Eurasia Press & News
For the first time in 50 years, Syrians celebrated the New Year without the Assads. A month after the overthrow of one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, the country has largely returned to normal life. Immigrants have already begun to return to Syria, but it is difficult to call the situation calm yet. In the north, pro-Turkish groups are fighting with the Kurds, and the new government from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continues to fight Assad supporters who have not laid down their arms. Religious and national minorities – Christians, Armenians and Alawites – are feeling anxious, fearing discrimination under the new government. The Insider spoke with residents of Syria about their moods and expectations.
“We sang throughout the entire flight”
Damascus airport reopened on January 7, 2025, with the first international commercial flight of Qatar Airways arriving from Doha. Despite the captain’s pleas to take their seats and fasten their seatbelts, passengers celebrated the fall of the Syrian dictatorship on board, standing up, waving the new flag with three red stars, dancing and singing in chorus. Many were unable to return while Bashar al-Assad was in power, and were now able to see their loved ones for the first time in more than 12 years of bloody war.
The celebrations continued at the airport, which was closed immediately after the change of power and did not operate for exactly a month. And although the airport operated under Assad, only a few airlines flew there: many international carriers cancelled flights immediately after the war began in 2011.
“It’s an incredible feeling, my soul has been in Damascus since the day of liberation , and I flew here on the first commercial flight from Qatar. Syria is ours!” one of the returning Syrians told journalists.
“We sang the whole flight, celebrating like a wedding,” said another passenger, Syrian dissident Bassem al-Hariri, who quit Assad’s police and fled the country in 2012.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data released on January 4, 2025, since the overthrow of the Assad regime, more than 115,000 Syrians have returned to their homeland from countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
Mass displacement of Syrians is also occurring within the country. Families have been literally torn apart by the war, and many are now having to rebuild their lives all over again.
“Our entire country is currently sitting on its suitcases. Everyone is going somewhere or wondering where to go. There is no housing – everything that was captured by the regime during their last military campaign has been destroyed,” says Natalia. She moved to Syria in 2015 and has since worked as a doctor in the northwestern province of Idlib, where the opposition has ruled since 2017. She describes the situation in Syria as “joy with tears in her eyes.”
Everything that was captured by the Assad regime during the last military campaign has been destroyed.
“We sat and cried in my hospital today because my assistant needs to move, and she doesn’t want to leave her job,” Natalia continues. “But it’s impossible to live in two houses: one in Damascus, the other here in Idlib, more than 300 kilometers between them. Here she has some kind of job, $250 a month – in principle, you can live on that. In general, it’s all joyful, but at the same time very sad and difficult.”
On December 8, power in Syria passed to the armed opposition under the auspices of two main groups: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the pro-Turkish Syrian National Army. The latter, however, limited itself to the northern territories, where it concentrated on fighting Kurdish formations. Clashes continue to this day.
The opposition proclaimed “Syria for all Syrians” and promised to respect the rights of women and minorities, and not to repress employees of state news agencies engaged in Assad propaganda. True, they later promised to try them, but it is still unknown what kind of trial this will be.
New country and new opportunities
For many, the change of power in Syria became an opportunity to start a new life. Kursk native Olivia and her husband Bashar were among the first to return to the country — immediately after the change of power, they came to Latakia from Turkey. “We took what we had, boxes and bags, and went,” says Olivia.
The girl had never been to Syria before. She married Bashar in August – before that, the couple had only communicated online for several years: “I always asked my husband what was stopping me from going to my homeland and living there? He said that if he went there, Assad’s army would take him away, and he didn’t want to fight against his own people.”
The couple is now preparing to open a mini-burger shop in Latakia, which will also create jobs for residents of the region. The process, according to the businesswoman, is overshadowed by the reaction of Russians living in Syria and supporting Assad. The political division of society in the country has turned out to be very noticeable in the Russian diaspora.
The political division of society in Syria has also become very noticeable in the Russian diaspora
“I put up an advert for our ‘Mini-House’ , one woman with the Assad flag on her avatar wrote to me that we allegedly have a shelter for terrorists there,” says Olivia. “I said that I would treat her to coffee, and she wrote — I don’t need your coffee, give us back our flag! .”
