pogo88 The Day Hope Returned To Syria
Relatives welcome Syrians returning from abroad at Damascus International Airport, where the first international flight landed on December 18 Photo: Getty Images Relatives welcome Syrians returning from abroad at Damascus International Airport, where the first international flight landed on December 18 Photo: Getty Images “We were afraid… we hesitated…And here is the day of no fear, the day of freedom, the day of great Syria...” It was after almost a decade that the young tour guide from Damascus, Ayoub Alsmadi, could finally see light at the end of the tunnel. After years of hesitating to speak his mind, constantly glancing over his shoulder to check if he was being followed or overheard, he could at last express himself freely. His first act of liberation was a post on Instagram – a picture of the Syrian opposition flag with the words: “Syria is free”.
Alsmadi has spent countless days, months and years driving amid almost apocalyptic scenes along Syrian roads lined with destroyed homes, guiding tourists through the few parts of the country which remain untouched by war. Driven by his passion for history and culture, Ayoub tried to make the best of the situation, inviting tourists to explore his “beautiful” country. Though ravaged by over a decade of civil war, Syria still had much to offer. It was “dark tourism”, he said. However, now, there’s hope for actually making something of his dream.
Earlier in December, Syria, under the rule of the tyrannical president, Bashar Al-Assad, experienced a dramatic upheaval as rebel groups advanced through Aleppo, Homs and finally Damascus. In just two weeks, the swift chain of events culminated in the president's ousting, with the army surrendering their arms with little to no resistance. While the world watched in shock, for most Syrians, it was a moment of celebration. “This has been a long time coming,” Alsmadi says.
Ever since the uprising in 2011 that spiralled into an unending civil war, the entire country had been trapped in a cycle of fear and oppression. Assad, then president, painted an image of normalcy and prosperity when he was in power, but the reality was grim. In Damascus, an outsider might still find a semblance of “normalcy,” but venturing into other parts of the country exposes the war-torn reality.
Alsmadi, who was still in school when the deadly protests of 2011 erupted, recalls losing many friends and family members who had dared to speak out against Assad. Since then, people, too afraid to protest, had been “dying silently.” No one could see things getting better, he says, so they submitted to him. “My cousin who was in the army refused to follow Assad’s orders to shoot protestors and he left but they captured him and then killed him in prison about seven years ago,” he says.
But over the years, people’s sufferings and dissent against the regime grew. The country was plunging into a crippling economic crisis with widespread lawlessness. “And no one wants to fight for Assad,” Alsmadi says referring to the army, “They realised he just uses them.”
“He was giving the normal soldier around 15 dollars per month. Their mandatory military service was 18 months but some people had spent 10 years and they got like 30 dollars per month as salary. Also, because he was very corrupt, he let them steal from civilians. So, at checkpoints they would start to search and make excuses to get some money from us. This is how they survived. After all of those years they felt disappointed..."
While the regime masked the grim reality in Syria with an illusion of normalcy, especially in Damascus, foreigners who sensed that all was not well would often turn to Alsmadi, asking him what was really happening.
“I told them the truth but I also asked them to not say it in their videos because it could get me in trouble,” he says. “Secret police follow us everywhere so I only speak to people I can trust.”
Ayoub’s profession as a member of the local tour agency Syria Scope Travel, like most others, was far from easy under Assad’s regime. He was constantly under surveillance, required to submit detailed reports of where he took tourists and the kinds of questions they asked.
“I like to travel on my own and do my own thing but in Syria it was not possible,” he says. However, with the dawn of a new Syria, there’s hope. “It’s very good for my career because now so many people will come to Syria and tourism will grow, that will benefit everyone in this industry and also the Syrian economy.”
Syrian Graffiti: Art Amid Bombings, Gunshots And DisplacementOn Tuesday, deep inside Chinese Mongolia, the Harmanpreet Singh-led Men in Blue did just about enough to beat a spirited Chinese side. The occasion: the final of the Asian Champions Trophy 2024.
India, the most successful team in the competition, now have five titles, including back-to-back triumphs in 2023 and 2024. The victory adds to their bronze medal secured at the Paris Olympic Games last month.
A few years ago, he reached out to American travel vlogger Mac Candee, known for exploring offbeat and unconventional destinations, inviting him to visit Syria. The plan finally materialised in early 2024. Candee, who visited Syria a few months ago, was deeply moved by the people’s resilience and noted that, despite their immense suffering, they were among the most hospitable he had ever encountered. Even as a seasoned traveller, Mac admitted to having reservations before visiting Syria, a country under a "do not travel" advisory by the US then. He recounted a particularly vivid moment that left his heart pounding.
“As you’re going into Syria there are old cars on the road without the latest developments, it feels very old-style like you are in an old war movie. Your heart’s pounding, you're driving in, you’re looking around and everyone's honking and police are everywhere.”
He spent eight days traveling across Syria. Unlike most tourists who typically stay in Damascus for the majority of their visit, he chose to explore the real Syria. “If you only went to Damascus which was the least affected during the civil war, you would not know that there was a civil war unless you went to the suburbs,” he says. As he drove through Idlib, he was struck by the devastation—every building on either side of the road for the entire two-hour drive lay in ruins. It was then that he realised just how intense the civil war had been.
He recalls being told at one point that they were driving through an area where one side was controlled by rebels and the other by the military. "I was told that if I went 2 km that way, as an American, I'd be..." he trailed off, gesturing a slicing motion across his throat.
He also visited the city of Homs.
“When I was in the city of Homs, everything was destroyed and one baker situated in the centre of the city was operating and living his day-to-day life which I found to be such a fascinating contrast. There is destruction but he needs to live, he needs to make money, he needs to feed the family. I found there was such resilience and strength in people despite having some of the worst living conditions in the world,” he says.
While Damascus offered a stark contrast with much of its architecture still intact compared to other cities, he notes that the pervasive sadness in the air was impossible to ignore. “There are people going out, there’s a bar scene, people drinking, partying, something I wouldn’t have expected. There’s a whole set of subcultures in Damascus,” he says.
“You can feel the heartbeat in a place like Damascus but underneath that visual layer you can also feel the struggle, you can also feel the people are making such a little amount of money, you can feel this lack of hope,” he adds.
pjx slotWar Of The Worlds: The Connected Misfortune of Sudan, Syria and PalestineIt came as no surprise to him when he heard about the events unfolding in Syria, with the Assad regime falling and the rebels reclaiming the country. Similarly, he wasn’t shocked to learn that the army had laid down arms with little resistance. He believed that the stagnant living conditions spoke for themselves—people had simply had enough.
Even though things appear chaotic in Syria at the moment, with little clarity about who will lead the country in the near future, Alsmadi says that he believes that he and his fellow Syrians will now have a better chance at life. “Anything is better than Assadpogo88, and at least now we have a chance for democracy," he says.