Johan Cosar sits on the floor of a cold, dark room with his knees pulled up to his chest, an AK-47 leaning casually against his leg. The electricity has cut out, but he is unconcerned. Sudden darkness is a regular occurrence in war-ravaged Syria.
Without lights, it is still possible to make out the checkered pattern of the blue and white scarf tied tightly around his head and the thick, dark stubble that covers his face. Directly above him on the dirtied wall, there’s a reproduction tapestry of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, intricacy obscured by the darkness. He’s a long way from home, but Cosar, who has been fighting in Syria for more than two years, now looks like he belongs on the front lines of Syria’s civil war much more than he would in the Swiss city of St. Gallen, where he was raised by Assyrian Christian parents.
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