“I wanted to meet girls who were also married to Syrians, but it turned out to be very difficult to find a common language, because many of them are supporters of Assad, and I am the opposite. I sat in their group for three days, I was bullied very badly. They said that we bake our own buns, which no one needs, that we were kicked out of Turkey, although this is not true. There was a lot of negativity,” says Olivia. Before the fall of the Assad regime, the couple actually lived and worked in Turkey, but the country’s authorities did not kick them out. The decision to return to Syria was voluntary, Bashar had wanted this for a long time, Olivia emphasizes: “My husband’s parents have a house there, in fact, we returned home.”
The province of Latakia, where the family lives, has also felt the full force of Israel’s attacks. Eyewitnesses describe the attack on the night of December 16 as the strongest in 10 years. Syrians hope that what is happening will not escalate into a new war.
“This is being done to destroy all missiles, all chemical weapons, and Israel wants to protect itself in this way. Was it better to live in Kursk? Is it better to live in Kursk now? When there are missiles and drones flying overhead?” Olivia reasons.
Many were outraged by the way Bashar al-Assad left Syria, the girl says:
“A lot of people were left homeless, they have no support. Therefore, the most vile thing Assad could do was to simply run away with a lot of money, which was, roughly speaking, Syria’s reserves.”
The Syrians call the opposition groups that came to power “our army.” Olivia, Bashar, and other Syrians interviewed by The Insider are confident that the Russians will not be touched, and the narrative that they are in danger from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is mainly spread by supporters of Assad, Iran, or Russian media.
“Now our army wants Russia to reconsider its attitude and not consider them some kind of terrorist group,” Olivia notes. “There is a lot of harassment going on against those who support the new government. Therefore, those who previously supported Assad or worked with his structures, of course, immediately leave, because they are afraid that someone will touch them or something else. But no, our army does not adhere to such a goal.”
Olivia and Bashar allowed their words to be published under their real names, unlike the Russian women who supported the old regime. “There is nothing to be afraid of anymore. If we were afraid before, now we can breathe freely,” they say.
However, many of the Syrians who left have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. They are also kept from returning by the fact that the country (as it was under Assad, by the way) is in a state of severe economic crisis – Western countries promise to lift sanctions only when the policy of the new authorities regarding, first of all, human rights becomes clearer.
Western countries promise to lift sanctions only when the new Syrian government’s human rights policy becomes clearer
“They shouted into a megaphone for women to wear the hijab”
Syrian human rights defenders and activists have demanded that the new Syrian authorities ensure women’s participation in the formation of the government. This call was made , in particular, by the Syrian Women’s Political Movement (SWPM). Meanwhile, secular Syrians fear that they will be forced to wear hijabs.
“In Aleppo, soldiers drove around in pickup trucks and shouted through a megaphone for women to wear the hijab,” one resident told The Insider. “Sometimes they come up to couples and ask them not to hold hands on the street because they are not married.”
The new government has not stated that Syria will become a Sharia state, but some of its steps have raised questions among secular Syrians. For example, a new curriculum for all age groups was published on the Facebook page of the transitional government’s Ministry of Education, which has a bias towards Islam.
In particular, the words “protection of the nation” have been replaced with “protection of Allah.” It is also proposed to exclude the theories of evolution and the Big Bang from the teaching of natural sciences. The interim government hastened to state that the publication is purely advisory in nature, and that the program will be changed only after the formation of special commissions to review it.
Meanwhile, patriotic activities that became widespread under Assad have already been cancelled in schools.
Another interviewee of The Insider from Damascus told how armed men in military uniform dispersed the visitors of a cafe where a group of young men and women were celebrating a birthday. “They didn’t like that the girls weren’t wearing hijabs and were sitting together with the guys, even though no one was married,” the girl said. However, she found it difficult to say whether they were representatives of the new regime.
