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Village of Shnan of the besieged Jabal al-Zawiyeh.
It has been suffering like its neighboring villages from the siege for many months.
With us is one of its locals.
-May peace be with you. Peace be with you, as well.
Brother, why do you have fire burning? Why all of this?
There is no gasoline, and no bread, and no water. Our situation has worsened to an extreme.
There is no end to our suffering.
We’ve been this way for months: there is army surrounding us from the villages of Binin, Mgharat, Farhaya, and Sarjeh
We are blockaded.
Every evening they cut off our electricity.
We have not had electricity for 15 days
Cities of Shnan, Birkya, Dasambiyat, Binin, Hantutin have not had electricity for 15 days.
The amount of gasoline we have is not even worth mentioning.
Anyone who is lucky enough to have a little bit left in their tank lights a fire. Then, we all share. We get out to get warm and once it’s around 10 or 11 o’clock, we go and sleep under our blankets.
The weather, as you can see, is the coldest year we’ve seen. - Yes, I could tell by the clothes you’re wearing.
It’s freezing, especially in Jabal al-Zawiyeh and the other areas.
All of the countryside towns are experiencing the same thing we are. Like Maarat al-Naaman, it’s all the same.
For two days we haven’t had bread. We have to make our own bread. We have flour and you know, we’re a country side so naturally we have flour and other things so that’s how we usually make our bread.
Our situation is really bad; we don’t have much to live off of.
As for our army situation…I have two children. I don’t get any sleep. - Because of the army
Yes, the army is around us from all sides. So, one of my children cries, and when he stops, the other one begins.
Our situation is hard to handle for anyone. And we can’t escape to Turkey. We’re completely blockaded.
And what about demonstrations?
Demonstrations happen every single day. But we have a big problem with publicity.
-What does the Syrian army do when you protest?
When we begin protesting, the army begins firing on the other side.
We're blockaded and the distance between villages is not much. There's 2 or 3 kilometers between our village and the village that the army is in.
In our village, every month or two, the army attacks.
We only ask for freedom from God only. You saw the Arab nations; they don't act.
Freedom comes only from God. May God grant us freedom from the criminal Bashar al-Assad.