{"id":224572,"date":"2024-12-13T12:14:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T11:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.proterrasancta.org\/?p=224572"},"modified":"2024-12-13T12:14:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T11:14:41","slug":"aleppo-christians-the-motorcycle-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/preprod.proterrasancta.org\/en\/aleppo-christians-the-motorcycle-war\/","title":{"rendered":"My Journey to Aleppo: The Motorcycle War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Syria, Aleppo, December 12, 2024:<\/strong> The streets teem with life, seemingly restored to normality. A Christmas tree glimmers in the center of the city\u2019s main square. Yet, the road from Damascus to Aleppo is lined with lifeless bodies, lives shattered by a war \u201cwon without fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The testimony of Jean Fran\u00e7ois Thiry<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe journey itself went smoothly: a quick checkpoint at the exit from Damascus, another brief inspection upon entering Aleppo… even the bridge\u2014you remember the bridge bombed over the river? You can cross it now; it slows you down a bit, but it\u2019s passable.\u201d Jean Fran\u00e7ois Thiry, the project manager of Pro Terra Sancta in Aleppo, has just managed to return to the city after being stuck for days in the capital. Over the phone, he describes a Syria \u201crecovering, in a fa\u00e7ade of normality carefully emphasized by the new political power.\u201d However, the absence of fighting is merely an illusion. \u201cWhile traveling to Aleppo, I saw so many lifeless bodies along the road: corpses of men, soldiers, still in their uniforms. When I saw them there, lying by the roadside, the words I could use seemed so hollow, every discussion about what happened seemed empty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was deeply moved to see all those people there like that because this war is so senseless: they let these people die for nothing, for absolutely nothing.\u201d Jean Fran\u00e7ois is not the only one who has witnessed the destruction and death hidden behind the narrative of a bloodless conquest. \u201cEven Talal, a colleague of mine, told me that on his return to Aleppo from the Christian Valley near Homs, he saw many bodies in burnt cars, a whole bus with all the people still inside.\u201d The Western perception of a bloodless conquest stems from the absence of violent clashes in Damascus and Aleppo. But in Hama, Homs, and the surrounding areas, early December was marked by a bloody battle, with its victims still lying in the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were so many cars on the road, so many people heading back to Idlib, cars packed with people, children with rifles slung over their shoulders, and many riding motorcycles.\u201d The motorcycles are an image etched in Jean Fran\u00e7ois\u2019 mind with powerful symbolism. \u201cThis will be remembered as the revolution of motorcycles or the war of motorcycles because they arrived in Aleppo on motorcycles, and they traveled down to Damascus the same way. They crossed all of Syria, and no one stopped them.\u201d It\u2019s an image of speed and power, a movement advancing unstoppable. \u201cOn those motorcycles, they drove the army into retreat! An army that was practically non-existent, let\u2019s be clear,\u201d his colleague specifies, \u201cbut it was still Assad\u2019s and the Russians\u2019 army.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I arrived in Aleppo, I didn\u2019t find it much changed: there are many cars, many people crowding the streets, and there\u2019s even a Christmas tree. But the atmosphere, especially within the Christian communities, is tense: Christians are afraid.\u201d This fear does not stem from any enacted discriminatory measures but from the possibility that they could arise. \u201cYesterday, I asked a friend of mine if anyone had ever objected to her walking around without a veil. She told me no, not yet, but that if anyone ever dared to, she would immediately leave Syria. It\u2019s a nervous atmosphere, like living in constant anticipation of repression, teetering on the edge of exasperation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean Fran\u00e7ois describes the life of Christians in Aleppo today as a cautious waiting, an openness tinged with mistrust. \u201cThe impression I got is that Christians want to remain open to the developments of this change: even before, so many people here were in dire need of everything, and the opening of new opportunities is, to some extent, surely seen as a chance for social improvement. On the other hand, even now, so many people are in dire need, and nothing guarantees\u2014especially for Christians\u2014that this change will be positive. It\u2019s as if Christians are saying, \u2018Let\u2019s see how this goes,\u2019 but it would take just one spark, just one piece of news about a Christian being killed, to trigger a mass exodus from the country. That\u2019s the perception.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aleppo is bustling with people, Muslims and Christians, as before; as before, the economic crisis remains, worsened by the collapse of the state. The events of recent days have delivered the final blow to the Syrian pound, and now only dollars and Turkish currency are practically used. \u201cThe aid activities,\u201d says Jean Fran\u00e7ois, \u201cmust continue, especially now that everything is so uncertain, but the hope is to soon have more clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Aleppo\u2019s Christmas tree, a symbol of a holiday dear to Christians, after being torn down by a group of jihadists, has returned to light up this difficult December in Aleppo. Hopes and fears intertwine in people\u2019s minds, the desire for change and fear of extremism reflecting one another. Meanwhile, in Aleppo\u2019s shops and establishments, the sale of wine has been banned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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