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Video: FSA Syrian Nurse Helps Both Sides of the War

by Womens eNews | Womens eNews
Saturday, 11 January 2014 02:41 GMT

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Subhead:  Syrian refugee Hoda recalls helping an Alawite girl. Shurook, who didn't want to appear on camera, also helped the opposition. The first of three videos featuring the stories of female refugees in the Free Syrian Army. Byline:  Hajer Naili

Syrian refugee Hoda has been helping casualties of the war with her medical expertise.

 

(WOMENSENEWS)-- It has been over three years since Shurook has seen her brother. She doesn't know if he is still alive.

The last time she saw him was in March 2011 when the Syrian uprisings broke out. He was in the Syrian army. He refused to fight.

"He was 20 years old when they came and took him away," said Shurook, referring to the Syrian army.

Women's eNews met Shurook, who asked to only use her first name for safety purposes, in the Jordanian refugee camp of Zaatari last October. She was alone, with no family and pregnant.

Shurook, 17, married a fighter of the Free Syrian Army after she arrived in Zaatari. But her husband went back to Syria to fight. The FSA, as it's known, is fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. She said she is proud of her husband's decision to return home.

Shurook refused to speak on camera, but openly admitted to being a member of the FSA.

"They used to bring the weapons to my place and I would hide them," she said. "Grenades, Kalashnikovs, bullets; all were stacked up in my place."

Shurook said she decided to provide assistance to the FSA because one of her brothers had been killed in the fighting.

She eventually left the horrors of the war about 19 months ago, but told Women's eNews that after giving birth she would like to return "to continue helping."

Shurook was also providing medical assistance to the injured fighters.

Hoda, who appears in this video and also asked to only use her first name, also wants to return.

Hoda is married with three daughters. She left the Syrian town of Homs about 18 months ago. Women's eNews met her in Mafraq, a town north of Jordan.

The 32-year-old helped as a nurse in the opposition camp in Homs. Yet, she provided medical assistance to anyone who was injured, not just the opposition.

In this video, Hoda recalls how she helped an Alawite girl shot by a sniper in the middle of the night in Homs. Alawite is a religious sect, part of Shia Islam, to which Assad belongs. Syrian Alawites are known for being staunch supporters of the current Syrian regime.

This story was produced by Women's eNews' three-person multi-media team, led by Dominique Soguel. Videos were produced and translated by Hajer Naili and Touline Habake. This special project, , was funded by a group of private donors and contributors to the Women's eNews Catapult online campaign.

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