2.
Two days later (August 28th 2024). The road from Raqqa to the Azman site.
It was obvious that the UAZ Patriot off-road vehicle, in a beige desert camouflage colour, must have had a previous owner, other than Alya’s unit, considering the Cyrillic characters on the dashboard.
Making a remark about it, Alya confirmed that it had belonged to a Moscow based private company, that was involved in the war, as a subcontractor of Al-Bashim’s army.
“Modern neoliberal warfare”, she had remarked, “armies outsourcing activities other than fighting, to private companies! The Americans did it in Iraq, remember!?”
“I think it is old practice, and they are called ‘mercenaries’” I had remarked.
“True! But these company employees officially do not belong to the military, although they can get involved in combat, and they are often armed! Strictly spoken, the Geneva Convention, for what it is worth here, does not apply to them, and that works in two ways!”
The first night after my arrival, the Kurds had kept me detained. But the next day, Alya got me free. First, I had to hear one of her passionate sermons about the cause she was unconditionally fighting for, which was obviously no longer in favour of the Bashim regime. Then, we turned to our common passion : the Azman archaeological site. She confirmed, she could arrange a few hours of leave for herself, and fuel, wheels and some tools, to got to Azman, and do some quick search there. She nevertheless warned me that the place was far from fully safe, and that we would get there on our own risk! Anyway, this morning, she had all brought together, and we drove on.
Alya drove the car with a swift style. Over the - fortunately - mostly straight and deserted road, she pushed the car to its limits. Making speeds up to 140 km/h, she kept a relaxed attitude handling the wheel. Meanwhile, I suspected, she was aware of my worry about her driving style, a worry she silently enjoyed, I seemed to notice.
“So, you made it a major already, Alya?”
“That is partly due to my academic education level and my leadership experience at the university. We need people with that profile, to make our army run, and they are scarce, in a society with a rather low average education level. On the other hand, too bad, our high casualty level is also a contributing factor for making promotion. I got lucky so far about fortune of war! Yet, I tell you, it is a terribly heavy responsibility! In my time as head of the faculty at Damascus University, I sometimes found my responsibilities a burden, however, compared to this, it was peanuts! But I do this, because it is my duty! I must!”
“As far as I understand, the Euphrates is the front line now!”
“In fact, as far as you can talk about a solid front line! It roughly demarcates the border between the areas under control by us, and those by Bashim’s mercenaries and the Mahdists! But it is a very porous border, and infiltrations are never excluded!”
“I see!”
“That’s why Azman is not fully safe!” Alya continued, “Just 25 kilometers from the Euphrates, that’s still too close for comfort! Let’s just hope that the Mahdists and Bashim’s mercenaries keep entertaining each other while we are there, and that they will not bother about us! Trouble is also, that there are still bands of stragglers and marauders around, who work for their own! They are the most unreliable ones! They would sell their own mother if it would suit them! And they are even more nasty if you would fall into their hands, than into the more regular fractions!”
“Alya, in our job, both of us, and even you and me together, have already been in perilous situations, by actions of either regular and irregular forces! We have feared for our lives, and we always knew, field work could be life-threatening! Is it here worse than before?”
“Sure it is, Lox! Anticipate on the worst as long as you are around here! The Mahdists, Bashim’s and their mercenaries, stragglers, they all compete in cruelty!”
“And I understand, you have definitely turned your back to the Bashim side!”
“I admit! I had followed the wrong people! But I still believe in the views on society, they once stood for! I hope we can work on that in our own Kurdistan soon!”
“What did you see in them?
“I had been captured by the socialism inspired ideals of their ideology! Equal opportunities for all! And that seemed to work in daily life!”
“Maybe, but just for an elite…”
“There was still much emancipatory work ahead for the masses, I admit…! Moreover, traditional thinking often stood in the way…!”
“The Bashims were no softies in their governance! Everybody knew!”
“I accepted it as a necessary, but temporal inconvenience! You cannot bake eggs without breaking the shell!
“That’s what Lenin also said when he started the Red Terror that killed hundred thousand people!”
