Songs of the Syrian Revolution

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On the 30th of December 2011, surrounded by thousands of Syrian protesters in Homs’ Clock Tower Square, the ex-goalkeeper Abdul Baset al-Sarout led the crowd in singing one of the region’s most famous songs:

جنة جنة جنة والله يا وطّنا
Janna janna janna wallā yā waṭan-nā
(Heaven, heaven, oh our homeland [is heaven.)

يا وطن يا حبيب يابو تراب الطيب حتى نارك جنة

Oh homeland, oh beloved, oh good soil, even your fire is heaven.
(Yā waṭan yā ḥabīb, yā Abū turāb al-ṭayyib, ḥattā nārak janna)

By the time he was killed in combat in June 2019, al-Sarout had led hundreds of chants at protests throughout the country.