Katia and Shams, two schoolgirls from the town of Qah in Edlib province, were at the Jil al-Hurriyah school when government jet fighters struck it on 27 April, 2014.
Shams died right away, while Katia, badly wounded to the head, entered a week-long coma, after which she died. Doctors said that her brain was dislodged from her skull.
Katia had beautiful eyes and a lovely smile. Her photos have been widely circulated on Facebook pages and posters at school art exhibitions. Jil Al Hurriya School is located in a residential area, far away from the battlefront.
The school was started in early 2013 and was previously attended by about 500 students. However due to the large number of the displaced people the number has now risen to 800, divided between primary and preparatory ages. It has a teaching and administrative staff that consists of 45 employees. Abdelrahman Haj, an adviser to the opposition interim Prime Minister, said that the Assad regime’s systematic targeting of schoolchildren “aims to destroy the future of Syria to achieve political goals."
However, these horrible massacres against childhood and education have always been met with dubious silence, as the world’s response rarely goes beyond condemnation and expressing concern, Haj said.
"It seems that the bombing of schools is an essential part of Assad’s election campain, " he said.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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