Before Abu Adeeb left his country, he was a clothing dealer in Saraqeb, a city in Idlib Governorate in northern Syria. He led a decent and stable life with his wife and two children until the outbreak of the Syrian revolution last year, which left his hometown decimated.

After President Al-Assad’s decision not to let Syrian families cross the borders to neighboring countries, Adeeb decided to travel on the first flight to Cairo since immigration to Turkey by land became impossible.

Before Abu Adeeb left his country, he was a clothing dealer in Saraqeb, a city in Idlib Governorate in northern Syria. He led a decent and stable life with his wife and two children until the outbreak of the Syrian revolution last year, which left his hometown decimated.

After President Al-Assad’s decision not to let Syrian families cross the borders to neighboring countries, Adeeb decided to travel on the first flight to Cairo since immigration to Turkey by land became impossible.

Abu Adeeb didn’t know anything about his destination, and it never before occurred to him to visit Cairo, until he discovered he could get there cheaply and with no entry visa.

Upon arrival, he resorted to the Arab Doctors Syndicate, but it is not always able to help Syrian refugees effectively, given their large number, which exceeds thirty thousand according to their estimates.  Adeeb also sought help from charities, but they were also unable to help him. Finally, he went to major mosques where he was introduced to Hajj Musa, who offered him his late mother’s flat in Ismailia, 120 km east of Cairo, where the living conditions are more convenient.

Faithful help

Abu Adeeb reached Ismailia and spent the holy month of Ramadan there, “I spent the best Ramadan of my life with the city’s people who made him feel truly at home.”  He recalled a lot of people visiting him or offering to host him and give him what he needed.

This was in great contrast to how Adeeb said he was treated by the director of the religious charity in Ismailia.  “They humiliated me before giving me 100 Egyptian pounds/$16.”

The vacuum left by civil charities, likely due to a shortage of resources, has been filled by Islamic groups and organizations, which moved to help Syrian refugees.

“To provide Syrian families in Ismailia with the best services, a reception center has been established under the supervision of the Islamic Group,” said Ayman Jad, treasurer of the Islamic Group in Ismailia.

“We work in coordination with the governorate, which has welcomed the idea to ease its burden and force the police to protect refugees.

The Islamic Group fund is also trying to create job opportunities for Syrians in Islamic businesses. The fund, explains Jad, supports refugees and may sometimes secure a job opportunity abroad.

Jad, however, urges people not to donate cash money to Syrians because he claims that some of them have been seen collecting huge amounts of money for unreal reasons and others have become beggars. He also adds that the Islamic Group doesn’t monopolize charity but cooperates with other parties, like ‘Freedom and Justice’, ‘Constitution’, and ‘Front’ in addition to other charities to provide Syrians with whatever they need. All donations are given to him, he says, as he is the general coordinator between the concerned bodies.

“Children are priceless”

The links between the Islamist Group and the Syrian Revolution has reached another level. Sheikh Muhammad Taher, leader of the Islamic Group in Ismailia, announced that the group cooperated with the Syrian Free Army (FSA), stressing that some of its members had already travelled to Syria to take part in jihad and that three of them had died, praising their great fighting performance, while denying any relation to Al-Qaeda.

Taher said that the group had addressed the president to get official approval to enroll people in jihad. Even though they didn’t get approval, the Syrian opposition supported President Morsi’s speeches in Iran early last month, in which he criticized the Syrian regime’s violence as an ‘implicit approval’, according to his deputy, Hamdi Hassan.

Joining FSA was Abu Adeeb’s dream but according to him, “children are priceless” so he made up his mind to leave with his family. His younger brother however is a fighter in FSA in Aleppo but he expressed his sadness over his brother’s low morale due to the FSA’s limited capability in comparison to the Syrian Armed Forces’ (SAF).

Having been a soldier himself SAF himself, Abu Adeeb denied that SAF or FSA were dominated by any Islamic currents. “The role of Muslim Brotherhood or Salafists is very limited in the Syrian political or public arena and they are obscure due to the regime’s oppression,” he explained.     

But as helpful as Egyptians have been, Adeeb does not plan to stay. He has neither enrolled his children in Egyptian school, nor has he sought permanent employment; he still dreams of President Bashar Al-Assad’s fall.

For now, Adeeb depends on donations, which are just enough to get by until he and his family can finally go back home.