(12 Jun 2024)
SYRIA HAJJ
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 3:34
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 3 June 2024
1. Wide of Amal Shalaan (center) and her in-laws relative Mohammed Salih al-Sha’aar (left) and his wife Thunaa al-Homsi
2. Mid of al-Sha’aar reading Quran
3. Pull focus from Shalaan to al-Homsi
4. Pull focus on hands as they use prayer beads
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amal Shalaan, Syrian hajj goer:
"Thank God, I was very happy because I was really struggling and asking God that my application for the hajj be accepted. It’s been 20 years since I have been applying, and God didn’t grant it to me. But thank God, the crisis ended, and God granted that I be accepted this year to go after a long, 12-year hiatus from hajj (due to Syria’s war). God helped, and I’m happy I got accepted with my son, my daughter-in-law, and the in-laws of my family. We are all going together as a family."
6. Various of family packing
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Heba al-Sha’aar, Syrian hajj goer:
"In addition to the religious aspect, there’s now a connection between us and Saudi Arabia that will also help the economy, the workforce, and the exchange of expertise. Thank God, as a whole, it’s a good thing."
8. Various of al-Sha’aar praying
9. SOUNDBITE(Arabic) Mohammed Salih al-Sha’aar, Syrian hajj goer:
"It is an indescribable feeling. I feel better leaving from Syria, from the Damascus International Airport, than going through Lebanon or another country. My country is better because it’s close to me, and I can say goodbye to my grandchildren and my children. If I had gone through Lebanon, I would have to travel by myself. I am so happy, and I just cannot describe the feeling."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus – 9 June 2024
10. Various of Shalaan, al-Sha’aars saying goodbye to other family members
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amal Shalaan, Syrian hajj goer:
"I just can’t wait to be there in Mecca. I am so excited to go to Mecca and to be there."
12. Various of family saying goodbye and leaving
STORYLINE:
Amal Shalaan has been waiting to go to the hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for 20 years.
Her dream finally came true. In the last days before going on the pilgrimage, the 56-year-old was making the last preparations to perform one of Islam’s five pillars.
All Muslims are required to undertake the pilgrimage at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do so.
Shalaan’s application for the hajj was accepted alongside her son’s, his wife’s, and her in-laws’.
"I was very happy because I was really struggling and asking God that my application for the hajj be accepted. It’s been 20 years since I have been applying," Shalaan said.
For more than a decade, she could not go as a result of the deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria.
Many countries, including Saudi Arabia, cut ties with Syria as a result of the civil war there.
The war in Syria, now in its 14th year, has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.
It has long remained largely frozen, and so have efforts to find a viable political solution to end it.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria began to thaw last year after a devastating earthquake in February 2023 rocked Turkey and northern Syria.
It became the catalyst for most Arab countries to reinstate ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Last month, Saudi Arabia announced its first ambassador to Syria in 12 years.
Al-Sha’aar’s parents are also going on the trip.
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