The Battle for Home, The Memoir of a Syrian Architect
Marwa Al-Sabouni
● “Buildings do not lie to us: they tell the truth without taking sides” (8).
● “The world has watched with anguish as ISIS has vandalized or threatened treasured
sites, including Palmyra in Syria and the Assyrian towns in Iraq” (8).
“Loss of identity” (9)
“Empty modernism now being imported to form the present” (9)
Homs – “In telling the story of my city and the story of my country, I also tell my own story, in
so far as it is relevant” (9) June 2015
Chapter 3 THE BATTLE OF MORTAR : Traditional Ethics vs. Modern Life
Mortar missile
● “But when war becomes a way of life, people and places go through different stages of
adaptation. War always finds a way to be one step ahead of them, presenting new forms
of torture around every corner” (56).
● “Unprecedented population densities” (57) → “Families had to be squeezed together in
inhumane circumstances”
○ “‘Biting the fingers’ – we, the civilians, were the fingers” (57).
● “As the available space decreased, people re-opened small businesses in order to make a
living; schools became oversubscribed; and every abandoned bit of storage space became
a valuable habitat” (58).
○ Poor urban planning
● “The schools became recurrent targets for mortar attacks” (59).
● “Similar tragic stories would be told ‘on the other end’, in different neighborhoods
inhabited by people of a different type of ‘belonging’, who nonetheless shared a similar
destiny to those opposing them” (59).
“This vicious cycle of revenge was made possible by the curse of sectarian
urbanism” (59).
● “Why was the peaceful coexistence that had been lived behind those black stone walls
exchanged for mass destruction?” (60).
Looking at the “Social Fabric” of the Homsi community in the recent past
● “Differentiation could only be made through talk” (60).
Marwa Al-Sabouni
● “Buildings do not lie to us: they tell the truth without taking sides” (8).
● “The world has watched with anguish as ISIS has vandalized or threatened treasured
sites, including Palmyra in Syria and the Assyrian towns in Iraq” (8).
“Loss of identity” (9)
“Empty modernism now being imported to form the present” (9)
Homs – “In telling the story of my city and the story of my country, I also tell my own story, in
so far as it is relevant” (9) June 2015
Chapter 3 THE BATTLE OF MORTAR : Traditional Ethics vs. Modern Life
Mortar missile
● “But when war becomes a way of life, people and places go through different stages of
adaptation. War always finds a way to be one step ahead of them, presenting new forms
of torture around every corner” (56).
● “Unprecedented population densities” (57) → “Families had to be squeezed together in
inhumane circumstances”
○ “‘Biting the fingers’ – we, the civilians, were the fingers” (57).
● “As the available space decreased, people re-opened small businesses in order to make a
living; schools became oversubscribed; and every abandoned bit of storage space became
a valuable habitat” (58).
○ Poor urban planning
● “The schools became recurrent targets for mortar attacks” (59).
● “Similar tragic stories would be told ‘on the other end’, in different neighborhoods
inhabited by people of a different type of ‘belonging’, who nonetheless shared a similar
destiny to those opposing them” (59).
“This vicious cycle of revenge was made possible by the curse of sectarian
urbanism” (59).
● “Why was the peaceful coexistence that had been lived behind those black stone walls
exchanged for mass destruction?” (60).
Looking at the “Social Fabric” of the Homsi community in the recent past
● “Differentiation could only be made through talk” (60).
