Syria’s Mothers, Divided by War, Share Sorrow of Missing Sons
Families of the missing forfeit a normal grieving process as they swing between hope and sorrow.
MASYAF, Syria—Officials told Ghadeera Malouk that her son, a 28-year-old medic in the Syrian army, died during a mission in the rebel-held suburbs of eastern Damascus. In the days after, Mrs. Malouk held a memorial and secured a gravesite here in the family’s hometown.
Then the army called again. There was no body. Her son, they said, wasn’t dead—he was missing. That was more than two years ago.