INTERNACIONAL
‘War followed us’: A Syrian family fled Beirut after Israeli bombardment to face repression, bombing at home
Ahmed Yahia Dabbas fled to Lebanon more than a decade ago to escape the relentless bombardment and frequent airstrikes carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its Russian allies in northwest Syria.
Dabbas, 37, moved to the southern suburbs of Beirut, where he found work as a doorman and began rebuilding a new life away from his war-torn country. He and his wife welcomed four children, two boys and two girls, now between the ages of 4 and 9.
As Israel began its retaliatory bombardment of parts of southern Beirut in late September, the family decided to move back to Syria after their home was destroyed.
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Dabbas spoke with Fox News Digital from northwest Syria by phone in an interview translated by the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit and advocacy group, where he described his family’s five-day journey from Lebanon to an area liberated from Assad regime control and the challenges they’ve faced as displaced people.
«We had gone to Lebanon to escape bombardment and war followed us,» he said. «For the same reasons, we had to leave everything in search of safety. And, so, we had to run away from Lebanon back to Syria.»
Once the family reached the Syria-Lebanon border, they encountered numerous checkpoints manned by various security apparatuses of the Assad regime. Dabbas said many of the people running the checkpoints demanded money for them to pass through, and they ultimately ended up paying bribes to keep moving.
The family went through checkpoint after checkpoint before finally reaching Aleppo city. By the time they arrived, it was late, so they spent the night before heading to a crossing point into non-regime-held areas of Aleppo province.
They then spent three nights in a kind of «no man’s land» between regime- and rebel-held areas of Aleppo. Dabbas said as they were waiting, they were spit on, beaten and weren’t allowed to eat or drink, as was the case with other people who were fleeing Lebanon and looking to leave regime-held areas.
He added that two days went by before they were given any food. They eventually made it to the rebel side of the border and spent one day at a Free Syrian Army checkpoint before finally registering with authorities in opposition areas and settling in the northern countryside of Idlib Oct. 4.
The Dabbas family is one of many who chose to flee to non-regime-held areas of Syria amid fear of arbitrary detainment, torture, forced disappearance and even death at the hands of the Syrian government.
Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of SETF, told Fox News Digital it’s «scary» and «disturbing» that some Gulf Arab states are normalizing relations with Assad and some European countries are considering forcefully sending refugees back to Syria.
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«Syria’s not safe,» Moustafa said. «Anywhere regime-held, it is where people would rather continue walking after walking for so long.»
The U.N. refugee agency said in early November more than 470,000 people — around 30% of them Lebanese and 70% of them Syrians — had crossed into Syria from Lebanon to escape Israeli bombardment.
Israel intensified its bombing campaign against the terrorist group Hezbollah in September after more than a year of cross-border exchanges, which began a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in south Israel. The Jewish State took out several high-profile leaders of the terrorist group, including longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commander Ibraham Aqil, who had a $7 million bounty on his head from the U.S. State Department.
Although Israel and Lebanon agreed to a cease-fire deal in late November, Dabbas said he and his family won’t return to Beirut. The father of four said his brother, who is also displaced in northwest Syria, has helped them out, but they’re running out of the food they received upon arrival, and he’s struggling to find a job.
They live in a crowded house with other extended family members who were unable to flee Syria in 2014 and face bombardment «every day» from the Assad regime, Russia and Iranian-backed forces.
«There is no safety and security,» Dabbas said. He told Fox News Digital he’s experienced an indescribable feeling of joy being back in his home country, reuniting with family members, but he wants peace and the bombing to stop.
Drone attacks in northwest Syria
The humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria has worsened in recent months, with both an increase in displaced people and a surge in drone attacks on civilians in residential areas.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates 3.5 million people are internally displaced in northwest Syria, and 2 million are living in camps.
Ismail Alabdullah, a volunteer with Syria Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, a rescue organization founded in 2013 after the start of the Syrian civil war, told Fox News Digital the Assad regime and its allies started a new strategy of attacking residential areas with suicide drones.
Alabdullah said, since Nov. 10, White Helmets teams have responded to 876 attacks. The targets are often civilian areas, such as farms, towns and agricultural areas and civilian infrastructure.
«This kind of weapon, suicide drones, is very, very dangerous, to be honest,» he said. «They are cheap, and they can fly anywhere they want. And they can attack any place they want.»
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«Families are afraid to send their children to school,» Alabdullah added.
