Alaa… Martyr of decisive battle

SHINDA AKRAM / NEWS DESK

Today, we will go back in time to dive into the memory of the revolution and discover the story of one of its heroes. If we want to know the values of this day, we have to get the memory back to know how many sacrifices have been made and how many stages have passed until the time to where we are now has come.

In Rojava, the revolution of the people that broke out in 2012 is still ongoing, and there is no doubt that the blood of the martyrs that watered the ground of this country is what contributed to its continuation.

As soon as this revolution began, the enemies began to lurk it from here and there. No one wanted this revolution to succeed reaching its goal, and the neighboring countries, especially Turkey were at the forefront of those.

The battles that broke out in Serê Kanîyê (in the western part of al-Jazeera region) of al-Hasakah between the People Protection Units (YPG) and Jabhet al-Nusra mercenaries and some groups calling themselves the Free Army were the first serious challenges that faced this revolution, but they failed.

The people of this land resisted these attacks until they have been foiled, and with their failure, world plans were thwarted, the first of which was the Turkish hostile scheme.

From here, we want to mention the story of the martyr in the ranks of YPG Alaa Qassem who was martyred in the battles that took place in Serê Kanîyê city.

Alaa was born in 1976 in Serê Kanîyê which was subjected to a campaign of Arabization during the rule of the Baathist regime of the region as the regime changed its name to Ra's Al Ain. He grew up in a middle-class family depending on agriculture.

Alaa was a member of a family consisted of 3 brothers and 4 sisters. At the educational level, Alaa studied until the preparatory phase and left studying to support the family because his father was ill. He has worked all the time as a farmer in the village

Because he was fun, the farmers used to be gathered around him talking to each other while working on the farmlands, as stories used to be told and jokes and various conversations used to be exchanged.

Alaa married his wife Amira after performing the mandatory service in the Syrian army. He later became the father of three children. He has spent several years living with the family without leaving it until his younger siblings have been able to manage the family's affairs.

He was fond of taking photos and depicting videos so he headed to the Syrian capital, Damascus to learn photography. He aimed, according to his friend Mohammed Aziz, to depict videos and photos of the history of his historical famous city of Serê Kanîyê as it goes back to thousands of years BC, and it was among the first civilizations in the Euphrates region of Syria.

In addition, Alaa was a fan of poems of the Kurdish artist Cîger Xwîn as he used to them a lot.

He joined the political work in the Kurdish Progressive Democratic Party in Syria, but with the start of the people's revolution in Rojava, he participated in the protection of the region and joined YPG that took over the mission of defending the land, the people and the revolution.

Abdel Wahhab Qassem, Alaa's brother said, "At the beginning of the movement in Syria, Alaa expected that the people of Rojava would have an opportunity so he used to repeat his saying, "We have to be ready for that and work on the protection of our areas from now and then."

Amira, the fighter Alaa's wife said, "He was nationalist, and the Kurdish Cause was everything for him. I used to go away from him sometimes and tell him why you are imposing your nationality on the family. He used to respond quietly saying that you have to listen to my heart."

In the midst of the Syrian crisis, where the solution was not possible and still so after eight years, the people of Rojava chose what was known as the "third line", where the people of this region did not ally with the anti-regime armed groups, nor the regime itself. They had their own approach so they were subjected to many harassments and attacks, the first of which was launched on Serê Kanîyê.

The mercenaries entered Serê Kanîyê villages and parts of the city, and YPG had to liberate them from the mercenaries because their control meant a lot politically, militarily and even socially as destroying, devastating, murdering and looting spread everywhere.

Between YPG's resistance and the mercenaries' attacks, several months have passed with the continuation of the battles. Alaa joined YPG, participated in repelling the attacks and worked on protecting the neighborhoods where the fighters of the units were deployed.

His comrade Mohammed Baqi recalled one of the hard moments they had passed through saying that violent clashes were ongoing when we were in the middle of them. Alaa said, putting his hand on my shoulder, and while we were hiding in the corners of one of the houses that had been shelled, "My companion, I would be martyred. My children would grow up and say that their father was martyred for defending his land and the dignity of his people to live in peace these days."

At that time, the bullets were coming from every direction. The battles were so violent. On the 4th of January, 2013, Alaa Qassem reached the rank of martyrdom after being shot by a sniper after heroic resistance shown with all strength and will.

D.H

ANHA