Qassem Mahmoud Hammad, of Saraqeb, was born on November 26, 1976. Qassem was a middle school drop-out. He first left Syria, emigrating to Algeria, in 1996. He went back to Syria briefly thereafter, only to leave again for ten years. Qassem was a son of the Syrian Revolution, and relocated to Syria briefly before Saraqeb was liberated. He initially kept a low-profile and took his time absorbing the new realities surrounding him. It was not long before he set out on creating The Social Cultural Forum, with the vision of focusing on culture and bringing together the conflicting parties at the town into civilized, fruitful debates; an initiative that saw him become one of these parties himself. Qassem was martyred on July 27, 2013, as a result of aerial bombardment on Saraqeb.