School Used by Daesh as Prison Reopens in Syrian Village

"The result of the work of the Committee for Governance of the Eastern Territories of Deir ez-Zor province is impressive. They include reopened schools, shops and hospitals, as well as people who are peacefully tilling the land," Russian Maj. Gen. Yevgeny Poplavsky told reporters at a ceremony devoted to reopening of the school in the Hatla village, located several miles from the capital city of the province.

The Committee started its work in early December 2017 with the support of the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation. The Committee includes representatives of all ethnic and religious groups living on the eastern bank of the Euphrates.

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The Russian military brought textbooks, school kits and several tons of food to the village on the school’s opening day. A mobile medical station has also been deployed near the school. The school in Hatla is the largest in the suburbs of Deir ez-Zor. It opened over 40 years ago and was considered to be the best in the region.

When Daesh terrorists occupied the province, a part of the school was turned into a prison and was used as a site for mass executions, Ibrahim Hueij, the school's principal, told reporters.

"Terrorists turned the school into a prison. Many prisoners were kept here, in small rooms. Sometimes, up to a hundred people were crammed into one class room. They shot people in one of the rooms," Hueij added.

Terrorists were destroying the system of education in the regions they seized, and also confiscated the Syrians’ satellite receivers and dishes to restrict their access to any information. The satellite receivers and dishes were then destroyed and burned in the schoolyard. There was no time to remove the debris from the yard, because the village residents convinced the local government to reopen the school as soon as possible.

"This region has been liberated from terrorists with Russia’s active support. You can see that our children can resume their studies now. The Russian military have helped reopen this and other schools. It is not the first time when they have delivered humanitarian aid to us. I hope they will continue to help us in the future," the school principal stressed.

Six hundred children attend the school in Hatla, but the number keeps growing because refugees are gradually returning to the province, Hueij said.

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Poplavsky, for his part, said that the Russian military was not only helping to restore schools and health care facilities on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, but also continued to clear local fields of mines.

"We are removing explosive devices and engineering structures such as trenches and antitank ditches, so that agricultural machinery can resume operating in the fields. In addition, our engineers also maintain the facilities for crossing the Euphrates," Poplavsky said.

All bridges crossing the Euphrates were destroyed during the battle for Deir ez-Zor. Russian military engineers have built a pontoon bridge and also established a raft ferry across the river.

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In the next few days, they will install field water supply systems to recover the destroyed parts of the water pipelines.

"Mobile field water supply systems will be installed here to supply water to the populated areas. These water supply systems are designed to connect the damaged parts of existing water pipelines. We will replicate the destroyed portions," Poplavsky added.

On December 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Daesh had been completely defeated on both banks of the Euphrates in Syria. On the same day, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that Syria was fully freed from Daesh terrorists and the remaining terrorists had been defeated in Deir ez-Zor.