The Syrian revolution in three minutes

This feature is from the Spring 2019 issue of Syria Notes, part of a collection of articles and interviews on the legacy of Kafranbel activists Raed Fares and Hammoud al-Juneid.



In a single morning on 21 August 2013, the Assad regime killed between 1,400 and 1,700 people in Damascus, firing Sarin nerve agent rockets at the suburbs of Moadamiya, Zamalka and Ayn Tarma.

In the following days and weeks, the UK Parliament voted against any military response, and US President Obama then also backed away from action. Russia stepped in with a deal to lift any threat of military action against Assad in return for the regime giving up its chemical weapons stockpile.

Many people reacted with horror as it became clear that the Assad regime was to escape punishment even for an atrocity of this nature and on this scale. In Kafranbel, they made a film: ‘The Syrian revolution in three minutes.’

It tells the eternal story of Kafranbel, where even in the Stone Age its people repeatedly rebelled, and were repeatedly slaughtered by the regime, Iran, and Russia—with the US and Europe looking on, only stirring to object when chemical weapons were used.

And yes, Stone Age Kafranbel must also have had its banners and cartoons. The film is available on YouTube.