Displaced from Idlib: Interview with Anwar 'Adel Rayhan of Jisr al-Shughur
While there has been much focus on the large numbers of displaced people from Syrian government-held areas now residing in the insurgent-held areas of Idlib and Aleppo provinces, there have also been notable displacements of people originating from those insurgent-held areas and associated with support for the Syrian government. Those displaced people now reside in government-held areas such as Latakia city and its environs.
One of those people is Anwar ‘Adel Rayhan (Anwar ‘Abd al-Mun‘im), who originates from the Idlib town of Jisr al-Shughur and presently serves as the mukhtar for the people of Idlib residing in the government-held areas of Latakia province. Anwar had recently noted the visit of the prominent Arab journalist ‘Abd al-Bari ‘Atwan to government-held areas of Syria and wondered how this could be allowed when the paper he previously edited- al-Quds al-Arabi- was generally producing reporting in opposition to the Syrian government in the early years of the war, including a 2014 report (which, to be sure, dates after ‘Atwan’s tenure as editor) that focuses on Rayhan’s family, describing its alleged transformation from a family supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s into one whose members have largely been fighting in the ranks of the “militias of what is known as the shabiha” since the outbreak of the unrest and war in Syria in 2011. Included in the report was mention of Anwar and his support for the Syrian government.
I decided to reach out to Anwar so he could talk about his own life, and whether he has renewed hope in the return of Jisr al-Shughur to government control amid increasing normalisation between Arab states and the Syrian government. Below is the interview, conducted on 10 May 2023 and slightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: Can you speak about your life in Syria before the crisis? When were you born, what is your level of education and what was your occupation?
A: I was born in the town of Jisr al-Shughur in 1984. My level of education is associate degree in electrical engineering. As a family (myself included), we worked in trade of crops and spices.
Q: In the West and other places it is said that the demonstrations in the beginning were peaceful and there were popular committees that participated in suppressing these demonstrations. What is the truth of the matter?
A: Everything was planned for an explosion of violence and they were not peaceful at all. The first demonstration that took place in Jisr al-Shughur was in March 2011. Those who came out in them were a number of people, most of whom were working outside the country in Libya and Saudi Arabia. There was also incitement by people who were coming from Baniyas to Jisr al-Shughur and had links with some of the inhabitants of Jisr al-Shughur through their work in the stone quarries.