Skip to main content
‘I lost a son in war, in Syria they’re losing entire villages’

THE father of a soldier killed in Iraq reduced anti-war protesters to tears at the weekend with a moving speech opposing British bombings in Syria.

Peter Brierley, whose son Shaun died in action in 2003, was addressing the thousands of people who attended Saturday’s Stop the War Coalition demonstration in London, where the Military Families Against the War spokesman took to the stage along with politicians and religious leaders.

“I lost my son and people often say to me: ‘I don’t know what it’s like. I can’t imagine what you feel like to have lost a son’,” said Mr Brierley.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Journalists from foreign media based in Tehran document damage from U.S.-Israeli strikes in a residential area of the town of Fardis, west of Tehran, Iran, April 3, 2026
Features / 4 April 2026
4 April 2026

A packed fringe meeting at the National Education Union conference heard from Iranian teachers, campaigners and journalists

People watch from a rooftop as a plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2026
Middle East / 3 March 2026
3 March 2026

History shows from Iraq to Libya, and now Iran, that regime-change fantasies rarely deliver stability — but they always deliver human and economic cost, says MARYAM ESLAMDOUST

Bedouin fighters stand in front a burned shop at Mazraa village on the outskirts of Sweida city, during clashes between the Bedouin clans and Druze militias, southern Syria, July 18, 2025
Middle East / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025