Network in Syria plays its cards close to its chest
Underground railway for goods, fund raising and other needs is shrouded in secrecy
Damascus: Every stop on what has become a sort of underground railway is shrouded in secrecy: requesting supplies, confirming the needs, delivering goods, fundraising and collecting donations are carried out by separate cells.
To safeguard the network, participants know the identities of only the immediate people they deal with.
Members estimate that there are hundreds of people working in the network in greater Damascus and that well into the thousands within Syria are contributing money and supplies. But people who want to help say they have no choice but secrecy, citing the results of an attempt in March to openly organise an aid caravan to Homs.
The organisers created a nonpartisan Facebook page called ‘Carrying Homs in Our Hearts,' with a logo of a hand holding an olive branch. The page identified organisers' real names and phone numbers as people who would receive donations to take to Homs.
On March 19, they set out in a convoy of three buses and vans, wearing white hats emblazoned with the logo and large identification tags. But minutes after their departure, they were stopped by the traffic police.
After a day of wrangling with security services, a deal was struck in which the Red Crescent was allowed to deliver the goods to Homs, but the volunteers were prohibited from going.
