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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Eyewitness Description of Gunfight in Downtown Damascas |
| 2004-05-01 |
| .... "I don’t know what happened," said a weary [Sawsan] Farah, as nurses changed her bandages and prepared her for X-rays. "We were going to the school to work and instead found ourselves in the middle of a fire fight." Farah, a 41-year-old Christian woman, and colleague Nahla Zeidan were driving to the school where they worked Tuesday evening when they heard explosions and shooting. A gunman ordered them to stop and leave the car. "We tried to hide but one man came and shouted at us: ’Get out! Get out!’" she said. After they got out, the gunman ordered them to lie face down on the ground. Then, amid confusion and continued firing, he shot them. Farah was wounded in her thigh and the back of her shoulder. Zeidan, a gym instructor at the Flower of Damascus Elementary School, was killed. "I had my phone. I called my brother ... I was bleeding and Nahla was unconscious," Farah said. She said they stayed on the ground for 15 to 30 minutes until a local person arrived and took them to Muwasat hospital, where she was interviewed. Relatives said they have not told Farah that Zeidan had died. However, some colleagues wore black at her hospital bed. The two had been going to the school that night to finish preparations for today’s ceremony, a yearly event organised by a children’s organisation affiliated to the ruling Baath Party. Farah said the gunmen spoke Arabic and did not wear masks. But she could not remember what they looked like or what they were wearing. "I did not notice. I was too shocked," she said. She was reluctant to speculate on who the attackers might be or why she and her friend were shot at. "I don’t know," she kept on repeating. The government has described the four gunmen as terrorists and foreigners. Some of Farah’s relatives and friends posed questions that cast doubt on the official version of events. "There is a missing link somewhere," said Afraa Haidar, a 29-year-old Arabic language teacher at the school who came to see Farah today. "Why was the street empty before the clash?" she asked. Other Syrians have wondered how a gunbattle that caused extensive damage to buildings did not inflict more casualties in an area which has several restaurants and cafes. Zeidan was the only bystander to be killed. The other fatalities comprised a policeman and two gunmen. George Farah, Sawsan’s brother, said he did not care if the attackers were Muslim extremists, Syrians or foreigners. "Whoever did this is a heartless terrorist," he said, choking with emotion. "Sawsan and Nahla are two of the best people I know. They loved the children. They were married to the school." |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #2 By the way, here are some short eyewitness accounts, courtesy of the Beeb. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-05-01 7:34:47 PM |
| #1 a put-up affair - "we're all fighting Al-Qaeda, nevermind what's in Bekaa or shifting to Jordan" typically clumsy effort |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-01 7:10:10 PM |