In January, Syrian independent Member of Parliament, Fares Shehabi, walked me through a re-opened textile factory only 400-500 metres from al-Qaeda snipers in Lairamoun, Aleppo.
Attached is an interview I did with Mr. Shehabi, including some additional content from this and prior visits to Lairamoun.
Shehabi's powerful words include:
"This factory is on a front line in the war against terror. 400 to 500 metres away, the Tajik Brigades of the Islamic Turkistan Army, a branch of al-Qaeda in Syria.
This factory was rubble two years ago. We rehabilitated it. We are doing this as a message of defiance against all who conspired against the people of Aleppo, against the economy of Syria. The enemy was sniping at us , launching mortars, when we were fixing this factory to work again.
Show me one place in the world with a production situation like this, a factory being rehabilitated under these circumstances.
This is why they out us under sanctions, this is why they consider us enemies.
How can I be an enemy of freedom and democracy if I want our people to work, to make money, my country to have a production economy, and I don't yield to al-Qaeda gangs in close proximity to me.
...imagine the difficult situation in which these heroes, the factory workers and owners, had to go through in order to defy al-Nusra and defy Turkey, and rise up again from the ashes. This is a real example of how you rise up, undefeated."
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