Thread by @Elizrael

What do Soleimani's victims think about his death?
I spoke to @almaleh_amjad, who survived 2 years of siege under pro-regime forces in his hometown of Madaya. The siege of the town turned particularly deadly when Lebanese Hezbollah replaced the Syrian regime in besieging the town

@almaleh_amjad Syrian regime soldiers are highly corrupt, while Hezbollah fighters are more ideologically committed & less corrupt. Hezbollah's deployment in Syria was overseen by Soleimani & financed & supported by the Qods Force

@almaleh_amjad "When I saw the remains of Qasem Soleimani, the person truly responsible for the siege of my town Madaya, I remembered the 82 civilians who were starved to death, women, children and elderly >>
(images of baby with kwashiorkor and a starving toddler, Madaya, 2016 & 2017)

@almaleh_amjad >> I remembered the 235 civilians who were killed by shelling and by mines". Hezbollah placed mines around the town of Madaya and nearby Bloudan and Zabadani, besieged as well, to prevent escape & smuggling of basic necessities

"I used to hope to be able to avenge the death of all those killed by Soleimani and others, but the Syrian revolution thought us to use our brain and not be guided by emotions." - @almaleh_amjad

"I hoped to see him behind bars after a fair trial in an international court. Such a trial would have allayed the pain of those who were displaced, suffered and lost loved-ones because of Soleimani, Iran, Russian & all the forces that intervened in Syria." - @almaleh_amjad

I also spoke to an activist from Wadi Barada, which also survived 2 years of siege & then a fierce military assault with major Hezbollah participation. I can not mention his name because his relative, who remained in Wadi Barada, was arrested by the regime for talking to him.

My friend was badly injured in Jan 2017, during Hezbollah's assault on his town & needs to undergo several operations still. He was forcibly displaced to Idlib & now lives as a refugee in a free country, yet he is still afraid of speaking against Soleimani while using his name

After Wadi Barada surrendered to the Assad regime in 2017 & those who refused surrender were displaced, the regime began systematically demolishing homes in the area & is prevent most original inhabitants from returning [a practice identical to Israel in 1948]

90% of the town has been demolished. The regime allowed only state employees to return to Wadi Barada, as they are seen as more loyal. Some of them took photos of the destruction & sent to activists, but stopped when regime began searching phones on checkpoints in/out of the town

"Our area was subjected to shelling & occupation from the Hezbollah militia, the arm of Iran in Syria. When I heard about the death of Soleimani, it was about 2 AM. I was about to go to sleep>>

So I reached out to friends, one after another, telling them not to sleep until they hear the news. This is such joyous news. Soleimani & his militias did not spare us, in killing, shelling, displacing us and then occupying our lands and taking over our belongings."

I also spoke to an activist in Aleppo city who survived months of siege by Syrian regime & pro-Iranian militias, and then an unprecedented ferocious military campaign to capture the city, overseen by Soleimani, among other commanders

The Syrian regime used chlorine gas on multiple occasions, destroyed hospitals & flattened entire neighborhoods with barrel bombs and burned humans alive with incendiary munition. Pro-Iranian militias led the ground offensive. More on this: publications.atlanticcouncil.org/breakingaleppo/

I spoke to my friend throughout the siege of Aleppo, as he struggled to survive without food and under intense strikes. His thoughts today:
"I'm happy. I was hoping the person taking revenge would be among us [Syrians] and for us. May God bring an abundance of good to Trump lol😅

"It’s true they killed him for the Americans and not for the crimes he carried out against us or the Iraqi people. Still, may God give Trump health. He rid us of a piece of garbage, a criminal and a bloody murderer."