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Idlib, Syria – It was a normal day for the Khodr family, who worked at the poultry farm on the Bourma farm north of Idlib.
“We walked into a birdhouse hanger, and suddenly I saw a bright light and I was lost,” Ali Khod told Al Jazeera a week ago. “I woke up covered in dirt, removed the dust and saw my brother Yehya. He would not answer me. He was dead. ‘
Russian airstrikes hit the farm. Khod lost not only his brother but also his six-year-old son Hassan, who was picking olives. Yehya’s wife, Sidra, and their other two children — two-year-old Assaad and one-year-old Marwa — were also killed.
“The missile landed just 20 meters from where Hassan was,” Khodr said. “Hassan wasn’t going to go to school because he was too far away, but he liked school.”
Khodr was surprisingly ready, even though he had to bury five members of his family.
They fled the Aleppo countryside due to the conflict, and were trying to pay for Idlebe.
Khod suffered head trauma, facial burns, bruises and a minor eye injury during the farm attack. But he dismisses his physical wounds when he thinks of Hassan.
“The Russians say they are beating up armed people. Are these children criminals? ‘ he says. “Let Russia, Turkey or the United Nations come around and see if they can find a hunting rifle, but the only thing they will find is a poultry farm where we raised chickens and chicks.”
Increasing tensions, increasing attacks
At least 60 children in Idlib have been killed in 700 airstrikes and bombings in Idlib in the past five months, Syrian Civil Defense spokesman Moussa al-Zaidan told Al Jazeera.
Tensions continue to rise in the last rebel stronghold in northwestern Syria, where the truce in March last year has been repeatedly violated.
A ceasefire negotiated between Turkey and Russia, the pro-Syrian opposition, the Syrian government’s main international sponsor, ended the Syrian government’s crushing offensive.
Idlib, which has decided to restore the Syrian government, is based on a border crossing with neighboring Turkey, in a UN-designated aid corridor that allows aid to Idlib without going through the Damascus government.
Support groups and hospitals say it is the last livelihood of about 4.4 million Syrians. About half of them are internally displaced. Most are women and children, UNHCR spokeswoman Rula Amin told Al Jazeera.
Ahmad al-Jomaa, 10, survived an airstrike in the Aleppo countryside near his family home a few years ago. “I remember when the missile hit us, I was out of our house,” al-Joma said. “I remember my mother went and took me.” The next three residents were killed.
His father Zakaria says Ahmad’s pelvis was broken and he had internal wounds to his stomach and intestines. “Ahmad had to have two surgeries and they put a net on him,” he explains. “He spent 20 or 25 days in the hospital, struggling to eat or drink.”
He and his family have fled to the al-Barr camp in northern Idlib.
The 10-year-old has a large scar on her stomach, which doesn’t seem to bother her that much. He can’t go to school anymore, even though he says he misses it.
“I would like to learn to be a doctor so I can help people,” Ahmad told Al Jazeera. “And I would love to go back to school and be with other students, but I have to help my father because our situation is dire.”
Instead of going to school in the morning, their father and they work at a local landfill from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. “We do enough to pay for food and other expenses. It’s not enough, but that’s the job we have at our disposal, ”says Zakaria. “I worry about him [Ahmad], but we need him to help put the food on the table. ‘
Amin says that for children in northwestern Syria, the race to escape from one danger to another is endless.
“If they are able to escape conflict and violence, they often wake up with the destruction of their homes, schools and streets. When they are displaced, finding a roof or shelter to protect them is a daily task, as well as finding access to safe water, electricity and sanitation, ”says Amin.
Ahmad seems to miss being able to play with the kids the most, as he did before the air attack. “It’s hard to play with them like they used to, because they like to fight and be silly,” he says. “But I can’t because of my surgery.”
His father says Ahmad spends a lot of time playing with his mobile phone outside of work and that he doesn’t like to go outside. “He goes to work at the landfill and comes home,” Zakaria says. “She’s really scared, and she refuses to leave, even though I suggest you go out together.”
Ahmad says he fears an air strike could hurt him and his family again.
Ahmad’s situation is not unique.
In fact, it has become commonplace for many children who know only one life, in a displacement setting.
Aziza Ziyadak survived several airstrikes that hit her home and school [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera]Aziza Ziyada is only five years old, but has survived several airstrikes that hit her home and school.
“Once upon a time, Russian airstrikes destroyed our house, but thank God the Civil Defense saved us and got us out from under the rubble,” his father Abbas told Al Jazeera. “Once an air raid brought her and her brother closer when they were in kindergarten.”
The family, which came from the south of Idlib, fled to a relocation camp further north. Aziza finished first grade, but is unable to continue attending school due to the family’s financial situation.
Meanwhile, he plays outside among the olive trees with his brother and the neighbor’s children. But every time he hears a plane, they go home to his father. “When they hear the sound of a plane, he immediately runs home, and ‘Dad, the plane will attack us!’ Abbas explains. “But I try to stay calm. That’s all I can really do. ‘
The Syrian government has pledged to regain control over the territory lost in the 10-year conflict that began in March 2011.
In the last decade, since the 2011 Syrian uprising, which turned into a savage and multiple war, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, millions forced out of their homes and the country’s infrastructure destroyed.
While the conflict may have subsided in large parts of Syria devastated by the war, Amin says the “continued threat” of children will continue for years to come.
“Even though they manage to escape physically unharmed, they are traumatized by the violence and suffering they see,” says Amin. “A vicious circle has taken over its past, present and, unfortunately, now its future.”
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