DAMASCUS: A Syrian man spent more than 13 years hiding behind a wall in his grandfather’s house to escape arrest and repression during the rule of former president Bashar al-Assad.
Mohammad Zakour told Al-Nahar newspaper that Syrian security agencies arrested him twice during the early years of the Syrian revolution.
After his release, a relative warned him that authorities could arrest him again. Fearing a third arrest, Zakour decided to disappear from public view.
He chose his grandfather’s house in Latakia as his hiding place. With help from his wife, he bought construction materials and built a small wall.
Zakour then created a narrow space behind the wall and began living there in secret.
Wife Kept His Survival Secret
Only Zakour’s wife knew that he was still alive.
She secretly supplied him with food, water, clothes and medicines through a small opening in the wall.
When Zakour became ill, his wife consulted a doctor and brought him the medicines he needed.
The couple also kept his survival secret from their children. They feared the children could accidentally reveal their father’s whereabouts.
The children eventually grew up believing that their father had died.
Zakour’s brother, who lived in Turkiye, even held a condolence gathering for him.
However, Zakour remained alive just a few metres away from his family.
Watched His Children Grow in Secret
From his hiding place, Zakour could hear his children and watch them grow.
Despite being so close to them, he could not reveal his identity because of fears over his safety.
His extraordinary ordeal finally ended on December 8, 2024.
At dawn that day, Zakour heard people chanting outside the house. He asked his wife what had happened.
She told him that Assad’s government had fallen.
Zakour realised that he no longer needed to remain hidden. After more than 13 years, he finally left his hiding place.
His wife then asked the children to move a refrigerator that had been placed in front of the opening.
She told them that their father was alive.
The children initially struggled to believe her.
Moments later, however, they watched their father emerge from behind the wall after more than a decade in hiding.
The reunion brought an end to Zakour’s long separation from his family and revealed a secret that his wife had kept for more than 13 years.
