Syrian family lauds community’s response to tragedy

A Co Galway-based Syrian family which lost four close relatives, including three young children, in Turkish-led military attacks on north-east Syria this week, has expressed gratitude for the overwhelming community response.

Mariam Al-Omar Al-Issa, who was resettled with her family in Gort two years ago, learned earlier this week that her sister Fatema was injured and Fatema’s husband Khalil and their children, twin boys Mohammed and Qusay, 7, and four-month-old daughter, Lujain, died during a military strike.

Ms Al-Issa was told that her sister had been hanging out washing at their home in the Syrian/Turkish border town of Ras al-Ayn when their house was shelled last Tuesday, and Fatema was the sole survivor. She was hospitalised with her injuries.

Ras al-Ayn has been targeted by Turkish military and their Syrian allies over a week of shelling, rocket attacks, and clashes with Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his offensive 10 days ago in response to US troop withdrawal.

The UN says the number of civilian deaths, reported at up to 200 on both sides of the Syrian-Turkish border, is still “unclear”, but at least 130,000 people have been displaced from homes.

Elham Tarea, also a Syrian resident in Gort and a close friend of the bereaved family, said Mariam and her husband Morhef and three young children wished to express gratitude to the people of Gort “for the kindness they have shown at this sad time”. Ms Tarea said: “The support is felt not just by Mariam and her family, but the whole Syrian community here.”

A book of condolences had been opened for the Al-Issa family at Gort Resource Centre, and its co-ordinator, Annie Rozario, said the community response had already been extraordinary.

Ms Rozario said:

We have a framed photograph of Mariam’s brother-in-law , Khalil, and the three children, Mohammed and Qusay and Lujain, who died, and we have had a stream of people bringing flowers, biscuits, offering help in any way

Gort parish priest Fr Tommy Marrinan said the book of condolences would be open in Gort Roman Catholic parish church over the weekend, and would then transfer back to the resource centre in Church St, Gort.

“We want to offer our deepest sympathies to the family, and we are working on an appropriate community response,” Fr Marrinan said.

It is anticipated that a fundraiser will be organised by Fr Marrinan and Gort Resource Centre for the family next month.

The Al-Issa family are from Raqqa, about 160km east of the Syrian capital Aleppo, and are among 22 Syrian families resettled under the UN High Commission for Refugees/Irish Refugee Protection Programme in Gort, Ballinasloe, Tuam, and Loughrea since 2017.