Thread by @qunfuz2

Was eating Syrian fast food in a cafe last night and talking (in English) about Russian savagery in Ukraine, and how belatedly the west had woken up to the problem. The chef walked over and began talking in Arabic. "I saw the Russian savagery in Syria. I was in Harasta." (urban

area in the eastern Ghouta, Damascus outskirts). "They used every type of weapon you can think of. They used de-mining explosives, a hose full of explosive which turned an entire neighbourhood into fire. They used white phosphorus and vacuum bombs. You wouldn't believe such

violence on a battlefield, but this was a city environment with every house full of women and children. There's nothing left now. It's destroyed. Anyone left in Syria is desperately praying to find a way out." I told him that one day we'd celebrate on the

graves of the Russians, but he wasn't convinced. Syria is ruined and there's no way to reach a happy ending. We did agree that it soothes the soul to some extent to see the Ukrainians defeating the Russians, in any case.

If in Dumfries, go and say hello... just-eat.co.uk/restaurants-le…

And if you want to know more, please do read our (Folio Prize-shortlisted) book Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. It contextualizes, and (unlike most western takes) prioritizes the voices of Syrians who lived through the events.

On the subject of Harasta, one of my cousins used to have a dental clinic alongside his family home there - both now destroyed by Assad, Iranian and Russian forces. My cousin was arrested by Assadists and badly tortured. He now lives in a European state in legal limbo, without a

residence permit but known to the authorities. His surviving relatives are scattered around the world, unable to meet because of visa regimes. Every Syrian family is now like this - or worse off than my family, because nobody in my extended family as far as I know is stuck

in a camp on the Syrian border. These are the worst places of all... except of course for the prisons/death camps of the regime, where at least a hundred thousand men, women and children languish between life and death.