For 9 years, Hammoud Al-Kroum has sat for hours every day to write down every detail, event, and suffering of the Syrian revolution, amassing more than 70 thousand pages filled with hundreds of facts and pivotal moments.
Al-Kroum, originally from the southern countryside of Idlib, had the idea of documenting the revolution since its very genesis with the aim to preserve this moment in Syrian history for future generations. His project included the causes that led to the revolution, its daily events, significant names and slogans, number of martyrs, and the violent practices of regime forces.
Al-Kroum monitored the Assad army movement and occupation of cities and towns and recorded the atrocities and barbaric crimes committed against defenseless civilians, from bombing and killing to looting and displacing the people.
The diaries document every event big and small, including political actions and conferences that were held for and in the name of the Syrian revolution, starting from the Antalya Conference in 2011, to Geneva, Vienna, Riyadh I and II, Astana, and Sochi conferences, and to the most recent meeting that took place on September 15, 2020, between Turkish and Russian officials. In addition, he also documented all of the Security Council meetings during the 9 years of revolution and the decisions and statements made by western and Arab state officials regarding the Syrian issue.
Al-Kroum’s archive also included the military aspect of the conflict, from frontline battles to the names of victims, domestic and Arab movements, Russian intervention, Iranian occupation and the role of Hezbollah in the region.
Hammoud also included an account on the forced displacement that the Syria people have suffered, having personally been displaced 6 times.
His documentation was not limited to the events inside Syrian, but also included immigration to Europe and the suffering of Syrian refugees in Greece and on the borders to European Union countries, as well as the violations against human rights committed by the European police.
Al-Krum revealed that his sources vary, from witnessing the events himself on site like most of what he documented on the Idlib massacre, or collecting information from trustworthy first-hand witnesses. Other times he would turn to the media, logging intersecting information from revolutionary and neutral global sources, stressing his insistence to be as unbiased as possible despite considering himself a proud revolutionary.
Despite the obstacles that he faces in the liberated areas and the lack of help from any organization, Al-Krum writes between 4-6 hours a day, hoping that one day a neutral party might supervise his work and transfer it from paper to an electronic record for fear that his record might be lost or damaged in the war.
Zaman Al Wasl
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