Fourth Children’s festival held in Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) held on Sunday the fourth children’s festival in the city of Raqqa, northern Syria.
The festival, called Bara’em al-Tofoulah (Childhood Buds), was sponsored by the AANES Culture and Antiquities Committee of Raqqa’s Civil Council.
AANES officials and members of civil society organizations attended the opening day of the festival, which took place in the city center of Raqqa.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the SDF defeated ISIS militarily there.
Several children bands participated in the event by displaying drawings and performing music and plays inspired from the local popular heritage.
According to Firas Ramadan, co-chair of the Culture and Antiquities Committee in Raqqa, the festival aimed at bringing happiness to children and motivate them to engage in recreational activities after long years of war.
The festival, which will last for four days, is to be held in various areas in Raqqa, such as Halab al-Mashlab in the eastern countryside of Raqqa and the villages of al-Abara and Kediran in the northern and western countryside.
The Culture and Antiquities Committee in Raqqa has already held three versions of the festival in the past years with the participation of many children and their relatives from Raqqa.
During the Syrian war, Raqqa was captured in 2013 by the Syrian opposition and then by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014. On October 17, 2017, following a lengthy battle that saw massive destruction to the city, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared the liberation of the city from the ISIS.