The talk of possible Islamization began closer to January, several sources told The Insider. But now, in addition to the cafe, Olivia is opening an online hijab store: 80% of the country’s population are Sunni Muslims. Christians and Armenians interviewed by The Insider hope that the new state will be based on secular, not Islamic, law.
The new government has not yet made any official attempts to impose the Sharia way of life. Mass celebrations took place in Damascus on New Year’s Eve — for the first time in 50 years, Syrians celebrated it outside the Assad regime. No one banned music — Western hits were played on the city’s main square on New Year’s Eve. Christians also celebrated Christmas without incident.
However, the main lines of conflict have already begun to emerge, which will greatly influence the structure of the future country. We are talking about the confrontation between pro-Turkish and Kurdish formations, supporters of Sharia and a secular way of life, as well as the attitude of Syrian society towards the Alawites – the Assad family belonged to this trend of Islam, and many representatives of the community were supporters of the previous government.
“We are Alawites. We fear for the future of our children”
Not all Syrians who left are returning: some fear revenge from Assad supporters.
Hussam Kassas is a former paramedic and activist. He now lives in the UK, but during the Syrian civil war in his home region of Daraya, he documented human rights violations and war crimes by all sides in the conflict: government forces, rebels and other groups. He passed on the data to journalists. Kassas told CNN that he dreams of returning to his homeland, but does not want to put himself and his family in danger.
“I don’t want my family, my sons, to be victims of a revenge killing,” Kassas said. “The Syrian president has fled the country, but that doesn’t mean his former soldiers and secret service agents will suddenly become peace-loving angels.”
The leader of the new Syrian government, Ahmad al-Sharaa , said they were eliminating the threat from armed groups that still support Assad.
“They gave everyone time to surrender. In every major city they opened a settlement center where you can come with your rusty Kalashnikov, hand it in and say: ‘That’s it, guys, I’m tired, I’m leaving, I’m going to plant potatoes, I won’t do this anymore, sorry,'” says Natalya. “They’ll let him go, he’ll live in peace.”
However, there is a fear among Alawites that “eliminating the threat” will escalate into repression against the entire community. There are approximately 2.5 million Alawites in Syria, and they made up two-thirds of Assad’s army officers. Videos of security forces raiding the homes of supporters of the previous government are circulating on social media.
Alawites fear that the “elimination of the threat” from former Assad security forces will escalate into reprisals against the entire community
“Just last night, armed men entered the house of a local resident. They simply drive into the village in pickup trucks, they know whose house they are going to. They enter and beat him up. If someone from the family is present, they get it too,” one of the residents of Tartus told The Insider.
In December, Alawite protests took place in the cities of Tartus, Latakia, Jabla and Homs. The reason was a video of a fire in an Alawite shrine during the capture of Aleppo by the opposition. The fire occurred in late November, but the video was not shared on social networks until a month later. Alawite protests were accompanied by clashes with the police. In early January, former military personnel from among Assad’s supporters set up an ambush in which 14 security forces of the new regime were killed. In response, the new authorities declared a curfew and accused Assad’s supporters of inciting unrest.
“We are Alawites. That’s why we fear for the future of our children,” says a resident of Latakia who wished to remain anonymous. “Alawites make up about 15% of the population. We used to feel completely safe, but now we are afraid. Of course, we want to leave. But the question is, where?”
How the attitude towards Russians has changed in Syria
The change of power in the country also caused panic among Russians living in Syria. Many of them felt threatened, as they were somehow connected to the Syrian leadership, the military, or propaganda. Under Assad, Russians played a significant role in the life of Syria: they founded the Khmeimim military base, carried out operations together with the Syrian army, worked in the Russian services of state media, and taught Russian as a second foreign language in schools. Portraits of Putin were sold in markets along with images of the former Syrian president.
“I feel unsafe. I fear for my children and grandchildren. The checkpoints have changed, there are new authorities with black armbands. It’s scary to drive past them, although I can say that the people are different,” one of the women working with the Russian Foreign Ministry told The Insider. Almost all of the Russians interviewed by The Insider who live in Syria say they don’t feel safe.
