‘We've been living with the dead’: Al-Monitor's dispatch from Syria's Suwayda
Despite a ceasefire, Suwayda residents remain traumatized by the clashes and revenge killings that destroyed long-standing trust between the Druze minority and Damascus.
SUWAYDA, Syria — The first thing that hits you is the smell. Rotting flesh lingers in the thick, summer air. Ten days of deadly clashes have left thousands dead and the city of Suwayda fractured — scarred by blood, fire and revenge.
In the heart of the city, the National Hospital stands as a symbol of the carnage. The blood on its floors has only now begun to dry, and the stench of death clings to every corridor. Piles of bodies, some nameless, were only recently buried.
“We’ve gotten used to it,” Obaida Abu Fakher, one of the few doctors still working at the hospital, told Al-Monitor. “We’ve been living with the dead for over 10 days. Most of them had no names, just numbers. The morgue was full. We buried dozens in a mass grave near Rahbeh.”
He paused, before adding, “It was a bloodbath.” The scenes Abu Fakher described defy comprehension.
