First week of new Syria: Rebels try to bring normalcy while Syrians vow to talk | News Today News

The new security chief arrived at Damascus’s international airport with his men, a bearded fighter who had marched with other rebels across Syria toward the capital. The few maintenance workers who had shown up for work huddled around Major Hamza al-Ahmad, eager for an answer as to what would happen next.

They unloaded all their grievances, suppressed for years under President Bashar Assad’s rule, which has now inexplicably ended.

They told him they were denied promotions and funneled to pro-Assad favorites, that bosses threatened them with jail for working too late. They warned him that staunch Assad supporters among airport staff are ready to return when the facility reopens.

As al-Ahmad tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, admitted: “This is the first time we are talking.”

This was the first week of change in Syria since the unexpected fall of Assad.

The rebels, suddenly in charge, met a population full of emotions: excitement at the new freedom; Grief in years of oppression; and hopes, expectations and concerns about the future. Some were drowned in tears.

The transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of reprisals, revenge killings and communal violence are minimal. Looting and destruction are quickly controlled, rebel fighters are disciplined. People lived their lives normally in the capital Damascus on Saturday. Only one van of fighters was seen.

Amid the festivities, grieving families searched for missing loved ones at a Damascus morgue. (AP Photo)

There are a million ways it could go wrong.

After five decades of rule by the Assad family, the country is fragmented and isolated. Families are torn apart by war, former prisoners are traumatized by the atrocities they have endured, thousands of prisoners are missing. The economy is in ruins, poverty is rampant, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption permeates everyday life.

But in this moment of flux, many are ready to feel the way forward.

At the airport, Al-Ahmad told staff: “There will be challenges on the new road, but that’s why we said Syria is for everyone and we all have to help.”

The rebels have said all the right things so far, Najam said. “But we will never be silent about anything wrong again.”

Idlib comes to Damascus

Pictures of Assad were torn down and files destroyed at a police station set on fire after rebels entered the city on December 8. All the police and security personnel of the Assad era are gone.

On Saturday, the building was staffed by 10 men serving in the police force of the rebels’ de facto “liberation government,” which for years ruled the rebel enclave of Idlib in northwest Syria.

Rebel police patrol the station, dealing with reports of petty theft and street brawls. A woman has complained that her neighbor vandalized the electricity supply. A policeman tells him to wait for the court to resume work.

“It will take a year to solve the problem,” he said.

The rebels sought to bring order to Damascus by copying its governance structure in Idlib. But there is a problem of measurement. One police estimated the number of rebel police to be only about 4,000. Half are based in Idlib and the rest are tasked with maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate the total number of insurgents fighting at around 20,000.

Most bearded fighters are from conservative, provincial backgrounds. Many are radical Islamists.

The main rebel force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has abandoned its al-Qaeda past, and its leaders are working to reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic communities that the future will be pluralistic and tolerant.

Syrians are skeptical

“The people we see on the streets, they don’t represent us,” said Hani Zia, a resident of Damascus. He was concerned by some reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings. “We should be afraid.”

Some restaurants have started serving alcohol openly, others more carefully to test the mood.

At a sidewalk cafe in the Christian quarter of the historic old town, men were drinking beer when a combat patrol passed by. The men turned to each other, unsure, but the fighters did nothing. Elsewhere in the old city, rebel police arrested him after a man with a gun harassed a liquor store, a police officer said.

Salem Hajjo, a theater teacher who took part in the 2011 protests, said he did not agree with the rebels’ Islamist views, but was impressed by their experience of running their own affairs. And he hopes to have a voice in the new Syria.

He said, ‘We have not been so comfortable. “The fear is gone. The rest is up to us.”

The fighters make a concerted effort to reassure

On the night Assad fell, gunmen roamed the streets, celebrating victory with deafening gunfire. The buildings of some security agencies have been set on fire. People stayed indoors.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham went to enforce the order. It has ordered a night curfew for three days. It banned the firing of firearms at the festival and deployed militants to protect property.

After a day people started coming.

Tens of thousands went to Assad’s prisons to find loved ones who had mixed up with the rebels, some of whom were still searching.

Amid the festivities, the gunmen invited children to hop into their armored vehicles, and posed for photos with the women, some with their hair covered. Pro-revolutionary songs blared from the cars.

The transitional government has urged people to return to work. The rebels deployed men to act as traffic police. Volunteers picked up the trash, as municipal employees have not returned to their jobs.

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. The cleaners removed the rubbish, broken furniture and accessories.

A cleaner, who identified himself only as Murad, said he earns the equivalent of $15 a month and feeds six children, including one disabled. I have a dream of getting a mobile phone.

“It’s going to take us a long time to clean it up,” he said.

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