Syrian 'father of martyrs' raises orphaned grandchildren

Syria's war robbed 83-year-old Abderrazaq Khatoun of 13 of his children and one of his wives, but he was forced to overcome his grief quickly to raise 11 orphaned grandchildren.

In an encampment in Syria's last major rebel bastion of Idlib, the patriarch says he wears the nickname of "father of the martyrs" with pride, and will do everything to prepare the children for a better future.

Displaced from his native home in central Hama province, Khatoun and 30 surviving family members have pitched four tents on a strip of land surrounded by olive trees in the village of Harbanoush.

Inside one of the tents, Khatoun sat on a long thin mattress, his grandchildren aged from one to 14 huddled around him poring over schoolbooks.

"What did you study today?" he asked the oldest among the boys and girls. "Did you learn the lesson?" "We did," they replied in enthusiastic unison.

Before the war, Khatoun was a farmer and the proud father of 27 children, born from three different wives and some already well into adulthood. But Syria's conflict, which enters its eleventh year this month, has torn away a huge chunk of his family for good.

"Since the onset of the revolution, I have given seven martyrs," he said, referring to seven of his sons who died fighting in rebel ranks against government forces. Then air strikes on a petrol station in the town of Saraqeb, where his family had found shelter from advancing regime troops, piled more tragedy on his family. His eyes brimmed with tears as he pulled out his smartphone and played footage of rescue workers searching the rubble in the aftermath of that strike.

He hopes one day, justice will be done for his sons. In the meanwhile, "I will teach their children that sacrifice is necessary to defend what is right and demand a dignified life," he said.

Inside one of the family tents, Khatoun's 11 grandchildren crouched in a circle for a meal of flatbread, olives, and dried thyme drenched in olive oil.

"Some days we go hungry, and some days we eat," said Khatoun, explaining that he was too old to work. But he said he would do anything for his grandchildren.