DAMASCUS — At Damascus’ international airport, the new head of security — one of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital — arrived with his team.
They warned of hardcore Assad supporters among airport staff, ready to return whenever the facility reopens.
The rebels sought to bring order in Damascus by replicating the structure of its governance in Idlib.
Rebels, some of them also searching, mingled with relatives of the missing in the dark halls of prisons that all had feared for years.
Officials say they want to reopen the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance crews inspected a handful of planes on the tarmac.
DAMASCUS — One of the rebels who marched across Syria to the capital, the new head of security, arrived with his team at the international airport in Damascus. The few maintenance personnel who arrived for work gathered around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, curious to find out what would happen next.
All of the grievances they had been too scared to voice during President Bashar Assad’s rule—which, unbelievably, is now over—were swiftly released.
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They informed the bearded fighter that their employers threatened to put them in jail for working too slowly and that they were passed over for promotions and benefits in favor of pro-Assad favorites. They cautioned that there are ardent Assad supporters among the airport workers who are prepared to return as soon as the building reopens.
“This is the first time we talk,” engineer Osama Najm declared as Al-Ahmed attempted to reassure them. “.”.
This week marked the start of Syria’s transition following Assad’s untimely overthrow.
When rebels took over abruptly, they encountered a populace that was brimming with emotions, including joy at newfound freedom, sorrow over years of persecution, and expectations, hopes, and concerns about the future. Some people were so moved that they started crying.
It has been a surprisingly easy transition. There have been very few reports of sectarian violence, retaliation killings, or retaliation. Disciplined insurgent fighters have promptly contained looting and destruction. In the capital, Damascus, people carried on with their daily activities on Saturday. There was just one fighter van visible.
It could go wrong in a million different ways.
After fifty years of Assad family rule, the nation is fragmented and alone. Tens of thousands of detainees are still unaccounted for, ex-offenders are traumatized by the atrocities they endured, and families have been ripped apart by war. Poverty is pervasive, the economy is in ruins, and unemployment and inflation are high. Corruption permeates everyday existence.
But a lot of people are eager to feel their way forward in this time of transition.
The new path will present difficulties, but that is why we have stated that Syria is for everyone and that everyone must work together, al-Ahmed told the airport staff. “.”.
According to Najm, the rebels have said everything that should be said thus far. But we will not remain silent about any wrongdoing in the future. “.”.
When insurgents invaded the city in December, images of Assad were ripped down and documents destroyed at a burned-out police station. 8. . Every police officer and security guard from the Assad era is no longer there.
Ten men from the police force of the rebels’ de facto “salvation government,” which managed the rebel stronghold of Idlib in northwest Syria for years, manned the building on Saturday.
While keeping an eye on the station, the rebel police officers handle complaints of minor thefts and altercations on the streets. A woman accuses her neighbors of interfering with her electricity supply. A police officer advises her to hold off until the courts reopen.
He muttered, “It will take a year to solve problems.”.
The rebels aimed to restore order in Damascus by imitating its governance structure in Idlib. However, the issue of scale exists. There are only about 4,000 rebel police, according to one of the officers; half of them are stationed in Idlib, while the remaining officers are responsible for ensuring security in Damascus and other locations. An estimated 20,000 people make up the insurgents’ entire fighting force, according to some experts.
Currently, the public and the fighters are getting to know one another.
Most Damascus residents cannot afford the fighters’ large SUVs and more recent models due to customs fees and bribes, which make them ten times more expensive. Instead of using the sinking Syrian pound, the fighters use Turkish lira, which has long been prohibited in areas controlled by the government.
The majority of the bearded combatants are from conservative, rural regions. A large number are staunch Islamists.
Leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main insurgent group, are trying to reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic communities that the future will be tolerant and pluralist, having repudiated its al-Qaida past.
However, a lot of Syrians are still wary. The most organized group, HTS, is not the only group of fighters; some wear ribbons with Islamist slogans on their uniforms.
As a resident of the southern city of Daraa, where the 2011 anti-Assad uprising started, Hani Zia said, “The people we see on the streets don’t represent us.”. Attacks on minorities and retaliatory killings alarmed him.
He expressed his concern that some insurgents may feel superior to other Syrians due to their years of combat experience, saying, “We should be afraid.”. “We all gave something up, with all due respect to those who gave up. “”.
But in Damascus, where many people are adamant that they will not allow themselves to be oppressed any longer, fear is not common.
Some restaurants have started serving alcohol again, while others have done so more covertly to gauge the atmosphere.
A fighter patrol was passing by a sidewalk café in the Christian section of the historic Old City where men were enjoying beer. The fighters did nothing as the men looked at one another in uncertainty. “The rebel police arrested a man who was harassing a liquor store in the Old City with a gun,” one policeman said.
Theater educator Salem Hajjo, who took part in the 2011 demonstrations, stated that while he disagrees with the rebels’ Islamist beliefs, he is impressed by their ability to manage their own affairs. Additionally, he hopes to have a say in the new Syria.
He remarked, “Never have we been so relaxed.”. “The fear has subsided. We are responsible for the rest. “.”.
In an attempt to reassure, the fighters roamed the streets the night after Assad’s downfall, rejoicing in the sound of their guns. The buildings of some security agencies were set on fire. All of the alcohol bottles were destroyed when people ransacked the duty-free area of the airport. The rebels attributed part of this to fugitive government supporters.
People remained indoors and watched the new arrivals. The stores close.
In an attempt to establish order, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham issued a three-day curfew for the evening. It relocated fighters to safeguard properties and outlawed celebratory shooting.
People started to come out after a day.
To find loved ones who vanished years ago, tens of thousands of people first traveled to Assad’s prisons, especially Saydnaya on the outskirts of the capital. Not many have discovered any signs.
Both heartbreaking and unifying, it was. In the shadowy prison corridors that everyone had dreaded for years, rebels—some of whom were also on the hunt—mixed with the families of the missing.
Children were invited to board the armored vehicles of the gunmen during street celebrations. Insurgents posed with women, some of whom had their hair uncovered, for pictures. Cars blared songs that supported the revolution. All of a sudden, posters of activists killed by Assad’s regime and revolutionary flags are emblazoned on walls and stores everywhere.
Without missing a beat, TV stations switched from lauding Assad to playing songs about revolution. The new insurgent-led transitional government made a number of announcements, which were broadcast by state media.
The new government urged Syrian refugees worldwide to return to aid in the reconstruction and urged people to return to their jobs. Plans to rehabilitate and vet the security forces were announced in order to stop “those with blood on their hands” from returning. According to an employee, fighters assured airport employees, many of whom were government loyalists, that their homes would not be attacked.
However, Syria’s problems have not yet been solved.
After Assad’s overthrow, produce prices fell, but fuel distribution was severely disrupted, driving up transportation costs and resulting in long-lasting blackouts because merchants were no longer required to pay high customs fees and bribes.
Maintenance workers examined a few aircraft on the tarmac this week, and officials say they hope to reopen the airport as soon as possible. Trash, damaged furniture, and merchandise were removed by cleaners.
A cleaner who only went by Murad claimed to make the equivalent of $15 per month and to have six children, one of whom has a disability, to support. One of his dreams is to acquire a cell phone.
He stated, “It will take a long time to clean this up.”.
