DAY 285 - DECEMBER 30, 2011
Today 500,000 protesters have gathered around Syria, the largest in the history of the conflict. With the situation in the country intensifying daily, Barbara Walters interviews Bashar Al Assad for US television station, ABC News. In the interview, Assad attests that he is neither responsible for the government crackdown nor guilty of human rights violations. More soldiers from the Syrian army continue to defect to FSA forces around the region and the UN formally announces that approximately 5,000 people have died during the uprising.
You only hear about the uprisings from the periphery of the hillsides, flanked with olive oil farms and pomegranate orchards. You have been living and moving around these plantations, so far undetected, for longer than you can remember. Everyday you continue to teach Emad and Yara from the Quran. You also tell them stories about your younger years with Ali, their father, and your one and only husband. You are not quite sure of your trajectory. You still want to stay inside of Syria, you believe in its fight for liberation, but the increasing instability of the country makes you fearful to travel on major roads. You hear that the FSA is gaining traction in the north starting by Deir Ez Zor and continuing toward Al Raqqa. You think that it is there where you will be the safest.