News / Syria

Syria's president, wife visit militant tunnel turned into art gallery

Thursday, 16 August 2018 6:18 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 16 August 2018 6:21 PM ]

This handout picture released on the Syrian Presidency's Facebook page on August 16, 2018, shows President Bashar al-Assad (C-R) and his wife, Asma (C-L) meeting artists who are sculpting the walls of a tunnel formerly used by terrorists in Jobar, on the easter suburbs of Damascus. (Via AFP)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma al-Assad, have made a surprise visit to an underground tunnel in the liberated town of Jobar, which was previously used by terrorists, but later turned into a small art gallery.

According to a report on Thursday by the official SANA news agency, President Assad and Syria's first lady toured "one of the tunnels of death" dug by the Takfiri terrorists in Jobar, a town on the eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus.

Following Jobar's liberation by the Syrian army, a group of artists decorated one of those tunnels with sculptures and carvings.

This handout picture released on the Syrian Presidency's Facebook page on August 16, 2018, shows President Bashar al-Assad (C-L) and his wife Asma (C-R) meeting artists who are sculpting the walls of a tunnel formerly used by terrorists in Jobar, on the eastern suburbs of Damascus. (Via AFP)

The carvings depict the sacrifices of the national Syrian army in its counterterrorism battles as well as the ancient and modern history of Syria.

During the visit, Assad hailed the artists for their initiative, saying that destruction, darkness and death are the culture of terrorists, while construction, light, life and art are “our own, ” SANA said.

President Bashar al-Assad (C-R) and his wife, Asma (C-L), meet artists who are sculpting the walls of a tunnel formerly used by terrorists in Jobar, on the eastern suburbs of Damascus.

“Every sculpture on these walls reminds us of the heroes of the Syrian Arab Army who fought valiantly to liberate this holy soil, which is mixed with the blood of our martyrs and wounded,” the Syrian leader added.

It took 25 days for the artists to turn the tunnel, which had been dug under a school at a depth of nine meters, into a museum by cleansing the place of the remnants of terrorists.

The network of tunnels, which were discovered back in April, extended for several kilometers and were used to connect militant-run underground field hospitals and bases.

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