“They’re everywhere. No place is safe. Anyone can die at any time–“
At that moment, Leila’s internet was disconnected, leaving a black square on her video call interview with next of kin and CTVNews.ca. Her family says they often only have a few seconds with her at a time. As they desperately tried to help her escape from the civil war, there was an unbearable limit.
Leila was in Aleppo visiting family (her uncle has a heart condition) when rebels stormed the city on Friday. Fighters from the designated terrorist group Hyat Tahrir al-Sham took control of the airport and engaged in a gunfight, reigniting long-stalled fighting with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Dozens of Syrian soldiers were killed and the Russian air force bombed rebel targets.
It is the first change in control of the city since 2016, when government forces backed by Russia and Iran defeated rebel forces that controlled eastern Aleppo.
“We started hearing bombs,” Leila told CTV News, adding that rebel fighters “are everywhere in Aleppo.”
Layla is not her real name. CTV News has agreed to conceal her identity. She worries that her Canadian citizenship could make her a target for rebels looking to take hostages with ties to foreign countries.
Syrian opposition fighters shoot in the air in downtown Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, November 30, 2024. (Ghaith Al-Sayed/AP)
She and her family fled Syria in 2012. The year before, civil war broke out in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings against President Assad. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have died and more than half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million has fled or fled as refugees.
When rebels captured Aleppo, a mass exodus of locals quickly filled buses, taxis and roads, making escape difficult. Meanwhile, many of the remaining residents were evacuated to evacuation centers due to the intensification of occupation by rebel forces. With nowhere to go, Leila asked her family for help.
“Is there any help available?”
Khalid Mohamed, the next of kin who helped Leila make her uneasy journey from the conflict zone, said he has contacted Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Her family claims that government departments did not help her escape.
“For years now, Canada’s travel advisory to Syria has been ‘avoid all travel,'” said an email Mohamed shared with CTV News from an alleged exchange with GAC. It’s dark. “People should not rely on the Government of Canada to assist them when leaving certain areas.”
The email directed people to contact the nearest embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. Mohamed said he contacted them several times but received no response. Faced with what seemed like a dead end, “we really tried to take things on our own,” he said.
CTVNews.ca reached out to GAC to confirm the legitimacy of the email chain and respond to the family’s story. This article will be updated once a response is received.
“We looked at a map and saw that the Turkish border was an hour north of Aleppo. We encouraged her to go there,” Mohammed explained. “They had a very old car… and they didn’t have petrol. They put oil or something (in the car) and drove it 50 kilometers to the Turkish border.” From Turkiye, Leila was able to catch a flight to Canada, but she said she ran into another obstacle.
Tolkier lifted visa requirements for Canadian tourists in January, but was turned down. Mohammed said border officials told her she needed “special permission or recommendation from the Canadian government” to cross. CTV News has reached out to the Turkish embassy in Ottawa for clarification on entry rules and is awaiting a response.
“We contacted Canada’s SOS service and were informed that there is no assistance available for Canadians stranded in Aleppo,” Mohamed added.
Leila is currently holed up in a hotel in northern Syria, unable to return to her hometown in Canada or her family in Syria. Instead, she’s stranded on the other side of the border, where power and internet access are unreliable, waiting for a letter from Canada that may or may not arrive.
“I just hope,” she told CTVNews.ca in an electronic message Tuesday.
Rebel fighters stand on the tarmac at Aleppo International Airport on Monday, December 2, 2024, with the Syrian flag lying on the ground. (Omar Album/AP)
“We’re Canadians. We’re going to get help too.”
Mohammad and another close relative, Masa Abo Gedde, are sitting in a virtual room for an interview with CTV News, waiting for Leila to be reunited.
“I text her at least once an hour. I’m constantly checking to see if she’s online to see if she’s alive,” Guede said. “It usually goes off within a few seconds… but it’s hard to fall asleep.”
Leila also asked CTV News to hide her relationship with her family to protect her anonymity.
“This is why we came to Canada. Being Syrian is not the best. You don’t feel safe in your country. You don’t feel like your country is supporting you or doing things like this. I don’t feel like I’m being helped in this situation,” she told CTV News.
“My first instinct was, if anything, we need help because we’re Canadian.”
Using files from Reuters
