Khaberni - After many years of resilient endurance mixed with loss, Hajjah Hasnaa Al-Hariri, known by the titles «Khansaa of Hawran» or «Khansaa of Syria», closed her eyes for the last time today, Sunday, in the town of Tafas in the Daraa countryside, leaving behind a painful story that summarizes the agony of southern Syria and the memory of the revolution.
Hasnaa Al-Hariri was no ordinary woman; over the years, she transformed into a rare humanitarian symbol. The mention of her name evoked images of the Arab Khansaa, who endured the loss of her sons. She earned her title because she truly lived its full meaning; a mother who bid farewell to her sons one after another, and personally buried dozens of young men, yet she never compromised her stance or retreated from her belief in freedom.
The «Khansaa of Hawran», 64 years old, originally from the town of Busra al-Harir in the Daraa governorate. Before the revolution, she lived a simple life, working with her husband in the pharmaceutical trade, moving between Syria and Lebanon, and building a large family of ten children, five males and five females. But March 2011 turned her life upside down.
With the onset of the Syrian revolution, she was among the first to participate in the peaceful movement in Daraa, taking to the demonstrations, then becoming a field supporter, hiding demonstrators, providing them with food and water, and aiding the wounded inside destroyed homes under bombing, amidst a crippling siege imposed by the regime’s army in the region.
Hasnaa Al-Hariri paid a heavy price for this role. She lost three of her sons, her husband, her four brothers, and her daughters' husbands to the regime’s forces. One of her sons, Abdullah, was martyred by a tank shell while carrying a bag of medicine, and she reached him just moments after his martyrdom, unable to bid him farewell or attend his burial.
On July 14, 2012, she was arrested while attempting to secure food, and was taken along with her daughter to the 12th Brigade in Izra’, then to the Military Security Branch in Daraa. There, she faced harsh interrogation and endured both psychological and physical torture, witnessing inhumane practices in detention. During her imprisonment, she saw the torture of her son-in-law, Mohammad Saleh Al-Hariri, who was later killed under torture, and she received the news of his death from her daughter within the cell.
Multiple charges were brought against her, including financing «terrorism», communicating with external parties, and kidnapping soldiers, resulting in a death sentence. She remained imprisoned for 18 months before being released on January 28, 2014.
She emerged from prison burdened with losses, but not defeated. She remained committed to her testimony, and to a promise she made to her martyred son, never to abandon the revolution, no matter the cost.
Today, «Khansaa of Syria» departs quietly, after living a lifetime facing pain, leaving behind a story that will remain a testament to the agony of Syrian mothers, and to a woman who lost everything… except her dignity.
