Basel used to cross from the side of Aleppo that’s controlled by rebels to the side controlled by the regime. But now, he says, that one-mile stretch has become too dangerous.
Today on The Story, we reconnect with Osama. He’s a dissident in Syria and, like so many others inside that country, is now constantly on the run. His wife and daughter are now being threatened, and yet Osama says he will not waver.
Protesters in Syria have called for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, once a London physician who succeeded his father as head of state when he died. Few outsiders have had the chance to speak with him. Dick speaks to Abdul Rahman al-Rashed, a journalist who has interviewed him multiple times. He can describe the man ruling Syria.
Dicks calls up Osama, an opposition activist who has been in hiding in Syria for months. He speaks to us from Damascus and says people have to choose sides now.
Dick talks a photographer from the ancient city of Aleppo who, in the aftermath of the massacre in the city of Houla, says he’s reluctant to choose sides in his country’s conflict.