Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs. Asma al-Assad received on Monday a number of injured Syrian Arab Army personnel and the mothers of a group of them on the occasion of Mother’s Day.
The meeting coincides with the first anniversary of launching the “Homeland’s Wounded” program for supporting injured people, preserving their rights, and reintegrating them into society.
During the meeting, President al-Assad said “We are very glad that you came and that we can greet you one by one, whether as heroes, mothers, wives, fiancés, or sisters. Everyone gave us a lot of strength which we obtain from heroes and from your morale and steadfastness.”
“At the same time, we appreciate and know how difficult it was for you to come from distant places, whether on the level of personal suffering, or on the level of the security situation,” he added.
President al-Assad said that Mother’s Day is a family holiday in which small families honor mothers, but after the events in Syria and the terrorist war waged on it during the past five years, many concepts have changed and holidays are celebrated differently, in the sense that they became holidays for heroism, bravery, redemption, and sacrifice.
His Excellency said that heroism is essentially linked to the environment in which people live and to their homeland, society, and family, asserting that the Syrian mothers who raised their children to love their homeland and taught them the meaning of sacrifice are the real source of heroism.
“It is the fate of martyrs’ families to speak of heroics to coming generations, as it is the fate of the injured to tell the tales of heroics themselves, because they are living examples in society that serve as a role model for coming generations,” President al-Assad said.
“We follow your example and learn from you patriotism, sacrifice, redemption, and national values in all their meanings, and this caring for those who made sacrifices – whether they were fighters or were supporting the fighters – is not only a duty or a human condition at all; rather it is a case of caring for the homeland,” the President stressed, adding that it’s not possible to love the homeland and not love those who defend it.
“We know the circumstances of most of you, before or after being injured or martyrdom, and the financial circumstances of some families were difficult, yet they rose to defend the homeland,” he added, noting that many Syrians weren’t able to bear arms to defend their homeland for one reason or another, but they contributed with the state via donations and projects for the families of martyrs and injured people, with these projects growing in a direction related to employment which is continuing within available resources.
“We didn’t stop there; we moved towards productive projects and grants, and this idea is evolving and expanding to improve the conditions of the families of martyrs and injured people and preserve their dignity so that they wouldn’t need anyone,” His Excellency explained, pointing out that the health aspect focuses now on rehabilitating the injured so that they can return to being active members of their families and society, with work being carried out to provide them with prosthetics so that they can lead their lives without needing anyone’s help.
President al-Assad noted that helping the injured isn’t an act of returning a favor, because when someone loses their lives you can’t compensate their family for that in a material ay, and the same goes for when someone loses a limb or when their health is affected, “because what they gave is priceless, and no matter what we give to them it remains less than modest compared to what they gave.”
“The one and only thing that compares to the sacrifices you made, be it by sacrificing your life, health, or body, is the safety of the homeland, and when the homeland is safe once again, I believe that every one of the injured would say ‘I feel my hand is back, my leg is back, my eye, my health, and that applies to the family of every martyrs who will feel when the security is restored to the homeland that their son’s blood is what restored security to the homeland, and that their son is back again,” the President said.
The President concluded by saying “As long as there are mothers like you who raise heroes, Syria will be fine.”
The “Homeland’s Wounded” program, launched one year ago, provided prosthetics and productive projects for the injured, with the aim of employing all available resources to alleviate the suffering of the injured and treat them.
In 2015, the program helped 435 injured people with full disability, in addition to carrying out 285 productive projects for them that provide revenue and allow them to achieve self-dependence.
Haifa Said / Hazem Sabbagh
