DAMASCUS (AP) – At Damascus airport, the new security chief – one of the rebels who crossed into Syria to the capital – arrived with his team. A few maintenance workers came to work and gathered around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, wanting to know what was going to happen next.
They quickly aired all the grievances they were afraid to voice during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which is now, unsurprisingly, over.
They told the bearded soldier that they were denied promotions and positions in favor of pro-Assad favourites, and that bosses threatened them with prison for working too slowly. They warned of die-hard Assad supporters among the airport staff, ready to return whenever the airport opens.
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As Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: “This is the first time I have spoken.”
This was the first week of the Syrian revolution after the unexpected fall of Assad.
The rebels, who suddenly took the lead, met a crowd that was bursting with emotion: eager for the new freedom; the trauma of years of oppression; and hopes, expectations and worries about the future. Some are overwhelmed to the point of crying.
The transition has been surprisingly smooth. Reports of revenge, revenge killings and gang violence have been rare. Looting and destruction were quickly prevented, the rebel soldiers were punished. On Saturday, people went about their lives as usual in the capital city of Damascus. Only one army van was seen.
There are a million ways it can go wrong.
The country is broken and divided after five decades of Assad family rule. Families separated by the war, former prisoners injured by the brutality they suffered, tens of thousands of prisoners remain missing. The economy has collapsed, poverty is rampant, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption is rampant in everyday life.
But in this time of change, many are ready to hear the way forward.
At the airport, al-Ahmed told the crew: “The new route will have problems, but that’s why we said Syria belongs to all people and we all have to be united.”
The rebels have so far said all the right things, said Najm. “But we won’t be silent about something bad again.”
Idlib comes to Damascus
At the police station, Assad’s pictures were torn down and files were destroyed after the rebels entered the city Dec. 8. All Assad-era police and security personnel have disappeared.
On Saturday, the building housed 10 men working in the rebels’ de facto “government of salvation,” which for years ruled the rebel-held Idlib region in northwestern Syria.
Riot police patrol the station, dealing with reports of petty theft and street violence. A woman complains that her neighbors have destroyed her electricity. A policeman tells him to wait for the courts to start working again.
“It takes a year to fix the problems,” he grumbled.
The rebels sought to bring order to Damascus by re-establishing its regime in Idlib. But there is a growing problem. One of the police estimates that the number of rebel police is only 4,000; half are based in Idlib and the rest are tasked with maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate that the rebel army is around 20,000.
Currently, soldiers and civilians are learning about each other.
Soldiers drive large SUVs and new models of cars that are out of reach for most citizens in Damascus, where they cost ten times as much because of manual labor and bribery. Soldiers carry the Turkish lira, long banned in government-held areas, instead of the Syrian pound.
Most of the bearded warriors come from conservative, provincial areas. Many are radical Islamists.
The main rebel force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has once again rejected al-Qaida, and its leaders are working to reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic communities that the future will be diverse and tolerant.
But many Syrians remain suspicious. Some fighters wear ribbons with Islamic slogans on their uniforms and not all of them belong to HTS, the organized group.
“The people we see on the streets, they don’t represent us,” said Hani Zia, a Damascus resident from the southern city of Daraa, where Assad’s 2011 uprising began. He was concerned about reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings.
“We have to be afraid,” he said, adding that he worries that some rebels feel better than other Syrians because of their years of fighting. “With all due respect to those who sacrificed, we all sacrificed.”
Still, fear has not spread in Damascus, where many insist they will no longer allow themselves to be oppressed.
Some restaurants have resumed serving alcohol freely, others deliberately to test the situation.
At a restaurant in the streets of the old Christian city, men were drinking beer when a group of soldiers passed by. The men turned to each other, unsure, but the soldiers did nothing. When a gun-toting man attacked a liquor store in the Old City, riot police arrested him, a police officer said.
Salem Hajjo, a theater teacher who participated in the 2011 protests, said he disagreed with the views of the Islamist rebels, but was impressed with their experience in running their business. And he hopes to have a say in the new Syria.
“We have never had a break like this,” he said. “The fear is over. Everything else is up to us.”
Soldiers try together to strengthen
The night after Assad’s fall, armed men roamed the streets, celebrating victory with silent gunfire. Some buildings of the Ministry of National Security were burnt. People ransacked the airport and smashed all the beer bottles. The rebels blamed some of this on fleeing government supporters.
The public remained indoors, watching the newcomers. Shops are closed.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham moved to order, ordering a three-day curfew. It banned gunfire and moved soldiers to protect buildings.
After a day, people started to leave.
For tens of thousands, their first destination was Assad’s prisons, especially Saydnaya on the outskirts of the capital, in search of loved ones who disappeared years ago. A few found fossils.
It was frustrating but also connecting. The rebels, some of them were also searching, mixed with the relatives of the missing in the dark prisons that people feared for many years.
During street celebrations, men with guns would invite children to ride in their armored vehicles. The rebels posted pictures of women, some with their hair uncovered. Pro-revolutionary songs rang out from the car. Suddenly shops and walls everywhere were plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of protesters killed by Assad’s regime.
The TV stations did not miss a beat, from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media broadcast announcements issued by the new rebel-led government.
The new administration called for people to return to work and encouraged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced a plan to restore and monitor the military to prevent the return of “those with blood on their hands.” Militants assured airport workers – many of them government loyalists – that their homes would not be attacked, one worker said.
But the problems of Syria will not be solved.
While commodity prices fell after the fall of Assad, because traders no longer had to pay customs fees and bribes, oil distribution was severely disrupted, raising transportation costs and causing widespread and long-term blackouts.
Government officials say they want to open the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance workers inspected a number of planes on the tarmac. The cleaners removed the trash, damaged furniture and merchandise.
A cleaner, who only gave his name as Murad, says he earns 15 dollars a month and has six children to feed, including a disabled one. He dreams of getting a mobile phone.
“We need a long time to fix this,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Ghaith Alsayed also contributed.