After the opposition came to power, instructions on how to leave Syria with airports closed flooded chats of Russians living in the country. Russia organized an evacuation – several planes took off from the Russian Khmeimim air base in Latakia. At the same time, only some government employees were officially reported to have been evacuated. Two days before the change of power, Russians were urged to leave the country on their own on commercial flights.
Two days before the change of power in Syria, Russians were urged to leave the country on their own via commercial flights
“There is chaos, lynching, you hear very often how they deal with people at their own discretion. If you had some troubles under the former regime and someone really bothered you, then you have a chance to take revenge right now,” says Maria , a resident of the village of Mashtal Helu in the province of Tartus. It is a small tourist town. Mostly Christians live there.
“It’s calm for now, but there’s some kind of electricity in the air. You’re expecting something incomprehensible,” the woman says. She has lived in Syria for 20 years and gave birth to three children there. She did not leave after the change of power, but she evacuated her son to Russia, who, according to her, had received threats.
“My eldest son was a military translator at our military base,” says Maria. “He had such a dream – to become a translator. After finishing school, he didn’t even go to study anywhere, he worked with them. Now, after everything that happened, it became simply impossible to live. It came to elementary threats, I was forced to take him away from here. There was an evacuation flight, we contacted the coordinator of these people who were making the lists.”
Rossotrudnichestvo continues its work in Syria — it was the agency that helped evacuate Russians and members of Russian-Syrian families. Some flew to Russia as refugees, without Russian citizenship. “My daughter left without a passport, as a refugee,” one of the Russian women in Latakia told The Insider. “We couldn’t pick up the passport, the embassy was blocked at the time. They told us it was for security reasons. After she left, I managed to pick up the passport, but now I can’t hand it over. And because of this, my daughter can’t start studying under the quota.”
There have been no recorded reprisals against Russians by the new authorities, all of the people from Russia interviewed say so. A loyal attitude toward Christians also seems to have become one of the opposition’s principles.
“There is such active propaganda from these new that they are like ‘we are with you’,” says Maria from Mashtal Khalyu. “It is very exaggerated. ‘You want a Christmas tree?’ — ‘Well, decorate two! We’ll put up a third one and decorate it for you, with fireworks, with shooting!’ It’s just too much. I have vague doubts about this. But for now they are positioning themselves as friends. White and fluffy.”
However, the exodus of Russians began long before the change of power: many left because the economic situation in Syria had become catastrophic in recent years. The Insider managed to talk to employees of the country’s state media, who said that they received “meager salaries” and bread “was given out on ration cards, the price was set by the state.” One of the employees of the state news agency SANA, a Russian, said that for the same reason she left Syria under Assad and returned to her native Krasnodar. The SANA page in Russian appeared in 2011, when the civil war began in the country.
“Now everyone will tell you that everything is wonderful, for two reasons: either “our people came to power” or “I hope this doesn’t come back to haunt me,” says The Insider’s interlocutor. But she emphasizes that everything turned out to be not as bad as expected, and the panic that arose in the first days after the coup was premature: “What my husband’s friends and relatives say on the phone is encouraging.”
Idlib as a Vision of the Future Syria
The situation in Idlib, which, while formally part of the republic, has been under the control of rebels since 2017, forming a “Salvation Government” and local authorities there, can help predict the possible future of Syria. They had to survive without support from the Syrian state and, in fact, their own budget. Help was provided by Turkey and various NGOs.
“Life was ambiguous, I’ll say it right away. But the difficulties were not connected with the opposition somehow harshly oppressing the people, there was no such thing. But with the limited resources,” says doctor Natalia.
However, despite the large number of refugees, the difficult economic situation, the war and other challenges, Idlib turned out to be the most developed region after reintegration with the liberated territory of the country. “If we compare life in Idlib now and in the territories that were controlled by Assad, then it is, of course, night and day,” Natalia believes. “Objectively, this is the most advanced, the most comfortable region for life in Syria. Because here they began to build a society on the principles of technocracy, that is, leadership positions are occupied by specialists in the relevant field, and not politicians, bureaucrats or someone’s relatives.”
