Every day since he began his hunger strike on November 26, local activist Qusai Zakarya has posted a diary entry about life in the besieged Damascus suburb of Moadamiyyat Ash Sham.
On Wednesday, he wrote:
During another filthy truce offer from the Assad regime to the civilians of Moadamiya, Assad once again aimed at getting us to give up on the revolution and return to being his loyal servants; and he once again used food as weapon in attempt to make us kneel to his criminal demands.
Assad has been starving the besieged people of Moadamiya for over a year, trying to make us desperate enough to resort to any means to feed our families and children. And so our local council has now approved an agreement to raise the regime flag high in our town, as a first step in a bigger deal. In return, the regime promises to deliver daily meals to the town. This tactic will keep incoming food under regime control. We will continue to be under their mercy for every meal on a daily basis.
What we need is for the regime to break the siege and allow the people Moadamiya open and free access to the get the food and medicine they need.
During the 48-hour truce, regime forces were also seeking the handover of heavy weapons and a commitment that only residents of the town would remain.
Zakarya, who has spoken to EA on several occasions about the situation in Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, continued:
I cried like a five year-old who lost his mom when I saw the regime flag over the building. I remembered all of my friends who died for the sake of the revolution and the others who continue to struggle in the name of freedom and dignity. Dear God, what a feeling.
It’s Christmas Day, and for the first time in my life, I truly wish that Santa was real so I could ask him for food and medicine for all the besieged towns so we can be saved from this humiliation and suffering.
I don’t know about Santa, but I do know that I will keep going with my work, supporting the struggle for freedom and human rights in Syria. We will never ever give up.
He has not posted since Wednesday, although he did get a message to The New York Times the following day:
To this moment we did not get anything. We are just waiting, and all the fighters who let us down are talking and gossiping about us that we sold Moadhamiya out.