ALEPPO, Syria — March 18, 2011, was an extraordinary day in the history of Syria; the demonstration demanding the release of “Al-Arbaeen School” students in the city of Daraa in south Syria turned into an uprising that swept across the country.
“It is your turn now, Doctor,” the students wrote on their school walls without knowing that this would lead to their arrest by Syrian security forces at a time when Tunisia, Libya and Egypt were putting an end to the era of dictatorships amid what was known as the “Arab Spring.”