Enab Baladi – Khaled al-Jeratli
Syrians in some provinces have been accustomed to visiting the graves of their relatives on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, which has been denied to most of them over the past years due to displacement and the presence of their loved ones’ graves in areas controlled by different factions.
Since December 8, 2024, when the fall of the Syrian regime was announced, the graves of relatives became one of the first destinations that some sought, while others are looking forward to visiting the resting places of their loved ones on the first Eid al-Fitr without the Assad regime.
Wasel al-Naqouh continuously prays for his son and brother, the “martyrs,” who fought in battles against the ousted Syrian regime forces at various times. He was deprived of visiting their graves for years due to the changing control in Syria over time.
Al-Naqouh has been living in the Siraj camp in the Dier Hassan area near the Syrian-Turkish border for several years. He hails from the village of Qabr Fida in northern Hama province, which he fled with his family in 2014 after regime forces took control of the area at that time.
The 50-year-old man looks forward to a tradition he cherished years ago of visiting the graves of family members and loved ones at dawn on the first day of Eid al-Fitr. His brother, Alaa, was buried in rural Hama, where he died in a battle against regime forces near the town of Abu Dali in northern Hama province, while his son, Hussein, was buried in the village of Ma’arat Matir in Aleppo province, where he was killed in clashes with regime forces in 2014.
“Syria has been liberated today, and we can now visit the graves of Alaa and Hussein in Aleppo and Hama on Eid morning, and we can also move our tents next to our destroyed houses where we used to celebrate Eid in the village of Qabr Fida in the al-Ghab plain,” al-Naqouh said.
Ongoing rituals
Despite religious differences regarding visiting graves in the Islamic world, many Syrians consider this practice an extension of their cultural heritage. They view it as a way to maintain spiritual communication with the deceased and an opportunity for the visitor to remember that death is inevitable and that they must “correct their deeds” before that time comes.
Visitors generally place bouquets of myrtle on the graves after the Eid prayer. The cemeteries are adorned in green, and the fragrance of myrtle wafts from the graves.
Some prefer to buy myrtle a day or two earlier and head to the cemeteries after the Eid prayer, while others prefer to buy myrtle at the cemetery gates. After placing it on the graves, they pray for the dead and water the graves, recalling the beautiful moments they shared with those beneath the earth.
A feeling connected to “victory”
Hajar Abazaid linked the opportunity to visit the graves of the “martyrs” from her family in southern Syria’s Daraa governorate to a “feeling of victory,” especially since she wasn’t able to do so before the regime’s fall.
Abazaid recently returned to Daraa after visiting her brother’s grave, experiencing moments of tension and a trembling body as she searched for her “martyr” brother’s grave, who was killed at the beginning of the Syrian revolution in Daraa al-Balad, where the spark of revolution ignited in 2011.
“When I reached the grave, I burst into tears; I felt a thrill of victory that I could visit this grave. I wish my brother could celebrate with us,” Abazaid expressed.
Al-Naqouh viewed the opportunity to visit the graves of his son and brother similarly, believing that access to their burial sites after a decade-long absence signifies that “Syria has prevailed.”
Like Abazaid and al-Naqouh, millions of Syrians live far away from their original towns and villages. Many hail from the far south or east, where regime or Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control has made visiting these areas impossible, especially for those residing in northern Syria.
Approximately three million displaced individuals are in northern Syria, out of more than seven million displaced across Syria, according to United Nations estimates, while millions have sought refuge outside Syria, with five million in neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands have begun returning to their towns and villages following the regime’s fall, according to UN statistics.
Others have no graves
Similar to the priorities of returnees visiting their family graves on the first morning of Eid al-Fitr, others plan to visit areas where they believe a family member may be located due to being killed in that region.
Many Syrians do not know the fate of their children who were arrested by regime intelligence or killed during the war years, with no information emerging about them or their bodies not being found.
In the town of al-Husainiyah, located on the banks of the Euphrates River in eastern Deir Ezzor province, Mahmoud al-Ali, or “Abu Awad,” as his brother referred to him during an interview with Enab Baladi, was killed in an airstrike targeting a military bus that conveyed him and other members of the Free Syrian Army near the Euphrates River. No traces of his body were found, according to his brother, Omar al-Ali.
Omar added that he has no grave to visit on Eid morning, but he remembers his brother on the first Eid occurring in Syria without Bashar al-Assad and wishes he had a grave to visit on Eid al-Fitr.
The situation is not much different for Hazem’s brother, who was killed in battles against regime forces in eastern Hama in 2015. At that time, regime forces took away the body and displayed it in the streets of his hometown, Aqirbat, before burying it in an unknown location.
Hussein (Hazem’s brother) told Enab Baladi that his family used to force him and his three brothers to go out to visit their grandfather’s grave on Eid morning, and they always complained. However, years have passed since they lost their brother Hazem, without a grave to visit.
Despite the existence of Syrian laws to preserve cemeteries, the regime systematically destroyed graves in areas it controlled, from southern Syria to Aleppo.
A video clip broadcast by activists on X in 2020 showed a group of soldiers from the regime destroying graves in the town of Hayan in northern Aleppo province.
The video shows soldiers breaking grave markers and removing them, after which one of them began digging up the grave to exhume the remains of the person buried there, as heard from the conversations of the individuals visible in the footage, in retaliation for a person named “Abu Kamal” connected to army elements.
Syrians look forward to visiting graves of “martyrs” on Eid morning Enab Baladi.
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