A week into New Syria as rebels work to return to normalcy, Syrians vow no more silence

DAMASCUS (AP) — At Damascus international airport, the new security chief — one of the rebels traveling through Syria to reach the capital — arrived with his team. The few maintenance workers present huddled around Major Hamza Ahmed, eager to find out what would happen next.

They were quick to pour out all the complaints they had not dared to express during the rule of President Bashar Assad, which now, incredibly, has ended.

They told the bearded fighter that they had been denied promotions and benefits to those who supported Assad, and that bosses had threatened them with jail for working too slowly. They warned that there were die-hard Assad supporters among airport staff who were ready to return when the airport reopened.

As Ahmed tried to reassure them, engineer Osama Najim announced: “This is the first time we are talking.”

This is the first week of Syria’s transformation since Assad’s unexpected fall.

The rebels suddenly in power were met by an emotionally charged population: excitement about new freedoms; grief over years of repression; and hopes, expectations and worries about the future. Some were moved to tears.

The transition was surprisingly smooth. There have been few reports of reprisals, revenge killings and sectarian violence. Looting and destruction were soon contained and the rebels were brought under discipline. People in the capital Damascus went about their daily lives on Saturday. Only one fighter jet was seen.

There are a million ways it could go wrong.

After five decades of Assad family rule, the country is fragmented and isolated. Families have been torn apart by the war, former prisoners are traumatized by the atrocities they suffered, and tens of thousands of detainees remain missing. The economy is devastated, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption permeates daily life.

But in this moment of rapid change, many are ready to figure out what the future holds.

At the airport, Ahmed told staff: “The new road will have its challenges, but that’s why we say Syria belongs to everyone and we all have to cooperate.”

So far, Najim said, the rebels have said all the right things. “But we will no longer be silent about any wrongdoing.”

Idlib arrives in Damascus

Assad’s photos were torn up and documents destroyed in a burned-out police station after rebels entered the city on December 8.

On Saturday, 10 police officers were in the building, part of the police force of the rebels’ de facto “rescue government” that has ruled the rebel enclave of Idlib in northwest Syria for years.

Rebel police officers guarded the station, responding to reports of petty theft and street fights. A woman complained that her neighbor had disrupted her electricity supply. A police officer told her to wait for the courts to resume operations.

“It will take a year to fix the problem,” he muttered.

The rebels are trying to bring order to Damascus by replicating Idlib’s governance structure. But there is a scale issue. One police officer estimated that the rebel police force numbered only about 4,000; half were stationed in Idlib and the rest were responsible for maintaining security in Damascus and elsewhere. Some experts estimate the total fighting strength of the insurgents is around 20,000.

Now, the fighters and the public are getting to know each other.

The militants drive large SUVs and newer vehicles that are beyond the reach of most residents of Damascus, which are 10 times more expensive due to tariffs and bribes. The militants were carrying Turkish lira, long banned for use in government-controlled areas, instead of the plummeting Syrian pound.

Most bearded fighters come from conservative provincial areas. Many are hardline Islamists.

The main rebel force, 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.

But many Syrians remain skeptical. Some militants have ribbons emblazoned with Islamic slogans on their uniforms, but not all belong to HTS, the most organized group.

“The people we see on the streets do not represent us,” said Hani Zia, a Damascus resident from the southern city of Daraa, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against Assad. He was concerned about reports of attacks and revenge killings targeting minorities.

“We should be afraid,” he said, adding that he was concerned that some rebels felt superior to other Syrians because of years of fighting. “With all due respect to those who made the sacrifice, we all made the sacrifice.”

Still, fear is not widespread in Damascus, with many insisting they will no longer allow themselves to be oppressed.

Some restaurants have resumed openly serving alcohol, while others are testing the atmosphere more cautiously.

In a roadside cafe in the historic Christian district of the Old Town, people were drinking beers when a fighter patrol passed by. The men looked at each other, uncertain, but the warriors did nothing. Rebel police arrested a man brandishing a gun as he harassed a liquor store elsewhere in the Old Town, a police officer said.

Salem Hajjo, a drama teacher who was involved in the 2011 protests, said he disagreed with the rebels’ Islamic views but was impressed by their experience managing their own affairs. He wants to have a say in the new Syria.

“We’ve never had it so easy,” he said. “The fear is gone. The rest is up to us.

Soldiers work together to appease people’s hearts

The night after Assad fell, gunmen roamed the streets celebrating their victory with deafening gunfire. Some security agency buildings were burned down. People looted the duty-free shops at the airport and smashed all the bottles. The rebels blame part of the blame on fleeing government loyalists.

The public stayed indoors to peek at the newcomers. The store is closed.

Tahrir al-Sham moved to impose order, ordering a three-day night curfew. It bans celebratory shootings and deploys armed officers to protect property.

A day later, people started showing up.

For tens of thousands of people, their first destination is Assad’s prisons, especially Saidnaya Prison on the outskirts of the capital, looking for relatives who disappeared years ago. Rarely have any traces been found.

It’s painful, but also unifying. Rebels, some of whom are also on the hunt, mingle with relatives of the missing in the prison’s dark halls, a place that has been feared by all for years.

During the celebrations in the streets, the gunmen invited children to jump into their armored vehicles. The rebels posed for photos with women, some of whom did not cover their hair. Songs in support of the revolution blared from the cars. Suddenly, shops and walls everywhere were plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of activists killed by Assad’s government.

Television stations have gone to great lengths to shift from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media broadcast a series of statements from the new transitional government led by the rebels.

The new government has called on people to return to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced plans to reinstate and review security forces to prevent the return of “people with blood on their hands”. One employee said the militants assured airport staff, many of whom were government loyalists, that their homes would not be attacked.

But Syria’s dilemma is far from resolved.

While agricultural prices plummeted after Assad’s fall, fuel distribution was severely disrupted as traders no longer had to pay high customs fees and bribes, leading to higher transportation costs and widespread and prolonged power outages.

Officials said they hope to reopen the airport soon, and maintenance crews inspected several planes on the tarmac this week. Cleaners removed trash, damaged furniture and merchandise.

A cleaner who gave his name only as Murad said he earned the equivalent of $15 a month and had six children to support, including a disabled child. He dreams of owning a mobile phone.

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

___

Associated Press writer Ghaith Alsayed contributed.