The Insider’s interlocutor spoke about the path the province has taken under opposition control. According to her, progress is noticeable in almost all spheres of life: in medicine, production, agriculture.
“At first, we had a power supply system that we called ishtirak,” says Natalia. “It can be translated into Russian as ‘cooperation.’ They take a large generator, and its owner sells power to anyone who wants it. He connects the wires, puts in a switch. It was quite reliable. If the power went out in one block, there was power in another, and some things could be resolved there. In wartime, decentralization is even a good thing.”
The region began to be centrally electrified in 2020, when the Green Energy company began work . “A bunch of guys immediately got jobs, and now they work on this electricity day and night,” says Natalia. “Once, an American drone damaged our wires. We fixed everything in 40 minutes.”
The province is now fully supplied with electricity, with power available almost around the clock — unlike the former Assad territories, where power is supplied for only a few hours a day. The cost of electricity in Idlib is $0.14 per kilowatt for domestic consumption. Many people survived on solar panels, but they were regularly damaged by airstrikes.
The province lives by Sharia law, says Natalia. Alcohol sales are prohibited, unlike the territories under Assad’s control. Entertainment is also limited. There are no cinemas. Nevertheless, there is no danger of Syria turning into a second Afghanistan, says The Insider’s interlocutor. The country has a completely different society, and women traditionally occupy an important position in it: “I have not seen any driver aggression in five and a half years, where someone would say, like, a stupid woman drove out. If they say something like that, the other drivers will at least scold him very loudly and emotionally.”
In recent years, shopping malls have been built in Idlib, with a much larger selection of goods than in Assad-controlled Syria. After the change of power, residents of other provinces flocked to the region for medical operations, shopping, and medicine. Household appliances, electronics, phones, and cars are supplied from China and Turkey. “In Assad’s Syria, the import duty on a smartphone was its full cost, so the prices were high,” says Natalia. “There are no such tariffs in Idlib, so the prices for smartphones can be compared with European ones.”
Idlib exported agricultural products independently of Assad’s Syria. Thus, Spain became the main importer of olive oil from there. Corn, sunflower and soybeans were grown in Idlib on a large scale. Cotton cultivation was discussed, but the war slowed down the process. They began to grow saffron, and farmers were given the opportunity to buy seeds of one of the most expensive spices.
“That is, we are trying to develop something, while there they were trying to intimidate everyone. They didn’t need development. That’s the difference,” says Natalia.
At the time the opposition took control of Idlib, there were only four private and the same number of state hospitals in the province, says Natalia. Now there are several dozen.
“I remember a case when a representative of Assad’s Syria at the UN was indignant, saying, what 34 bombed hospitals is the head of the Idlib Ministry of Health, Munzir Khalil, talking about if there are only eight hospitals there? Khalil then responded with a post on Facebook that “this idiot” – this is a quote – does not even know that we have already opened 55 medical institutions in Idlib!” Natalia shares.
However, hospitals were regularly subjected to attacks by the Assad regime and the Russian Aerospace Forces. The Insider’s interlocutor recalls the Russian airstrikes with a shudder. “I was shocked when in 2015 this valiant army showed up, the Russian Aerospace Forces. To support this tottering, limping regime? It would have collapsed then, but its agony was extended for another nine years.”
Unlike other compatriots, Natalia does not plan to return to her homeland.
“There is a transport plane flying every day now. We have a warning radar,” Natalya reasons. “What does it take out? What the Russians have brought in over the years. The kerosene alone for this plane costs I don’t know what. With that money you could build a city in the Moscow region with all the amusement parks, carousels, hospitals, schools and kindergartens. My dear compatriots, do you really think that your valiant, what are they called, are protecting the country like that? Go back to your borders and protect them there. Develop your country, sow everything abandoned, everything that is overgrown with weeds, so that you don’t have to buy potatoes in Egypt.”
Olivia also does not plan to go to Russia. But she hopes that she will still be able to see the change of power in her homeland:
“God willing, in Russia we too will understand what it’s like when we wake up and in one moment they say that that’s it, the war is over.”
