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العربية
No one disagrees on the substantial and considerable sacrifices the people of Deir Ezzor have offered for the sake of the Syrian Revolution so far. We have become used to hear about different eminent figures from Deir Ezzor who succeeded in making a recognizable difference in the Syrian uprising on both the peaceful and armed levels, leaving a gap after their martyrdom, which remains demanding to fill until now.
This time we will shed light on a family from Deir Ezzor who was a revolution by itself. The family of Al-Mughayr from the village of Gharibah in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor, who had experienced humiliation under the rule of the Assad-regime before the beginning of the Syrian Revolution after attempting to ignite a revolution, which was not destined to take place at the time.
With the start of the Syrian Revolution, this family became involved in it with all its strength, offering seven of its members as martyrs for the sake of the revolution to set an example of sacrifice to all people in Syria. Their mother also became Khansa’of Deir Ezzor, Khansa’ was a 7th-century Arabic Poet whose four sons were all killed in a battle, but once she received the news, she did not grieve and said “Praise be to Allah who honored me with their martyrdom. And I have hope from my Lord that he will reunite me with them in the abode of his mercy.”, as she received the news of the martyrdom of her children with all patience and strong faith.
Their story with the Assad-regime began in 2004 when the latter arrested the eldest son of the family of Abu Abdul Rahman Mughayr following his refusal to pray for Bashar each time there was a Friday prayer in the small mosque of the village of Gharibah in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor. This was followed by the immediate arrest of Abdul Rahman and his brothers under various charges; all of which revolved around terrorism and dissidence.
The situation continued as such until 2007 when the regime raided their house, arrested the three remaining brothers, and took them to Qamishli. Then, they were transferred to Damascus where they met their previously arrested brothers who were shocked after seeing them brought to the same prison.
Their investigators conducted all types of brutal torture against them under the pretext that they were affiliated with a specific mainstream of Salafism. After several days passed, all of them were released except for the eldest brother, Abdul Rahman, who was then transferred to the notorious prison of Sednaya to complete his career between the bars of prison.
During the insurrection at “Saydaniya” prison, Abdul Rahman was chosen by his cellmates to negotiate with Assef Shawkat. They meet with each other but the meeting was to no avail, as Abdul Rahman did not compromise the conditions introduced by his cellmates and, as a result, Assef vowed and promised him in return to storm the prison and kill off all the prisoners. After few hours, Asef and his forces began to break through the prison, which was met by a severe resistance by the prisoners, however, due to lack of military equipment, many of the prisoners were forced to surrender.
After the insurrection at the prison was brought to an end, it turned out that Abdu Rahman martyred due to a bullet fired in his head while resisting the regime security forces. The martyrdom of Abdul Rahman remained concealed, despite several attempts by his family to visit him to get the picture about what was going on.
As the Syrian Revolution erupted in 2011, the revolutionary career of the family commenced respectively. It was an exceptional and outstanding start, as they offered three of their sons in one day in early 2012. Bassem Mughayr, aged 15 and half at the time, defected from the Assad-regime in late 2011 after refusing to partake in the killing of peaceful protestors; and he preferred to join the rebels in the province of Deir Ezzor.
As for the third brother, Fayez, he spent nearly four years in Assad’s prisons where he was subjected to the worst kinds of torture after he was accused of removing a portrait of Assad. In late 2011, he was released to immediately form an armed group made up of his cousin and two brothers ( Bassam and Bassim) to thwart any military campaign attempting to storm their village.
In the first month of 2012, the Assad-regime launched a military campaign with the aim to storm the village of Gharibah. The regime tried to capture all the wanted civilians living in the village; therefore, the brothers decided to respond to the campaign and thus the fighting began at dawn of Thursday in 2015. After few hours, it ended with the martyrdom of the three brothers, as they ran out of ammo, which was insufficient to fend off the campaign. The regime was not content with killing them and mutilating their bodies, but it even refused to hand over their bodies to the rest of the family.
Their mother astounded everyone following her reaction to the news of the martyrdom of her children, including her young son, Abdul Rahman, who was tortured to death in “Saydaniya” prison. She received all these mournful and heavy-hearted news with patience and strong faith in destiny. Above all, she even stressed on her remaining children to follow in the footsteps of their martyred brothers until the Assad-regime is overthrown. She opened her door to all military factions in the province that included a faction, which was led by her son, Aboud. The military factions operated on the banks of the Euphrates River between Hasakah and Deir Ezzor, where they delivered heavy blows to Assad forces.
Aboud was martyred during an operation in which they were storming a regime check post in the area. He was sniped to death by a regime sniper along with eight of his comrades at a night. After the martyrdom of Aboud, his brothers, Fawaz and Faysal continued the duty of their brother by leading the military faction which was once led by Aboud.
Faysal who defected from the regime in late 2011 and could not reach Deir Ezzor provine, as he was arrested on his way to it and thrown in prison for seven months to later manage to escape from Palmyra prison and join his brethren in the battalion of Khansaa in Deir Ezzor.
In less than ten days after the martyrdom of Aboud, Fawaz and Fayssal fell martyrs while preparing an explosive device, which they intended to use against one of the check posts in the province ; however, it blew up leading to their martyrdom. Thus, the career of this blessed family ended; a differential family who devoted itself for the sake of the revolution and offered seven of its members.
