Khijou and Samar al-Khateeb were tortured in Bashar al-Assad’s prisons and lost family to the system.
![[Raghed Waked/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/RMW03374-1735884288.jpg?resize=270%2C180&quality=80)
Madeline Edwards is a journalist in Lebanon writing about rural life, religion, minorities and offbeat histories.
Khijou and Samar al-Khateeb were tortured in Bashar al-Assad’s prisons and lost family to the system.
The villagers of Ain Yaaqoub spent days identifying charred remains. They fear Israel was targeting displaced people.