People of Syria’s Qamishli mourn student killed in Latakia clashes
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Family of the female student, Shinda Kishu, bid farewell to their daughter on Sunday who lost her life to a stray bullet in Syria’s coastal city of Latakia due to the recent clashes.
A young medical student lost her life in a heartbreaking incident in Latakia, after being struck by a stray bullet during recent clashes in the city.
Shinda Kishu, 18, a first-year medical student, had just returned home from university at 2 p.m. on the day of the incident.
Soon after, fighting broke out in her neighborhood between the General Security forces of Syria’s caretaker government and armed groups allied with Bashar al-Assad.
Her family, worried about her safety, contacted her. “She told me the situation wasn’t good,” her mother recounted.
The family attempted to secure a bus ticket for her and her sister to leave the area, but they were unable to do so.
An unidentified bullet pierced through their window and struck Shinda while she was sleeping. Her family, still in shock, holds the bullet in their possession.
“She was fasting, still so young, just in the prime of life,” her grieving mother said. “She was passionate about studying medicine, but she never got to enjoy it. She became a martyr in pursuit of her education.”
On March 6, intense clashes erupted in Syria’s Latakia Governorate between the General Security forces of the caretaker government and pro-Assad insurgents, particularly in areas like Jableh. The violence, marked by coordinated attacks and retaliatory airstrikes, resulted in over 1,000 deaths, including approximately 745 civilians, many from the Alawite community. The conflict has fueled mass displacement and deepened sectarian tensions, posing a major challenge to the new government’s stabilization efforts.