“I never imagined I would one day speak about Jiyad in his absence. He was not just a friend… he was my neighbor, closer to my soul than many others.”
This is how Jiyad’s friend begins his account, adding with a heavy heart,
“My testimony is biased by love, for no matter what I say, I could never truly describe what he meant to me.”
Jiyad Naji al-Taqi was thirty years old. He was unable to continue his studies after high school because of severe financial hardship; his father had passed away, and his mother lived in a rented house. Before his military service, he took any job he could find, always saying,
“I would rather work hard and sweat for an honest living than live in comfort on tainted money… or find myself unable to afford medicine for my mother.”
Jiyad served his military duty in Aleppo. Though he opposed the old regime, he had heard that those who evaded service were stripped of their basic rights; unable to marry or to buy and sell. More than that, he served to shield his brother, Jawad, from conscription in his place. He spent nearly seven years in service, during which he never harmed a single soul. When his friend later traveled to Aleppo for university, Jiyad was the first to welcome him, opening his home and hosting him for nearly five months. “I will never forget that for as long as I live,” his friend recalls. “I owe him so much.”
On the day the regime fell, Jiyad fled Aleppo and returned to his hometown, As Suwayda. He was a man who loved life and adored children, dreaming of the day he would marry and start a family of his own. But destiny did not grant him that joy.
On 16 July 2025, Jiyad and his brother Jawad were at the al-Badr family guesthouse (Madafah) in Samara Square, As Suwayda. They warmly welcomed the first delegation from the army and the General Security. However, the second delegation did not engage in dialogue; they immediately opened fire on the hosts in the presence of the security forces. Jiyad and his brother Jawad were martyred on the spot. Their mother sat by their side until the morning light broke.
His friend concludes,
“No matter how much I say… I can never do him justice. It was God’s will. Now his mother is left all alone, living in profound grief.”
This narrative is based solely on the testimony of Jiyad Naji al-Taqi’s close friend.