Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


A Family's Flight From Idlib as Syrian Government Forces Move North

Heather Murdock

   RAQQA, SYRIA - "I saw a woman bleed to death under a tree alongside the
   road and there was no one to help her," said Ahmed Hashem, 60. "There
   wasn't even anyone to dig her grave."

   Hashem's lips quivered and he turned his face to a wall.

   Hashem, his wife and three small children, left their home in Syria's
   northwestern Idlib province earlier this month, after surviving more
   tragedies in the past few months than they had seen in almost nine
   years of war. Almost a million people have fled Idlib in the past three
   months, and many say they don't think they will ever go home.

   "It was a catastrophe," he began, recounting the many times he
   witnessed the deaths of families.

.