Some Iraqis remain in Damascus despite war
Many Iraqis who live in Syria prefer to stay despite the war, because they consider the killings in Baghdad to be more "random."
Despite the fighting, security deterioration and power outages in the Syrian capital Damascus, Iraqis living there prefer to stay where they are rather than return to Iraq.
Ahmed al-Samarrai keeps calling his sister Bushra, who has been living in Damascus since 2006, to convince her to return to Baghdad. Yet, she keeps refusing.
Ahmed told Al-Monitor that his sister is “afraid to come to Iraq after seeing the dead bodies in al-Saidiya during the sectarian fighting. … [She] is refusing our requests to come to Baghdad. Sometimes, she stops talking to us because we keep insisting.”
Bushra al-Samarrai lives in Sahnaya (in the Damascus countryside). Nearby, in towns such as Daraya and al-Moadamiya the opposition and the regime constantly fight. Her husband has a small grocery store.
