In besieged Aleppo, man fights back with victory garden

By Mohamed Misto

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) – Ever since Syria’s Assad regime, backed by Russian air support, cut the strategic Castello Road linking Aleppo’s eastern districts to the countryside almost two weeks ago, the local population has remained under a tight siege, with many now facing a severe food shortage.

But one forward-thinking Aleppo resident, Abdullah al-Qatmawi, was well prepared for the predicament. Two years ago, he began planting a garden outside his home and now -- amid the siege -- survives largely on the vegetables it produces.

His garden is situated on a blasted-out patch of ground, scorched by a barrel bomb dropped by a regime helicopter -- an attack that left three people dead and partially damaged his home.

One month after the barrel-bomb attack, fearing the possibility of a regime siege, al-Qatmawi began planting tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, mint and molokhiya (a vegetable indigenous to the Middle East similar to okra) on the roughly 250-square-meter patch of land.

Al-Qatmawi now sells the vegetables that he and his family don’t eat -- at discount prices -- to his struggling neighbors.

"My garden is a message to the Assad regime and those who support it," he told Anadolu Agency.

"We will stay in our city even if they bomb it to smithereens; we will resist no matter how long their siege lasts," the defiant amateur farmer added.

Al-Qatmawi isn’t alone. A number of families in opposition-held parts of Syria have reportedly begun cultivating gardens -- or raising poultry -- in anticipation of possible regime blockades.

In February, the Syrian regime -- again with the help of Russian warplanes -- cut the supply road linking opposition-held eastern Aleppo to the city’s northern countryside.

Last week, the regime completed its siege of Aleppo by cutting the Castello Road, which runs from the city’s northwest.

Last Friday, the UN condemned the siege, warning of its devastating humanitarian impact on the city’s civilian population.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.