“That’s not a fair comparison, Lox! Here, it was different! Those opponents, the Bashims pursued, they wanted a reactionary state, like the ayatollahs in Iran! Gone with equal rights and opportunities for women! The opposite of what I believed in! And by the way, the Bashims, they are all medical doctors! The current Bashim who is president, has been a qualified surgeon before he came to power! If you cannot trust a doctor, then who can you trust!?”
“Alya!? I presume that is irony!”
“Maybe! But I wanted to contribute to building a modern Syria! That was the promise! I was truly committed to that! It was idealism, Lox! What’s wrong with hoping for and building on what you believe will be a better society for all!?”
“Alya! Syria is a creation of British and French Imperialism, just about a century ago! Sykes-Picot agreements, remember!?”
“That is partly true! But there was some restoration of historical truth in it! Syria, that’s Roman Syria, and Iraq, that’s old Parthia! That distinction has always been there! The Ottoman occupation had erased that partition officially, but it has never been away!”
“The Madhist State thinks different about that!?”
“The Madhist State is obsessed by creating a unified caliphate, ruled by laws of their religion! From Istanbul to Casablanca, and beyond, down in Africa to the Equator. And preferably also with the old possessions in Spain and the Balkans! Not to mention that some even dream of conquering the whole Europe for their caliphate!”
“Really!?”
“Yes! Some claim that all territories a Muslim warrior has ever set foot on the continent, should be included into their caliphate ! Like, they have been as far as the gates of Vienna, so Vienna belongs to them! And next, why not simply conquer the rest of Europe!”
“Let them dream of it!”
“Not so sure, Lox! Since millions of Muslims have migrated all over Europe, the Mahdists see a pretext to seize it! Protection of oppressed minorities of their own religion! And it us who are preventing them to carry out their vicious plans! Here, in our land, in our Kurdistan! With our blood! Europe should be more grateful to that!”
“They never will get across Turkey!”
“If you think you could count on the Ottomans to stop them, forget it! Those people in Ankara are completely untrustworthy! They want to become a regional superpower, as they were before 1914, and to seize back what Sykes and Picot have taken from them! Ankara thinks they can take control over these Mahdists, and the risk is that they could make deals with them as part of their own regional imperialist plan! That would open Pandora’s Box! And it is up to us to prevent that! That’s what I fight for! For our cause, and for Europe’s cause too! Think about that, Lox! Something else now! That manuscript you got there is really interesting!”
“Yeah! There must be more hidden treasures in the library collections of the Vatican! But let’s remain careful! It is not an original account! It could be a third hand version! Maybe even a fourth hand! There could have slipped a lot of translation liberties and imagination into it!”
“True! But it is worth to investigate! There is some consistency throughout the account!”
“Well, Alya, here is the first deviation from established knowledge. We have always assumed that Cassius Longinus and the other advisers have been tried and executed in Emesa, while this account locates the trial and crucifixion in Palmyra!”
“Oh!” Alya suddenly slowed down. There were people on the road.
“Who are they?”
“Nomads! Bedouin nomads! They are on our side, although their alliances may be for sale! But we need them to plug gaps in the frontline as good as possible! I just slow down, because I want to avoid driving down one!”
Alya further slowed down and lowered the window. The nomads wore traditional clothing, but their AK47 rifles were modern. As they saw her, in her uniform, they let us pass along.
“For the moment they dwell around near the Azman site, sometimes use it as shelter, and keep an eye on it!” Alya further explained.
“Is there much war damage at Azman?” I asked.
“Well, it has only been bombed by Syrian, Russian, American, Turkish and Israeli air forces, and shelled by the Mahdists and, sadly, by us! So, nothing special to Middle East standards! I figure, it could turn out better than expected! Anyway! The day will come that the Azman site will be fully under our control, and safe to explore again!”
She looked very self-confident about it. That determination in her eyes! She looked older than the last time I had seen her before she left Paris to go fighting. Probably worn by the war and her responsibilities. But she still looked like a gorgeous Middle East beauty! While I had been talking to her, it suddenly occurred to me – I never had noticed before, how her facial profile resembled the depiction of Queen Zenobia on the 1997 issue of the 500 pound Bank of Syria banknote.
We got the Azman site in sight. It felt like coming home a bit, after so many years, but I hoped, that the ‘home’ had not suffered too much damage from the war.
(to be continued)
