Abdul Baset al-Sarout (; 1 January 1992 – 8 June 2019) was a Syrian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and prominent rebel figure during the

Syrian Revolution The Syrian revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity, was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime – lasting from 15 March 2011 to 8 De ...

. He represented his country at both the U17 and

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA S ...

levels.

Biography

Abdul Baset was born to a

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

family in

Al-Bayadah Al-Bayadah (, sometimes spelled ''Al-Bayada'' or ''Bayyada'') is a quarter of Homs, the capital of Homs Governorate. In 2004 it had a population of 35,000.

and ,

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

. Prior to the Syrian revolution, he was a soccer goalkeeper for both

Al-Karamah SC Al-Karamah SC () is a Syrian professional association football, football club based in the city of Homs. Founded in 1928, it is considered to be one of Asia's oldest sporting clubs. The club has won eight Syrian League titles and eight Syrian Cu ...

and the Syrian national team. When the uprising started, he led demonstrations in his hometown of

demanding the removal of Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

, as well as other general demands of the Syrian uprising. As violence erupted between pro and anti-governmental groups, four of his brothers, who were fighting with him in the same battalion, were killed by the Syrian security forces. He became well known for his chants during anti-government demonstrations. Initially, his speeches and chants were mostly

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

in nature, but in line with the rising influence of

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

among Syrian rebel groups, they gradually adopted more overtly religious undertones. During the

Siege of Homs The siege of Homs was a military confrontation between the Syrian Ba'athist regime and the Syrian opposition in the city of Homs, a major rebel stronghold during the Syrian Civil War. The siege lasted three years from May 2011 to May 2014, a ...

from 2011 to 2014, he became a Syrian rebel commander. Arab-speaking media networks like ''

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

'' and ''Al Araby'' described him as a "well known icon in the Syrian uprising", as well as by the epithet "Keeper of the Revolution", a

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...

on him being an ex-goalkeeper. After the decentralization of the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

(FSA), Sarout became a commander in the rebel group

Jaysh al-Izza The Army of Glory (), formerly the Union of Glory (), was an Sunni Islamist Syrian rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army active in northwestern Syria, mainly in the al-Ghab Plain in northern Hama Governorate, Hama and its surroundings ...

. Sarout survived at least three

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

attempts during his time as a rebel commander. During one attempt, 50 fighters from his unit, the Bayada Martyrs' Brigade, were killed. He was featured in the 2013 war documentary ''

The Return to Homs ''The Return to Homs'' (; ) is a 2013 Syrian-German documentary film written and directed by Talal Derki. It is produced by Orwa Nyrabia and Hans Robert Eisenhauer while Diana El Jeiroudi served as the associate producer. The film premiered in-co ...

''. In 2014, he was among the rebels evacuated from

to the rebel-held

Idlib Governorate Idlib Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat Idlib'') is one of the 14 governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay province to the north, Aleppo Governorate to the east, Hama Governorate to the sou ...

by the Syrian government, following the surrender deal that ended the

. In November 2015, Sarout and the Bayada Martyrs' Brigade came into conflict with the

Al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra or Jabhat Nusrat Ahl al-Sham, also known as Front for the Conquest of the Levant, and also later known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham was a Salafi-jihadist organization that fought against Ba'athist Syria, Ba'athist ...

. The Al-Nusra forces attacked Sarout and his fighters over a claim that Sarout had pledged allegiance to the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIL). Sarout denied the claim, but admitted he had considered joining ISIL, as he started viewing the jihadist group as the only force capable of fighting the

Syrian Government The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succ ...

. He stated that he gave up on joining the group after realizing that it was primarily concerned with setting up a

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

, rather than fighting the government. He added that while he didn't join the militant group, he would also refuse to fight against it. On 29 May 2017, Sarout was arrested by

Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was a Sunni Islamist political organisation and paramilitary group involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham facti ...

after being accused of participating in an anti-HTS protest in Maarat al-Nu'man. He was released on 24 June and charges against him were dropped.

Death

He died on 8 June 2019, during the 2019 Northwestern Syria offensive, after engaging in combat with the

Syrian Army The Syrian Army is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. Up until the fall of the Assad regime, the Syrian Arab Army existed as a land force branch of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which dominanted the military service of the fo ...

at Tal Malah village. According to a Jayish al-Izza spokesperson, as well as the pro-opposition

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (also known as SOHR; ), founded in May 2006, is a United Kingdom-based information office whose stated aim is to document human rights abuses in Syria; since 2011 it has focused on the Syrian Civil War. ...

, he died in a Turkish hospital in

Reyhanlı Reyhanlı (; , ''ar-Rayḥānīyah'') is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Hatay Province, Turkey. Its area is 367 km2, and its population is 108,092 (2022). It is near the country's Syria–Turkey border, border with Syria ...

Hatay Hatay Province (, ) is the southernmost Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is , and its population is 1,686,043 (2022). It is situated mostly outside Anatolia, ...

from wounds sustained two days prior, when he was struck by Syrian Army artillery, after his unit clashed with the army in northern

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

. He was taken a day later to the village of Al-Dana in rebel-held northwestern Syria, to be buried with one of his deceased brothers.

References

External links

Syrian Revolution Icon, Activist Abdelbaset Sarout – Documentary film (with English Subtitles)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarout, Abdul Baset Al- 1992 births 2019 deaths Al-Karamah SC players Footballers from Homs Members of the Free Syrian Army Men's association football goalkeepers Military personnel killed in the Syrian civil war Syrian military personnel of the Syrian civil war Salafi jihadists Syrian dissidents Syrian men's footballers 21st-century Syrian sportsmen