About three years earlier in November of 2015, in Army of Conquest-held Idlib City, Idlib Governorate, Syria…
Gabi Braun skipped down the street toward her house, carrying the bread and milk she’d bought from the marketplace, humming to herself.
She stopped when she saw her friends, Falco Grice and Udo Abadi, standing by a street corner, deep in conversation. “Falco, Udo, what’s up?”
The two boys looked up, startled.
“Hey, Gabi!” Udo greeted.
“G-Gabi! Um, hi!” Falco looked nervous and off-balance.
Gabi mellowed considerably when she got closer and saw the solemn expression on Falco’s face. “What’s wrong, Falco?”
“Colt wants to join the rebel army to fight against the Assad regime’s massacres in Aleppo,” Falco fidgeted anxiously.
“That’s awesome!” Gabi declared, her excitement getting the better of her, before she fell back into the atmosphere. “I mean, well, I’m sure he can take care of himself… I mean, he’s Colt, isn’t he?”
“Well, yeah,” Falco muttered. “But so many people have already died fighting the Baathists, and now with the Russian airstrikes…” He trailed off.
“Hmpf! That won’t change a thing!’ Gabi huffed. “Allah is with us! The damned takfiris won’t win even if they get help from the Russian infidels!”
Udo shook his head in mild dismay “You’re always like that, Gabi. If only things were so easy, we’d have shaken off the Assad regime years ago…” He trailed off as the increasing roar of a sonic boom drowned out his words, and shook the windows of the buildings around him.
“What- what the- ?” Falco cried out in consternation, his voice barely audible over the cacophony. “How are there fighter jets- this deep- !”
Since the rebel Army of Conquest had liberated Idlib from the Assad regime in late March, and other rebel groups successfully pushed government forces out of the entire region, Idlib had been a city deep within rebel territory.
Attached: gabi4.jpg (480x480, 78K)