«Maybe the world still – they don’t want to hear about this. They want to hear that the bombings are stopped and nothing is happening in Syria, and northwest Syria is safe. It’s not safe. The attacks are still going on, especially in Idlib.»
Syrian regime forces and their allies intensified attacks against civilians in western Aleppo and eastern Idlib in recent months, displacing hundreds more families.
In a surprising development, Syrian rebels entered Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city, on Friday for the first time since 2016 after launching an offensive against regime forces earlier this week.
Reuters noted the shock offensive was the first territorial advance since 2020 after a cease-fire agreement between Turkey and Russia halted fighting in Idlib.
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Alabdullah told Fox News Digital the White Helmets still need help from the international community and the need is bigger than their capacity, especially as winter approaches and they deal with an increased number of displaced people.
«We need everyone to stand with us to stop the atrocities, to stop the killing,» he said. «Imagine kids in the camps. They don’t know the meaning of a key. Up to now, they haven’t seen a door with a key, and they don’t know this is a door for their houses.
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«The whole thing needs to be stopped. People need to return to their homes to end the suffering, to get their lives back.»
INTERNACIONAL
Assad regime under major pressure as Islamist rebels seize more territory; Israel, US watch
Anti-Assad rebel forces captured the strategic Syrian city of Hama Thursday, marking one of the most significant developments in Syria’s 13-year civil war. The rapid rebel advances, including the fall of Aleppo, seemingly caught many off guard.
During Thursday’s Pentagon briefing, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder acknowledged the destabilizing effects of the developments in Syria but emphasized that the U.S. has no involvement in the ongoing fighting.
«We call on all parties to de-escalate to ensure the protection of minorities in the region,» Ryder said.
Ryder added that the U.S. remains aware of the potential for further death and destruction but maintains no active role in the conflict. There are about 900 American soldiers in Syria as part of a mission to defeat the Islamic State.
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The surprise attack on Assad’s forces, led by the Salafi-jihadist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) under the command of Abu Mohammed al-Golani, had reportedly been in planning for four years.
HTS is Syria’s most powerful rebel faction, which evolved from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front but claimed to sever ties with the group in 2016. The group controls much of northwest Syria and has spearheaded the recent advances against Assad’s forces. The U.S. and other nations have designated it a terrorist organization.
Rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani underscored the growing regional tensions, warning Iran-backed militias in Iraq to avoid involvement.
«We urge him [Iraq’s prime minister] again to keep Iraq away from entering into the flames of a new war tied to what is happening in Syria,» Golani stated in a video.
In addition to HTS, fears are growing that ISIS is seeking to exploit the situation. The U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced measures Thursday to counter the group’s resurgence.
«The terrorist organization ISIS has recently declared control over significant portions of the Homs and Deir Ezzor desert, seizing numerous cities and strategic positions from the Damascus government forces,» the SDF’s media head stated in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
In 2014, ISIS controlled vast swaths of land in Syria and Iraq.
RUSSIA AND SYRIA BOMB SYRIAN ISLAMIST REBELS AFTER SURPRISE INCURSION
Israeli officials are closely monitoring developments. The fall of key Syrian government sites to rebel forces, including air bases and weapons stockpiles, has prompted emergency security meetings.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi emphasized Israel’s preparedness to address any emerging threats near its borders.
«The IDF will not allow threats near the Israel-Syria border and will act to neutralize any danger to Israeli civilians,» the IDF stated in a statement.
Israel’s Channel 12 news has reported that security officials are concerned rebels have also seized sites tied to Syria’s chemical weapons program. While much of Syria’s chemical arsenal was dismantled in 2013 under international agreements, experts warn that undeclared reserves could pose critical threats if acquired by extremist groups.
Analysts say the Assad regime’s dependence on Russian and Iranian support has faltered amid shifting geopolitical priorities. With Russia preoccupied with its war in Ukraine and Hezbollah suffering significant losses in its conflict with Israel, regime forces appear increasingly vulnerable. Analysts suggest the fall of Homs, a pivotal city south of Hama, could sever Damascus from coastal strongholds and signal a potential regime collapse.
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As the fighting continues, the humanitarian crisis continues to deepen across northern and northwestern Syria. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, escalating hostilities have displaced thousands, with many fleeing from Tel Rifaat to northeast Syria.
As over 280,000 civilians face displacement from the latest violence, experts warn that ISIS and other extremist groups could exploit the chaos, posing a threat not only to Syria but to the broader region.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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