Friday 13 International Friday, November 30, 2018 After killing, defiant Syria town march on Syrians in Kafranbel keep the revolutionary spirit alive KAFRANBEL: Gunmen may have killed their bel was rocked by fighting between regime most charismatic activist, but Syrians in Kafran- fighters and defectors from Assad’s army, soon bel are determined to keep the northwestern slipping out of the government’s control. “I have town’s revolutionary spirit alive. The gunning a dream. Let freedom ring from Kafranbel,” said down of Raed Fares on Friday was the latest one sign that year in English, playing on the blow to what remains of the dwindling civil so- town’s name and echoing the words of Martin ciety movement that rose up against President Luther King. Another poster the same year com- Bashar Al-Assad in 2011. plained of congested skies. “We demand a po- “We lost Raed Fares but he represented an liceman be appointed to regulate war plane idea that will not die,” 26-year-old activist Ab- traffic,” it said in Arabic, signed “Liberated dallah Al-Dani said, standing in front of a wall of Kafranbel”. At Christmas approached, Kafranbel graffiti calling for freedom. Seven years into a sent a message to the pope. “Merry Christmas brutal civil war, Kafranbel lies in the last major from Syria, the land where Assad killed Santa rebel bastion in the country, and is controlled by Claus,” it said in bold black Roman letters. By a powerful alliance led by former Al-Qaeda ji- 2015, Kafranbel was part of a large region under hadists. But its walls are still daubed with brightly the control of opposition forces. colored murals, reflecting the town’s worldwide As the civil war became increasingly com- renown as a bastion of protest throughout the plex, involving world powers and jihadists, the uprising. Kafranbel, up in the province of Idlib on clamour coming out of Kafranbel targeted all v the Turkish border, was one of the first to join in sides of the conflict. “Islamic State (group) in as revolutionary fervor spread across Syria in Syria and Iraq: We didn’t liberate it so you could KAFRANBEL, Syria: Mourners attend the funeral of Raed Fares and Hammoud Al-Jneid in 2011. “It was the spark for the revolution in the rule it,” the town’s people raged, referring to the village of Kafranbel in the northwestern province of Idlib. — AFP north, a candle in oppressed northern Syria,” said land beyond regime control. Activist Bilal Bayush Dani, wearing a winter jacket to keep out the says people may have started protesting the cold. A town of some 20,000 people, Kafranbel Damascus regime, but they were soon also chal- popular radio station named Fresh FM in 2013. is right. In 2014, the town’s women sewed to- soon became known for the often humorous lenging powerful jihadists. These include IS, but When HTS tried to ban him from broadcasting gether a 75-metre-long version of the three-star signs in English and Arabic that its residents held also the jihadist-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) music two years ago, he fought back with barn- flag of the uprising, and paraded it down its up at weekly demonstrations. “Down with the alliance that rules more than half of Idlib, includ- yard noises. “He decided to air the noises of an- streets. regime — and the opposition,” a sign at one of ing Kafranbel. “Kafranbel has stood up against imals such as birds or cockerels instead,” says Even following the killing of Fares with fellow the town’s protests famously read in 2011. “Down IS since 2013, and it also holds demonstrations Bayush. IS fighters raided the office on several activist Hamod Jnaid, which sparked a flurry of with the Arab and the Islamic nation... Down with in solidarity with activists being held by HTS,” occasions, he wrote in the Washington Post in tributes on social media, the town’s residents say the (UN) Security Council... Down with the Bayush said. July, and the regime also bombarded it. Fares they will keep up the fight. After almost eight world... Down with everything.” said he was shot at by armed men in 2014, and years of war, “our determination has only in- Barnyard noises then abducted several times by the group now creased,” said Bayush, despite admitting he was ‘Assad killed Santa Claus’ Fares, who died aged 46, was among those to known as HTS. Often in creative ways, Kafran- a little fearful over a recent spate of killings and As protests spiralled into war, in 2012 Kafran- have run-ins with the jihadists, after he set up a bel’s people have stood up for what they believe kidnappings in the province. — AFP.