Syrian family separated during air raid reunited in Greece

13 May 2021, 13:44

Abdul Salam Al Khawien and his wife Kariman with their children at their apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece
Greece One Good Thing Syrian Family Reunited. Picture: PA

Abdul Salam Al Khawien was at home with his five children and his wife Kariman was out shopping when bombs exploded near Idlib in Syria in 2017.

A Syrian family of seven torn apart in the deadly chaos of an air raid have been reunited three years later at a refugee shelter in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

When the warplanes screamed in over the village of Dana, near Idlib in Syria, in September 2017, Abdul Salam Al Khawien was at home with his five children.

His wife Kariman was out shopping in the marketplace.

Bombs burst among the stalls, scattering corpses and knocking her unconscious.

Abdul Salam Al Khawien, serves tea at his apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece
Abdul Salam Al Khawien serves tea at his apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece (Giannis Papanikos/AP)

She spent the next week recovering in a clinic, and by the time she was well enough to leave, Abdul had fled with the children to safety across the Turkish border, some 15 kilometres (nine miles) away.

Now in different countries, lacking mobile phones, internet or any other means of communicating or learning what had happened to each other, Kariman and Abdul each lost hope that the other had survived.

Then one day last August, Kariman’s brother discovered a social media account with a photograph of her eldest son, Hamza.

It had been opened by Abdul, who had managed to reach Greece with the children – in his fifth attempt, having paid smugglers 5,000 euros (£4,300) for berths in a flimsy boat with more than 60 others – and had been granted asylum.

She immediately got in touch.

Bayan, left, Safa, centre, and Iman play with a mobile phone as they sit next to their mother Kariman at their apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece
Bayan, left, Safa, centre, and Iman play with a mobile phone as they sit next to their mother Kariman (Giannis Papanikos/AP)

“I had a good feeling that day,” Abdul, a 37-year-old former car salesman from a village near Homs, told the Associated Press.

“When I saw the message I nearly went mad with joy. I didn’t tell the children, though. I thought it would be better for them to find out when she got here.”

Before, he said, whenever the children had asked about their mother, he told them she was in Syria and would rejoin them one day.

“But they suspected she was dead,” he said.

“I had lost all hope.”

The 32-year-old mother still faced a daunting prospect, making the dangerous – and illegal – journey from Syria to Turkey and then Greece, assisted by smuggling gangs.

Layan, front, Bayan, back left and Hamsa sleep inside their apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece
Layan, front, Bayan, back left, and Hamsa sleep inside their apartment (Giannis Papanikos/AP)

“We didn’t have any money (to pay them),” Kariman said, “and had to find some.”

She was able to raise the cash and entered Turkey with other Syrian refugees, finally reaching Istanbul.

“From there, using smugglers, I tried to enter Greece by crossing the Evros River” that runs along the Greek-Turkish land border, she said.

But they were caught by Greek border guards and, according to Kariman, were sent back a day later to Turkey in the type of illegal action, known as a pushback, that Greece has repeatedly been accused of using against migrants slipping across the porous frontier.

Greek authorities deny the practice.

Her second try, in November 2020, was successful.

Kariman prepares tea at her family’s apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece
Kariman prepares tea at her family’s apartment (Giannis Papanikos/AP)

She found her way on foot, in the dark, to a Greek village.

“I went into a coffee shop and broke into tears,” she said.

“They asked me where I was from, I said Syria, and they welcomed me… I sat on a balcony with a woman and drank coffee, and she made me understand, in sign language, that I was now safe.”

She was able to contact Filoxeneio, the facility set up by the Arsis NGO and the Thessaloniki municipality where Abdul and the children were living, and after registering with police the family were reunited.

Filoxeneio co-ordinator Manolis Zougos said he had never encountered such a story during the 17 years he has been working with refugees.

Kariman sits with her daughter Layan at their apartment in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece
Kariman with her daughter Layan (Giannis Papanikos/AP)

“Up to the last minute we had thought her dead, which is what Abdul believed,” he said.

“He had had a hard time. He was on his own and needed to perform multiple roles for his children.”

Even before the air raid on Dana, the family had struggled to escape violence in Syria’s civil war.

“We changed locations 28 times, starting from our village near Homs in 2011,” Abdul said.

“I had just built our house there, and it was destroyed. Whenever unrest came, we moved on. … As soon as we heard a bombardment, we grabbed blankets, a tent and a generator, put them in the car and left.”

Abdul Salam Al Khawien and his wife Kariman with their children at their apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece
Abdul Salam Al Khawien and his wife Kariman with their children (Giannis Papanikos/AP)

The couple tell their story with their children – Hamza, 10, Iman, eight, Layan, seven, Bayan, five, and Safa, three-and-a-half – sitting around them.

Kariman is pregnant again.

“I would like a boy,” Abdul said.

But their travels may not yet be over.

Abdul says he wants to reach Germany, where his brother and sister live.

“Greece is a very safe country, but it is difficult to find work,” he said. “It’s difficult for us.”

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families

Police said two people died on Palliser Road, Roseneath.

British couple found dead at home in New Zealand - just months after moving to 'begin new chapter'

Virginia Giuffre warned it was a "very bad situation" after she claimed a school bus ploughed into her car

Virginia Giuffre was charged with breaching restraining order days before crash that 'left her with days to live'