When we arrived at Yahya‘s house, I called out to him. He poked his head out a window, letting me know he would be down shortly. As we waited, we jumped to take cover behind Yahya‘s house to avoid the shelling nearby.

In a split second, the wall behind me crumbled, and dust billowed in the air. Before I could even react, I was buried under the rubble.

There was only darkness. Everything happened so quickly that I couldn‘t understand what had just happened.

I could feel the debris crushing my back. Each attempt to move felt like trying to lift a mountain, and every passing moment felt like an eternity.

Suffocating on dust and smoke, I realised the bombing scenes I had seen on TV were now my reality….