I left my hotel around 9 o’clock for my first day in an Arab country. I Learnt Arabic for six month, and was eager to start speaking.

I headed south, direction Tartous, some 100 km. The road was a wide four lane motorway, with an  emergency road aside, where I cycled in all safety. The profile was absolutely flat and mostly close to the shore. This would be a beautiful day.

About one hour later, I noticed to my right side something strange and stopped. At first sight I couldn’t really say what it might be, it was too unexpected. But then I realized: This must be rockets or missile, and  not jetfighters as I first thought. But that cannot be! They are only 300 meters away from a crowded motorway, where everyday thousands of people can see them! ( In themeantime I have photos showing the exact emplacement, but I will not publish them for the time beeing) Also they are absolutely unprotected, there are no watchtowers, no walls, no barbed wires. No military presence whatsoever. Not one single sign indicating this is a military zone. I could easily have walked there and touched them! So I concluded that it must be something old, that is stored or maybe exposed here. On many occasions on my road I have seen some old jetplanes or tanks which were exposed along the road, or at a city entrance. So I took my camera and made two photos. I would never have done this if I only suspected this might be sensitive! I knew in which country I was!

I did not even have the time to put my camera back in its protection case, when a soldier jumps on me and starts insulting me. A few moments later a second man, in civil clothes is there as well. Now both are shouting at me. First observation: I do not understand a single word what they say! Is this the result of six month learning? My camera had been taken away immediately. Both men have their mobile phone and call all the time, getting more and more nervous. I notice their hands are shaking.

Looking around, I see two cars parking on the opposite emergency lane, it must be theirs. But how is it possible that they were there so quick? It cannot be by accident. But at that moment I had other things to think of. I would get an explanation to their sudden presence after being released from jail only.

Meantime I had opened one of my bags and started eating a banana and some cookies, waiting what was coming up.

After quite a while a car arrived with three people aboard, one of them in a military uniform. Hi must be definitely high ranked although there was no distinctive sign on his uniform. Hi salutes me politely, and I handle him over my passport. He controlled it, and then asked me for my own version of what happened. Then: “Don’t worry, this is just a mistake; we will erase these photos, and then you can cycle on. Everything is O.k. “WELCOME TO SYRIA”

The two men who arrested me first did not like the tone of our conversation, although they did not speak English. They kept on shouting louder and louder, must have been insisting that I am a dangerous spy. After a while the commanding military said:

Don’t worry, but you must come with us for some routine control, and then you can leave.

What about my bicycle; I cannot leave it here?

Well, we take it as well.

It will never fit into your car

You’re right, so you will cycle to the next town; we will follow you and tell you where to go.

And so I cycled till the Jablah military station the car following me closely.

Here we entered a vast office. Looking around me, I counted five giant posters (Three of them identical!) of President Bashar Al Assad, and two others from Hafiz, his father. I guess that after seeing Kemal Atatürk for some weeks, it will be now the Assad’s turn. On a conversational tone the soldier started questioning me, taking notes. We had tea, talked about my project. They were quite interested, asked a lot of questions. Meantime the commanding soldier dictated a report to his secretary and made some phone calls in between. On one of these calls he must have spoken to someone important, because he closed the windows and made signs to the other people in the room to be quiet. Looking at his face, I noticed that something was going wrong. After the call, he took a big envelope, putted my passport in it, together with his report, and sealed it.  He putted my camera in a plastic bag, and then said:

There is no problem, Mister Raymond, but my leader in Lattakia wants to speak to you personally.

?

We bring you back to Lattakia

What about my bicycle?

My leader wants to see it as well

 

I will not be in Tartous tonight.....