LATAKIA (North Press) – It is really the “bride of the Syrian coast,” but through decades of systematic vandalism, it has become the sacrifice presented on the altar of Hafez Assad, “leader” of the last military coups in the country who grabbed the strings of the Syrian map and identified its weaknesses and strengths.
Based on this, he arranged the inside of his house; the series of assassinations began in the Ba’ath Party itself, and then moved to the army in order to make an undeclared settlement with Aleppo and Damascus’ prominent dealers, which resulted in the adoption of a specific policy that he followed in Latakia for decades.
Although Latakia was Assad’s hometown and bulwark, he turned it into a garden where the members of his family wreaked havoc for decades, as different policies were practiced that were separate from the general repressive policy applied in other governorates in the country.
The other side of Latakia, far from the one presented by the official media, is the side that has been plunged into poverty. It has remained the tributary that supplies the army and the security services under the guidance of the ruling family through a policy that has neglected tourism, agriculture, and industry and provided poor services.
The regime created chaos in the trade sector, apart from the domination of militias and gangs tied to the ruling family which spread terror so that the residents had no shelter or source of livelihood except joining the security forces and the army. It reached the extent that people used to say “Congratulations, your wife gave birth to an officer,” when the new baby was a male.
Black history of the “Shabiha”
Since the beginning of 1980s, the inhabitants of the villages on the outskirts of the old Latakia-Aleppo highway have suffered greatly. Their suffering was evident in the fact that they expected that a convoy of black cars with tinted windows could pass by at any moment.
This situation publicly appeared to coincide with the loss of materials from the Syrian market during the era of Hafez Assad shortly after the Syrian army entered Lebanon, and the expansion of the smuggling movement from Lebanon to Syria and through it to Turkey, according to Jamal Ayyash (a pseudonym), a 60-year-old resident of the village of Wata al-Khan.
“Since that time, the smuggling networks have been spreading terror along the Latakia-Aleppo highway in broad daylight, with the highway devoid of any road or customs patrols, as if there is a coordination between them,” Ayyash said.
“At that time, it was said that a group of individuals under the service of some of the heads of the Assad family, which had intensified its smuggling activity from Lebanon to Syria, expanded its activity to include drug smuggling and other prohibited activities to Turkey,” he added.
But the matter did not stop here, as the echoes and images of S600 Mercedes cars reached Idlib and Aleppo along with the influence of the Assad family, especially Fawaz Jamil al-Assad, the “godfather of the Shabiha [pro-regime mercenaries who cracked down on dissenters],” where all the neighborhoods of Latakia were subjected to the horror of his members, according to Ayyash.
Agricultural sector destruction
Retired agricultural engineer Omar Sa’i (a pseudonym) a, from the Saliba Project neighborhood, believes that Latakia has “lost its agricultural, tourist, service, and industrial identity,” that it acquired through its distinguished geographical location, moderate coastal climate, and fertile land, due to “the regime’s policies in neglecting these vital aspects.”
In an exclusive interview with North Press, Sa’i said, “The arable and invested lands remained limited and small, insufficient to meet the requirements of farmers’ lives, and were not economically feasible.”
“The main dependence was on citrus, olives, and some protected crops,” he added.
But flooding the market with citrus products without the support by the successive governments led farmers to uproot citrus trees after the cost of harvesting and marketing the crop became larger than its return.
Muhammad Ma’arouf (a pseudonym), a 60-year-old farmer and agricultural engineer from the countryside of Jablah, believes that the farmer’s life “has become pitiful.”
“The farmer needs emergency aid so that he does not give up the last piece of arable land in search of other alternatives, which is what many farmers have resorted to in previous periods,” he said.
“All of my children left and went for looking for jobs, whether in the government or private sector, because the land cannot support a family of three, let alone a family that includes children, their wives, and grandchildren,” he added.
Citrus cultivation in Latakia is a sad story. In the past years, farmers were forced to destroy their crops and throw them on the side of agricultural roads, or let them fall and accumulate under the trees, until livestock keepers came and took them for free.
With indescribable heartbreak, Ziad al-Ra’i (a pseudonym), a farmer from the village of Damat to the east of Latakia and an employee of the government sector, says: “Come and see what happened to our lemon trees.”
“Four years ago, what had not been uprooted from the trees was destroyed by frost after we had to throw the crop away and leave it to the shepherds for two consecutive years to stop loss,” he added.
Al-Ra’i describes how he and other farmers uprooted olive trees in several villages, such as al-Mukhtariya, Ruwaisat al-Hersh, and Wata al-Khan, in order to grow citrus fruit in their place years ago.
