The "character" of Abdelbasset Al-Sarout probably best embodies the course of the Syrian revolution, its radiant and spontaneous beginnings, its mistakes and errors, and finally its tragic endings.
Al-Sarout was born in Homs in 1992 in a neighborhood
-Al-Bayyada- whose inhabitants are mostly from the surrounding rural world.
Like Baba Amr, it is also shared by another fringe of the population, former
Bedouins who have come to settle in this third largest city in Syria.
Preceded by his popularity as the adored goalkeeper of the
homsiote Al-Karame Club, he entered the revolution with determination and enthousiasm.
With his hoarse and melancholic voice, he led the processions, flying
over them like an eagle, carried on the shoulders of his fans who used
to applaud him in the football stadiums. They cheered their hero and chanted
with him "freedom, equality" and other slogans calling for the fall
of the Assad regime.
