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IS ex-bastion in Syria hosts Jackie Chan film shoot

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Maher Al Mounes, Agence France-Presse

<p>HAJAR AL ASWAD, Syria - A ghost town since a 2018 operation to flush out jihadists, Hajar al-Aswad near the Syrian capital has come back to life as the location of a Jackie Chan-produced action movie.</p><p>&quot;Home Operation&quot; is inspired by China&#x27;s 2015 evacuation of Chinese and other foreign citizens from the war in Yemen, an operation that was seen as a landmark for Beijing.</p><p>Yemen was deemed too dangerous a venue to shoot and some scenes of the film, which is also backed by an Emirati production company, are being shot in Syria, although the script only mentions a fictional country called &quot;Poman&quot;.</p><p>The ruins of Hajar al-Aswad on Thursday filled with a motley crew of actors in Yemeni tribal attire, Syrian extras in uniform and polo-wearing Chinese film crew members.</p><p>Jackie Chan is the main producer, although there are no plans for him to visit Syria.</p><p>The film pitches itself as a blockbuster that will glorify the role of the Chinese authorities in a heroic evacuation.</p><p>Speaking to reporters as his crew installed their equipment and tanks in hastily altered livery moved into position, director Yinxi Song confirmed the film&#x27;s propaganda credentials.</p><p>&quot;It takes the perspective of diplomats who are Communist Party members, who braved a hail of bullets in a war-torn country and safely brought all Chinese compatriots onto the country&#x27;s warship unscathed,&quot; he said.</p><p>The ambassador of China, one of few countries to have maintained good diplomatic relations with the regime of Syria President Bashar al-Assad, was present to launch the Syria shoot, which is expected to last several days.</p><p>A red banner in three languages was unfurled for the small ceremony and another that read &quot;Peace &amp; Love&quot; was propped up on the front of a tank.</p><div><strong>- &#x27;Low-cost studio&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Hajar al-Aswad, which means &quot;black rock&quot; in Arabic, was once a densely populated Damascus suburb that lies next to the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk.</p><p>Both areas became major hotspots in the Syrian civil conflict that erupted in 2011 and were at least partially controlled at one point by the Islamic State group.</p><p>The reconquest of both neighbourhoods by Syrian pro-government forces in May 2018 marked the moment the regime brought the entire capital Damascus back under its control.</p><p>Swathes of Hajar al-Aswad were completely levelled, however, turning the neighborhood into a sinister sprawl of grey, gutted buildings.</p><p>A few residents have returned to the least damaged parts of Hajar al-Aswad, leaving the rest completely uninhabited.</p><p>&quot;The war-ravaged areas in Syria have turned into a movie studio. These areas attract film producers,&quot; said director Rawad Shahin, who is part of Home Operation&#x27;s Syria crew.</p><p>&quot;Building studios similar to these areas is very expensive, so these areas are considered as low-cost studios,&quot; he said.</p><p>The production team says it plans to use several other locations to film in Syria, where productions from Iran and Russia, both allies of Assad, have also been shot.</p><p>Syria is targeted by a raft of international sanctions and is also littered with unexploded ordnance which last year made it the world&#x27;s most lethal country for landmine kills.</p><p>Chinese navy vessels carrying out anti-piracy patrols were diverted to Yemen in 2015 to evacuate what officials at the time said were hundreds of people from 10 different countries stranded by the escalating conflict.</p><p>The successful operation was touted by Beijing at the time as a proud moment for its navy, evidence of its humanitarian principles and of its growing global reach.</p><div><strong>mam/jmm/hc/oho</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVE</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2126994" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

A ghost town since a 2018 operation to flush out jihadists, Hajar al-Aswad near the Syrian capital has come back to life as the location of a Jackie Chan-produced action movie.

IS ex-bastion in Syria hosts Jackie Chan film shoot

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IS ex-bastion in Syria hosts Jackie Chan film shoot

Maher Al Mounes,

Agence France-Presse

Published July 17, 2022 02:44 PM PHT

Read More:

IS

Islamic State

Syria

Hajar al-Aswad

Hajar al-Aswad Syria

Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan film

film

film shooting

movie

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