Exhausted by struggle, Damascus longs for unity as ceasefire sparks hope. However questions of integration and stability stay.
Damascus, Syria – Damascus had breathed a sigh of aid when a ceasefire between the Syrian authorities and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was introduced on the evening of January 18. Fireworks lit up the sky, automobile horns blared and Syrians gathered in Umayyad Sq. to bounce in jubilation.
The hope was that the battle that flared up previously few weeks in northern Syria was now over, and that the nation had resolved one of many main points nonetheless dividing it within the yr because the overthrow of longtime chief President Bashar al-Assad.
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“It’s a fantastic feeling, and I’m certain it exists in each Syrian … we want for all of Syria to be united,” stated one Damascus resident, Saria Shammiri.
But the celebration was short-lived.
Combating resumed the subsequent morning as the federal government’s lightning push forced SDF chief Mazloum Abdi to simply accept much less beneficial phrases: a withdrawal from Raqqa and Deir Az Zor, in northeastern Syria, additional east in the direction of Hasakah, a new ceasefire, and a four-day ultimatum for the SDF to totally combine into state buildings.
Anger in the direction of the SDF
Because the clock ticks down on that deadline, in Damascus and different areas exterior SDF management, frustration in the direction of the Kurdish-led forces has hardened after 15 years of division.
“The terrorist SDF doesn’t belong to this land … they aren’t Kurdish. They’re occupiers,” stated Maamoun Ramadan, a 75-year-old Syrian Kurd dwelling in Damascus.
For a lot of right here, the SDF is not seen primarily as a pressure that fought ISIL (ISIS) on the top of Syria’s struggle, however as an actor that entrenched a parallel authority backed by overseas powers, similar to the US, protecting massive components of the nation past the central authorities’s attain.
In cafes, taxis and authorities workplaces, the language is more and more blunt. The SDF is accused of delaying reunification, monopolising oil and agricultural sources within the northeast, and shielding itself behind US assist whereas the remainder of the nation endured sanctions, collapse and struggle. The renewed combating has bolstered a perception amongst many Syrians that the standoff might solely ever finish by pressure or submission. However, nonetheless, many desire a peaceable decision.
“Dialogue is the muse of peace,” stated Sheikhmos Ramzi, a butcher, “the answer lies on the negotiation desk. Violence solely brings extra violence.”
Anxious wait
There may be additionally an undercurrent of hysteria. Whereas the prospect of reunifying territory is standard, few in Damascus are blind to the dangers. A protracted confrontation might attract regional actors, unsettle fragile border areas, or reignite communal tensions within the northeast, the place Arab tribal communities, Kurds, and others coexist uneasily after years of shifting alliances.
Some residents privately categorical concern about what integration will truly imply on the bottom. Will SDF fighters be absorbed into nationwide forces, sidelined, or prosecuted? Will native administrations be dismantled in a single day? And may a central state, stretched skinny after years of struggle and financial disaster, realistically govern and stabilise territory it has not managed for greater than a decade?
For now, nonetheless, these questions are largely drowned out by a dominant temper: impatience. The ceasefire was welcomed not as an endpoint, however as a step in the direction of what many right here see as an overdue decision. The federal government’s advances are framed as restoring sovereignty, not opening a brand new chapter of battle.
In Damascus, unity is the phrase repeated most frequently. However it’s a unity formed by exhaustion, resentment and the need to lastly shut one of many final unresolved fronts of Syria’s lengthy struggle.
