Who is Abdelbaset Sarout? Syria Revolution Icon and Singer Dies of Wounds

For the past two days, Syrian activists and the anti-Assad rebels have been mourning and remembering one of the icons of the 2011 Revolution against Bashar Assad and his regime, Abdelbaset Sarout.

Sarout, a 27-year-old football goalkeeper, singer, and song composer who led massive peaceful protests when it first broke out against Assad in 2011 in his city, Homs, is one of the revolution strongholds and birthplaces, died on Saturday of his wounds after suffering injury in a battle with government forces.

Besides the thousands of people who have gathered to participate in the funeral of Sarout on Sunday in Turkey, where he was transferred to receive medical treatment, there were hundreds, if not more, who mourned him on the internet.

Several videos were shared on social media from his funeral, during which the Syrian revolution flag was raised.

Other videos from funerals held in different cities in Syria; including Idlib and Homs have gone viral as well.

Known as “Singer of the Revolution”, Abdelbaset Sarout rose to fame as a player for his home city and won international titles representing Syria, before peaceful protests broke out in Syria against the regime in 2011 which changed his life forever.

Later on, and as the country slid into war, Sarout led fighters against government forces to survive the regime forces siege of Homs city, before the government declared him a traitor and banned him from soccer. The government has also offered a reward for information leading to Sarout’s arrest.

As a revolution icon, Sarout remained on the rebels front until his very last days while calling Syrians to unite against government forces.

Despite attempts to affiliate him with jihadi groups and extremists, a spokesperson of Jaish Al-Izza, a rebel group affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, mainly active in northern Hama and its surroundings, went to the media to confirm Sarout was leading a group of fighters in the group.

Translation: “The dispute is not over Abdelbaset Sarout but over those who try to affiliate each opponent to ISIS.”