“In summer the skies are clear so the planes come more frequently”, she said. It was true from the silence of winter came the explosions of summer.

This left her very unnerved as she had just had a newborn baby girl, Elaf, adding to her 2 toddlers, Yusef and Maria.

As my husband Rahimahullah and I were sitting in the living room we heard planes afar and ducked immediately. After the first trembling explosion we realised the Tyrant had hit the town opposite ours; as we looked on a few more bombs hit the town.

I went to my window and called out to her “faaaaadiaaaa! Did you hear that? How many bombs were there?” Her face was stressed and troubled.  She had witnessed countless of these bombs but they still affected her. She’s a soft hearted sister,she could not handle the fear.

A few days later on a Friday, my husband had gone to the masjid for jummu’ah; I was sitting in the living room when suddenly a missile hit an area metres from our house. Adrenaline rushed through me and with tears streaming from my face I called out, “Ya Allah! Ya Allah! They have no heart! Ya Allah destroy them, destroy them Ya Allah! The children Ya Allah!”

I rushed down to her house to find her packing her bags in tears. I walked in her house and she showed me remnants of broken glass by the window area where she usually puts her newborn baby girl, Elaf. She said how seconds before the missile hit she just felt that she should move Elaf to the other side far from the window. She could have been injured by flying glass but Allah saved her Alhamdulillah.

This was the last straw for Fadia. She quickly made plans with her husband to leave to Turkey and live with her mother-in-law in her small house. She left me with the keys of her house and told me to use whatever I needed from the little she had in her house and to keep her house safe. With a broken heart I kissed her lovely children goodbye, hugged her and thanked her for her hospitality.

While she was in Turkey she managed to contact me and she would frequently tell me of her grievances. Her husband was struggling to find work and her children had needs that they couldn’t fulfill. Her husband would often come in and out of Syria from Turkey but they still live there.

May Allah aid them and the people of Shaam and grant victory to those who struggle for justice.