Martyr’s Brigade by Samir Khader, 550BC

21ST CENTURY’S MOST DANGEROUS WAR

During the winter of 2018/19, Dutch-Palestinian photographer Sakir Khader accompanied rebel commander Abdul Baset al-Sarout and his notorious brigade on the frontlines in southern Idlib and northern Hama, Syria. Khader followed the everyday life of a Syrian rebel fighter as they fought Assad’s technologically superior forces. Often, they did not know where the enemy was- mortar fire coming from somewhere in the distance and the constant threat of sophisticated Russian UAVs targeting them from above kept him awake most nights. Though Khader came from a place far removed from the destruction and chaos that had taken hold of their home, the rebels, whose youth had been given to war, kept him safe while documenting for this book.

Many of the fighters you will see in Martyrs’ Brigade have since lost their lives in the Syrian War. Those that survived have regrouped in the Northwestern region of Syria, or have fled the country. Some have become mercenaries in Libya under the control of the Turkish state.