Bakh'a (al-Sarkha) is one the three villages in the Qalamun region of Damascus countryside where the original inhabitants speak Western Neo-Aramaic. During the war in Syria between the Assad regime and the insurgency, Bakh'a by far suffered the most damage among the three villages. According to Muhammad Fuddah (محمد فضة), the author of the guest post below on the village of Bakh 'a, around 80% of the houses in the village are destroyed and uninhabitable. Not surprisingly, much of the original population has yet to return, and exile aggravates the endangered status of the Bakh'a dialect of Western Neo-Aramaic.
While regime supporters and sympathisers have repeatedly talked about the status of minorities in Syria, their concern seems notably absent when it comes to the village of Bakh'a, whose original inhabitants are from the country's religious majority (Sunni Muslims) but are still a minority in terms of their native language.
The post below by Fuddah is written in Western Neo-Aramaic and I provide an English translation.
[Click here to continue reading]:
https://www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/guest-post-village-of-bakha

