Homs resident recovers hidden library after decade of displacement

Abdullah Mustafa Khaled Alwan, a 72-year-old resident of Homs, has recovered a vast library of books that he had hidden behind a false wall for over a decade to protect them from the Assad regime.

Following the outbreak of protests in 2011, Alwan feared that his collection—which includes religious texts, historical works, and social science books—would be confiscated or destroyed due to his political and religious leanings. To safeguard the collection, he worked with local youths to build a secondary wall in his son's apartment, concealing the books behind cardboard to protect them from moisture.

After years of displacement and living under siege, Alwan returned to Homs following the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024. Despite finding his original home partially burned, the hidden wall remained intact. He has since dismantled the structure to retrieve the volumes, which include works by figures such as Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb. The library has now been restored to serve as a scholarly resource for his family.