Electricity, a well-paid job and the freedom to walk: Syrians share hopes and fears for the future

Syrians flooded streets, markets and mosques on Friday celebrating the recent ouster of Bashar al-Assad and attending the first Friday prayers since his ouster on Sunday.

CBC senior international correspondent Margaret Evans, producer Jason Ho and videographer David Iacolucci spoke to people in Damascus outside the Umayyad Mosque, which was built in the early 700s and is the largest of the city, and from the nearby Al-Hamidiyah market about their hopes and fears for the future.

Islam Marouf, 38 years old

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Marouf is a journalist from Al Hasakah, in the northeast of the country.

He said Syria faces many challenges, including food and oil shortages, uncertainty over Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who led the rebel advance that toppled Assad, and concerns that a unified Syria with its different ethnic and religious groups do not hold.

“There is fear of the future,” Marouf said. “We celebrate a new situation in Syria, but all people are afraid, especially traders.”

He said seeing the rebels release members of the army without retaliating and fulfilling some of the initial promises made by Golani reassured him, even though he is from a region where Golani’s group, Hayat Tahrir al -Sham (HTS), is not well known. .

“Now, we have peace here in Damascus, that’s good. There is (forgiveness). So far, so good.”

Still, he said, it will take a lot to keep that peace and keep Syria whole.

“People must work hard to build Syria.”

Joud, 27

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Joud, who did not want to give his last name, studied finance and hopes that in a post-Assad Syria, he can find work in his field, earn a higher salary and start a family. When CBC spoke to her, she was savoring the simple pleasure of being able to move freely around the city.

“I’m happy today,” he told Margaret Evans through a translator. “When I left the house today, I can walk and go wherever I want… I’m so happy to be able to go anywhere. No one is watching me.”

Joud said he is not worried that a new Islamist government could impose restrictions on women.

“It won’t affect me as a woman or anyone else,” she said. “We will live as we are living now, and I hope there will be no rules, no additional rules, upon us.”

Inas al-Hanash, 25 years old

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Hanash was out celebrating with his children and, like many on the streets of Damascus on Friday, flashed a hopeful, if subtle, sign of peace as he posed for a photo as other children milled around nearby. He said he’s looking forward to economic stability and having things in stores to buy with his money.

“The Syrian lira (pound) will be much better, God willing. It’s not the same as before. Even if you had money, you couldn’t buy anything.”

Hanash said he also hopes a new government will mean basic services, such as electricity, will be maintained.

“The economic situation will be much better, and we will live in peace and security,” he said.

Abu Ahmad, 22 years old

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Ahmad said he is a member of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led the breakthrough that toppled the Assad regime. Originally from Idlib, Ahmad said he fought with the rebels as they headed towards Damascus and now helps maintain security in the capital.

“There are many people who continue to support the regime, and many thieves in the city,” he said. “Hopefully once we do all this (secure the city), we’ll go home.”

Many inside and outside Syria are waiting to see what happens to those who propped up the regime and actively participated in the repressive tactics it used to maintain power.

Ahmad said holding people accountable for their actions under the past regime is a necessary part of the transition.

“If we let the supporters of the regime go free who have blood on their hands, we would be betraying our martyrs,” he said. “In the case of someone in the army who was recruited by force, they can go home and we won’t do anything to them. As for the people with blood on their hands, we will hold them accountable.”

Raed al-Saleh, 42

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Saleh heads the group known as the White Helmets, the first responders whose mission has changed significantly in recent days, from helping civilians survive the violence and instability of a protracted and deadly civil war to reconstruction of the country.

One of the first tasks was to help search Saydnayathe notorious military prison on the outskirts of Damascus, searching for underground cells and trying to make sure every corner of the prison was cleaned.

“It was one of the most important missions for us,” Saleh said. “We were working very hard to get all the prisoners out.”

Now, they will move on to dig up some of the mass graves where victims of the Assad regime were buried, he said. This will involve collecting DNA samples in the hope of providing answers to the loved ones of the thousands of people who disappeared over the course of 14 years of civil war.

“We have more than 100,000 missing people that we don’t have any information about at the moment,” Saleh said.

Despite the hard work ahead, Saleh said he is hopeful.

“The last 14 years we have suffered a lot. But today … we are in a new phase. We will build a new Syria. We will bring back all the Syrians and make sure that it is only one country, only one community. , and that the Syrians are taking decisions in this country.”