Gustave and I slipped past the guards later that night - around 3 a.m. We planned to make it to the Euphrates River in the north so that we could steal a boat and make it to Southern Turkey. But our plans were rudely disrupted by government planes dropping barrel bombs on civilians early in the morning.
We were close to where the bombs exploded so we decided to try to help any of the injured even though ISIS soldiers might be on our heels at any moment and, If they caught us, it would mean our execution within a day or so.
Minutes later we heard a child cry, then a baby started wailing. I dreaded this kind of scene the most - one where we likely would see little children with horrible injuries. If anything could unsettle one's belief in a divinity, it was experiencing something like that.
We rushed to the destroyed five-story building. The White Helmets had just pulled a week-old baby from a hole in the rubble. It was a scene I'll never forget and impressed upon me the value of one child's life.
We decided to hang around with those heroes who volunteered at Syrian battle scenes and bombing areas to help anyone in need, even our enemy. So that there we were – al Qaeda soldiers who could easily be facing the prospect of being accused of giving aid to the enemy – a dodgy concept in Syria.
The mother and what looked like her son were torn to shreds by the blast. What would become of Baby Blue, a name we made up for her?
After that, we decided to take up an offer by the commander of the White Helmets in that sector to work alongside his people for a few days. Gustave told him we were ISIS fighters who had deserted. He gave us both White Helmets and said in Arabic and broken English something to the effect that helping the dying and severely injured or saving a baby was a sacred thing and that nobody had the right to judge us. He also said that the last place Daesh might look for us was in the White Helmets group. That made sense to us. We also would be guaranteed hot meals and fresh clean water.
YOU ARE READING
American Jihadists
مغامرة(Warning: Some mature language) Two young American friends naively travel to Syria to fight with ISIS against the Syrian Regime and quickly decide that they got into something ominous and evil. I encourage all readers to comment, vote, and share. T...
