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An anti-Syrian government
demonstration in Idlib province in 2012 (AFP)
Dabbas was 19 then, working as a carpenter building furniture. Every Friday,
he and his friends would help organise protests in mosques, raising banners
decrying corruption and handing out fliers promoting the revolutionary
movement.
Thousands gathered to chant slogans against Assad, whose presidential palace
could be seen atop a hill just a handful of kilometres away.
"The Syrian army and security forces stood for hours waiting to break up the
demonstrations by force," Dabbas says.
"We distributed water and roses to them, but to no avail. We were confronted
with live bullets and were arrested randomly."
Filling Assad's prisons
While handing roses and bottled water to the soldiers deployed to quash a
protest - a peaceful gesture that became an iconic image of the early days of
the revolution - Dabbas's cousin Khairou Dabbas was arrested.
Soon after, on 24 February 2012, Dabbas himself was also detained.
Walking to the mosque to pray, he was intercepted by soldiers. They took his
ID card and mobile telephone, on which they found a photograph of one of
Daraya's dead wrapped in the green, white and black of Syria's revolutionary
flag.
I cannot forget the cries of tortured women
- Obada Dabbas
That photo condemned Dabbas to 74 days of detention under the notorious
Air Force Intelligence Directorate - time spent between overcrowded cells and
solitary confinement.
"I underwent five sessions of interrogation and torture, each lasted about four
to five hours. I cannot forget the cries of tortured women."
During the last interrogation session, his captors blindfolded him, took his
thumb and pressed it on a sheet of paper, making him implicitly sign a
confession the contents of which he was not told.
"I was released in deplorable condition at 3 in the morning, barely able to
reach my house and cross hundreds of checkpoints."
Despite his gruesome experience, Dabbas was one of the lucky ones. His
cousin Khairou was not.
On Dabbas' phone is a picture of Khairou, and as he gazes at it a grave
sadness descends on the otherwise lighthearted man.
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"I cannot describe the feeling of leaving Daraya, the city where I was born
and raised. Which I fought for, and lost so many of my friends. It was the city
that carried us in its difficult times," Dabbas says.
"Parting from Daraya was like parting the spirit from the body. All those
destroyed houses, witness to the criminality of the Syrian government, and
Daraya's steadfastness.
"I wish I could die in Daraya, and be buried under its land forever."
Daraya's residents arrived in Idlib province to a hero's welcome. They had
surrendered, but only after holding out for more than four years, starving,
outgunned and alone.
"We did not give up, we did not surrender our weapons and equipment, and
we basically had no heavy weapons."
New life in Idlib
Alighting from their green buses, Daraya's residents found a whole new world
within their own country.
"When we reached the north it looked like a fortress that could not collapse,
because there were vast areas, wide and large fronts," Dabbas says.
"There were thousands of fighters in the north and many heavy and medium
weapons any fighter would dream of. We hadn't seen equipment like this
except with the Syrian government."
Around four million Syrians now reside in Idlib province, most of them
displaced from around the country.
Daraya was the first significant rebel centre to negotiate passage to Idlib. But
by New Year 2017, east Aleppo had fallen. After that Eastern Ghouta near
Damascus, then Daraa, the cradle of the revolution.
Syria map
Idlib is now a hodgepodge of civilians from every region. Dialects and cuisine
from across Syria can be found mingling together.
But it is also home to rebel fighters of varying degrees of militancy, including
Hayaat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly al-Qaeda's Syrian chapter.
"The makeup of the opposition factions is very chaotic, even though they are
all sons of one land. I do not know why they are scattered with different
affiliations," Dabbas says.
In recent months HTS has sought, through violence and negotiations, to bring
all rebel factions under its command and hold the entire province.
That has put under threat a fragile deal thrashed out by rebel-backer Turkey
and Assad ally Russia that has seen a deconfliction zone set up around
Idlib. Bombings have become a common occurrence once again in Idlib's
south.
As for Dabbas, he decided to take a course in medical care, and he now works
in a centre in al-Dana, tending to wounded fighters.
"Having been wounded twice in the past, I preferred to take a field
ambulance course," he explains. "The fighter must have knowledge of
everything to help himself or his friends on the battlefield."