RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – With looks exhausted with departure, Fatma Ibrahim, a young girl in her twenties, holds her necklace, a gift her fiancé had given her before his death years ago.
“Whenever I look at my necklace, I remember the tale of two lovers which ended violently by the brutality of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS),” she said.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, Ibrahim recalls the memories engraved in her mind. She remembers the days she spent with her fiancé and the beautiful love story with him before being killed by a landmine planted by ISIS in the middle of Raqqa city, north Syria.
Ibrahim failed to condolence herself while watching other young men and women “freely” buying presents preparing to celebrate the Valentine’s Day.
She was nineteen years old when she fell in love with a young men of the same city. They pledged to stay together for the rest of their lives.
Love pushed the young man to ask for her hand in the midst of the intensive battles against ISIS in 2017.
Her parents agreed but on condition that the marriage would be held after they return home following the liberation of Raqqa from ISIS which controlled the city in 2014.
On October 2017, Raqqa was liberated following 166 days of battels between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ISIS members, so that people started to return to their destroyed homes.
Ibrahim was distressed by the news of her fiancé’s death in a landmine explosion near his house.
Secret celebrations
On Valentine’s Day of every year, she recalls the “secret” celebrations they used to held during ISIS era.
The two lovers used to buy and exchange presents despite the danger of being killed or jailed by ISIS.
ISIS members, deliberately, forced people to watch other people being beheaded or amputated and being labeled as “infidels” in order to cause dismay amongst the people, according to eyewitnesses of Raqqa.
ISIS Also imposed hardline rules that strict personal freedom, designated a special costume for women and all intellectual and cultural activities were banned.
During her two-year engagement, she used to work as a tailor. She used to meet her fiancé in a house belonging to one of her relatives.
Ibrahim said “imagine that all your dreams and speculations of having a beautiful life with somebody you love vanish in a blink of eye and suddenly death takes your beloved. That death will destroy all your dream.”
ISIS used to punish, jail or kill everyone celebrates Valentine’s Day, according to eyewitnesses.
Raqqa backs to normal
After ISIS remarkable defeat in Raqqa, people returned to celebrate Valentine’s Day, young men and girls are carrying red roses or bags with presents to express love for their beloved, others prefer offering red teddy bears, watches, perfumes or other gifts.
Shops are decorated with red strips and full of people, especially the youths.
The 20-year-old Ibtihal al-Hamad, a lady of Raqqa, said the city is back to normal. “We celebrate every occasion and festival after the defeat of ISIS.”
Visiting a gift shop to buy red roses for her fiancé, al-Hamad said Raqqa city has become different after its people endured times of freedom restrictions imposed by ISIS.
Dressed in a veil and a cover on her face, al-Hamad said majority of the people, the youths and even the elderly, will celebrate Valentine’s Day to express love, respect and care for the others.
Valentine’s Day is not only for couples or lovers “We express love to many people like friends, siblings, and relatives to tell them they are special people in our lives,” she said.
I sell roses in public
Lo’ay Muhammad, a 28-year-old man of Raqqa who agrees with the aforementioned people, said, “During ISIS time the city experienced the toughest days, but now we celebrate all occasions freely.”
Raqqa’s markets were “places for only executions and arrests, but after the expulsion of ISIS in 2017, the market has become a place of pleasure where everything people need for celebrations is available,” he noted.
However, despite life is back to normal, some people still hide gestures of happiness as they celebrate the Valentine’s Day secretly in order not to hurt feelings of those whose beloved were either killed or disappeared during ISIS time, according to Muhammad.
Muhammad expressed the need to “fight the ideologies left by ISIS, which is the only way to get rid of every remains by ISIS.”
The 41-year-old shopkeeper Muhammed Abu Yazan has been working in his shop in Raqqa for 15 years.
During ISIS era Abu Yazan, who has a gifts shop, used to work in secret and he stopped working after ISIS issued a death penalty against anyone sells or celebrates Valentine Day.
This year, he filled his shop with red roses and gifts on the occasion of the Valentine’s Day.
Turnout to purchase roses and presents has increased and the majority of people prefer to buy roses, He noted.
“Today, I sell roses and gifts in public without fear. Raqqa has become a place to spread love and affection among people,” he said.