in Le Havre, the wait of a Syrian for his country

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For 15 days, Nasser Hamoud don't leave social networks with the television on in the background. “We are in contact with several people, we try to help, to find out what is going to happen. » For good reason: the regime of Bashar al-Assad ended after 13 years of conflict.

The Syrian left his country in 2016after several years under siege in the city of Moadamya. Arriving in France, he opened Ouch Falafela food truck selling Syrian specialties with which he travels to the markets in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) and the outskirts.

In March 2011, he returned to the country and remained stuck there for years

In 2011, the start of the conflict in his native country took him and his entire family by surprise. His father is a political activist opposed to the family Al-Assad. “Since we were little, we were constantly monitored by the intelligence services,” testifies the oldest of the five sons.

A March 2011Nasser Hamoud is in his fourth year of law studies at the University of Lebanon. On March 6, he returned to the country. And found himself on March 15 caught up in the first protests, in Damascus, in line with the revolutions of the Arab Spring. These are little followed and already stifled by the regime.

A few days later, the city of Deraa is the scene of a dramatic incident. Teenagers are arrested and tortured by the Syrian authorities for writing anti-Bashar Al Assad slogans on the walls of their school.

“There were several thousand of us in the streets on March 21 to demand freedom for children. » The popular revolt was brutally repressed and quickly transformed into civil war. “They shot people directly, while we were looking for freedom. »

Protests continue every week until 2012, every Fridaycontrolled in an increasingly brutal manner by government forces. “I am caught on May 9, 2011. I had gone home to take my brothers out to hide them elsewhere. »

Three months in prison

In the jails, in the basement, he said he was the victim of abuse, his eyes covered, his hands tied, from which he will have lasting effects. “I had broken shoulders, broken teeth. » His torturers are looking for his father.

The thirty-year-old remains locked in cells for three months, the one he can recognize on the screens today. “In our city, 1,200 people found themselves locked up. »

Most were released after a month. “I had to sign papers with my fingerprints, without knowing what was written there. »

The regime created these religious stories among us, it is not the fault of Sunnis, Shiites and Alawites [s’il y a des divisions]it’s the regime’s fault.

He comes out free and returns to hide with his family with relatives, forced to travel frequently. Besieged, the city remained blocked until 2013. “From then on, the free army protected the city centers. »

But the population does not escape the bombings. The country suffered the first chemical strikes, the most notable of which took place in August 2013. One of his brothers died that year. Another falls in 2014. “We don't know from which side the shots came, if they were Islamists or if it came from the regime, we found him, 20 bullets in his body. »

Waiting for events to develop

In 2015, in Syria, the population found itself faced with a difficult choice: stay in areas controlled by the regime, flee to other regions of the country, or leave Syria. Part of the population chooses to flee to Idlib. Nasser Hamoud's family leaves for Lebanon, before going into exile in France, to join one of his three sisters, seriously injured in a bombing two years previously. “We were not protected in Lebanon. »

His parents were welcomed by the town hall of Saint-Jouin-de-Bruneval. To stay close to them, Nasser settled with his wife, her mother and her children, in the Océane city. His father, Mohammed Hamoud, died in France in 2023. The family now lives scattered in Rouen, Caen and Paris.

During the offensive led by Islamist rebels at the end of November, “we did not think that a little more than a week later everything would be over”.

“I have a sister who stayed in Syria. His son is 17 and has never been on a bike, because he never went outside, he went to school and that's it. »

With his wife, the man who claims to be a witness to massacres had to start everything from scratch. “I have two children who were born in France, and do not speak a word of Arabic. »

In France too, his life was not always easy. “At first I just knew how to say hello. I learned with the neighbor. I had a little experience in mechanics, during Covid I went down to the neighborhood, I called him, we chatted together, tinkering. I talk to everyone, the people in the neighborhood know me well,” says the father.

If his wife chooses to retake her diploma, she leaves. He has experience in catering and mechanics. Then finally created his business and sets up his food truck in 2023 in a trailer. “I tried the first year to go back to school, I found that I was wasting my time, I preferred to start working directly. »

And even if it remains complicated “to find a place in the markets”, for him, a return is not to be considered, for the moment. “In our city, we have 1,800 people sent to prison (between 1,400 and 1,800, depending on sources), all those who remained in prison after 2015 were killed under the regime. We have already turned the page on Bachar, but the page is still black and we see nothing on it. »

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