According to the statistics of the Latakia Agriculture Directorate for the year 2017, the number of uprooted trees amounted to about 20,338, with a land area of 726 acres.
Looting and plundering crops
The suffering of Latakia’s farmers does not stop at this point; rather, there is suffering of another kind which began with the Syrian war in 2012, when the residents of the northeastern and western countryside of Latakia were displaced.
The village of al-Oweinat is located in the northeastern countryside of Latakia, about 45 km away from the city. It is currently uninhabited, but the residents have been able to visit and monitor their lands and livelihoods there for nearly two years.
Ghassan Hamdo(a pseudonym) a 60-year-old resident of al-Oweinat, fled with his brothers and their families years ago and settled in different places in the governorate.
Since they were allowed to visit their land, Hamdo visited every week or two to inspect the remaining features of the family homes and lands planted with olive trees.
With the outbreak of fires in the coastal countryside this year, he, like many of those whose villages are located in that area, was able to go to the village. Fortunately, some of its fields escaped the fires, but unfortunately, they “did not escape from looting and theft.”
Late in August, Hamdo decided to take his family to the fields to harvest the remainder of the olives, but he was surprised that there were members of the army harvesting the fields, which devolved into verbal altercations between them.
“During the harvest seasons, you can see dozens of cars and motorcycles loaded with the looted crops on the Latakia-Aleppo highway,” he added.
There are also many mobile kiosks on the highway that buy the remainder of the stolen items from the small looters,” according to Hamdo.
Tourism investment
Early in December 2019, former head of the City Council Nabil Abu Kaf decided to demolish 182 ancient Ugarit chalets which were on a plot of 56 acres.
Sources in the city say that the work to demolish the Ugarit chalets came as a prelude to offering it for tourist investment, although the City Council officials said in press statements that it was within the framework of working to provide the Latakia Council with greater resources.
However, residents in the city believe that the goal was not to bring benefit to them, especially since large segments of the population suffer from extreme poverty, and they are forced to pay “a luxury tax even when ordering a cup of coffee on [the street].”
They also say that the goal is not to create permanent job opportunities, but to “absorb a part of unemployment.”
Maryam Nour (a pseudonym), an employee at the Tourism Department, said that with such policies, the population has become “deprived” of vacationing, not just tourism, as a result of “the unjust seizure of vacation sites by the government and money collectors with the aim of attracting tourism and foreign capital.”
“We do not have infrastructure for tourist projects, whether for the people or to attract tourists from abroad, as the prevailing culture in this area is still the policies of the mafia, war, and looting,” Nour added.
She pointed out that the area has picturesque but “intentionally” neglected nature. Despite the presence of springs and small rivers, their waters are wasted while the villagers suffer from thirst.
“Neglect and ignorance is intentional and planned. The people of the region must be restricted, and livelihoods must be closed, as the armed forces and security services open to receive young people.”
Generation consumed by war
Unofficial statistics indicate that like most Syrian regions, many of Latakia governorate’s young generation died, were displaced, or remained, but with permanent physical disabilities or psychological problems due to the war.
Statistics also indicate that more than 200,000 young people from the governorate have died in the Syrian war so far.
A 60-year-old former political prisoner who only identified himself as a member of the Communist Action Party, which has been banned in Syria since its establishment late in 1970s, said that in the midst of this fray, ” the regime seeks to patch its forces through decrees, reconciliations, and temptations in preparation for an upcoming legislative role, with the opposition being unable to propose an alternative.”
“What does the decree of military service allowance mean? It is to justify the officials’ protecting their children from military service?” he asked, frustrated. “It is a formalization of equality between the son of the official and the son of the average citizen, who cannot even secure a loaf of bread,” he added.
“The first pays with money, while the other pays with his life. What a comparison. Is not the money that this official pays, collected through taxes or wealth, stolen in various forms?”
In 2006, Shadi Omran was assigned as a teacher in a village near the city of Saraqeb in Idlib governorate. He said, “When I went to the village, the teaching staff was surprised to see me there. Later, the school director told me that they thought that I was a security agent hiding among them.”
Omran tried to go back in his memory, saying: “I still communicate with those who were still alive. I spent life with them for about seven years, and during that time, I recognized that they had a picture of Latakia which was framed by [Assad’s hometown of] Qerdaha, security, and looting.”
“They did not know to what extent there are poor and destitute people. Latakia was the scapegoat for Syria, which was sacrificed on the altar of those gangs wreaking havoc,” he stated.