In this third installment of Al-Akhbar’s journey to the Qalamoun Mountains, we reach the mountain range where thousands of guerillas are based. Natural fortification and the difficult terrain protect the area from shelling where these guerrillas from various brigades are stationed shoulder to shoulder.
Al-Akhbar’s days in the towns of Qalamoun are divided between guerilla headquarters and their positions in the endless mountain range. The routine begins early in the morning when groups of young armed men exercise, indifferent to the warplanes that boom overhead. Hundreds of fighters then gather at the internal road linking the villages of Qalamoun, across from the stretch of international highway between Homs and Damascus.
On the outskirts of town, homes have been turned into command posts for armed opposition groups. They spit out 4x4 vehicles carrying dozens of armed men. The cars bump along the rocky roads, accompanied by mountain motorbikes. Here, nothing but "divine sympathy" protects them from the bombing.