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

Syrians took to the streets, markets and mosques on Friday to celebrate the recent ouster of Bashar al-Assad, and on Sunday attended the first Friday prayers since his ouster.

CBC chief international correspondent Margaret Evans, producer Jason Ho and videographer David Iacolucci spoke to people in Damascus about their hopes and fears outside the city’s largest Umayyad mosque, built in the early 700s, and the nearby Al-Hamidiyya market. will come.

Islam Maruf, 38

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Maruf is a journalist from Al-Hasaqa in the north-east of the country.

He said Syria faced many problems, including food and oil shortages, uncertainty over Abu Muhammad al-Golani, who led the rebel advance to oust Assad, and concern that a united Syria with diverse ethnic and religious groups could not last.

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

He said he was reassured that the rebels had released the military without retaliation and that Golani had followed through on some of his initial promises, even though he is from an area where Golani’s group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is not well known. .

“There is peace here in Damascus now, which is good. There is (forgiveness). So far so good.”

However, he said it would take a lot to preserve that peace and keep Syria intact.

“The people must work hard to build Syria.”

Joud, 27

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Choud, who did not want to give his last name, studied finance and hopes to find work in his field, earn higher wages and start a family in post-Assad Syria. When CBC spoke to him, he was enjoying the simple pleasure of being able to move freely around the city.

“I’m happy today,” he told Margaret Evans through an interpreter. “Today, when I leave the house, I can walk and go wherever I want…. I am very happy that I can go anywhere. No one controls me.”

Joud said he is not worried that the new Islamist government may impose restrictions on women.

“It’s not going to affect me as a woman or anyone else,” she said. “We’ll live as we live now, and I hope we won’t have any rules—more rules.”

Inas al-Hanash, 25

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Hanash was celebrating with her children and, like many on the streets of Damascus on Friday, showed a hopeful but subtle sign of peace as other children walked nearby and posed for photos. He said he was looking forward to economic stability and that there were actually things in stores to buy with his money.

“I hope the Syrian lira (lira) will be very good. It’s not like before. Even if you had money, you couldn’t buy anything.”

Hanash said he hoped the new government would mean maintaining basic services like electricity.

“The economic situation will improve significantly and we will live in peace and security,” he said.

Abu Ahmed, 22

(Jason Ho/CBC)

Ahmed said he was a member of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led the advance to topple the Assad regime. Ahmed, who is originally from Idlib, said he had fought with the rebels on their way to Damascus and was now helping to maintain security in the capital.

“There are still many people who support the regime in the city, many thieves. “Hopefully after we’ve done all that (securing the city) we’ll be back home.”

Many inside and outside of Syria are waiting to see what will happen to those who support the regime and those who are actively involved in the repressive tactics it uses to keep it in power.

Ahmed said that making people accountable for their actions under the previous regime is a necessary part of the transition.

“If we release the supporters of the regime, whose hands are covered in blood, we will betray our martyrs. “A person who is forcibly conscripted in the army can return home and we will not do anything to him. As for the people with blood on their hands, we will answer them.”

Raed al-Saleh, 42

(Jason Ho/CBC)

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

One of the first jobs was to help with the search SaydnayaIn the famous military prison outside Damascus, underground cells were searched and tried to be cleaned from every corner of the prison.

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

Now they are going to open some mass graves where the victims of the Assad regime are buried, he said. This will involve collecting DNA samples in the hope of providing answers to the relatives of thousands of people who disappeared during the 14-year civil war.

“We have more than 100,000 missing people, we don’t have any information about them yet,” Saleh said.

Despite the difficult tasks ahead, Saleh said he is hopeful.

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