to talk about it, send them humanitarian help, take part in negotiations in the name of civilian population protection.

Also my interlocutress point on few interesting facts:

1. Russian military airbase will be constructed in Al Zabadani.
2. In the buttles for Al-Zabadani the Russian people took part who was fighting in the Donbass region in Ukraine before.
3. These towns were bombed from planes and helicopters.
4. All ground around the towns is all mined.

Let’s think about these statements. Of course they should be considered as information to check and confirm, but they worth of our attention.

I’ve asked few guys familiar with Syria’s situation to confirm or deny rumors about military airbase constructing. No one heard about it before but all of them get interested and said that this fact explains many unclear Russia’s actions in this region. Let’s watch the situation.

In the OSINT investigations made by volunteers of InformNapalm there were Russian with photos in military uniform and combat equipping with both Donbass and Syrian backgrounds, so this could be very probable case.

Regarding the helicopter bombing it was the brilliant analysis made but InformNapalm’s member Anton Pavlushko who was proving that it’s too risky to bomb military bases from helicopters due to high probability of shoot down so easy target as a helicopter. This means that involvement of helicopters is saying that Russian troops were not afraid to bomb civil and not protected settlements.

There are many information from different sources about mined territories which is caused to the civil people deaths. A lot of children were wounded from mine explosions. And there is no visible end to this disaster, Syrian people really need help from Specialist in mine clearance, or they won’t be able to resolve it by their own.. it’s really very actual humanitarian problem for now days Syria.

We will be able to check these facts when there will be more information.

But now people need help. And it’s only about us to help them, us as a civil society acting despite of world leaders politics which are making decisions for the economic benefits or political pressure. If we will be talking about it, rising these questions in social networks and mass media, in meetings, pickets it will be not possible to hide this tragedy happening beneath our eyes.

Let’s do what we can do and the result is sure to be.

All photos were taken from social networks, from special groups on Al-Zabadani and Madaya.

Katerina Yaresko