For half a century, the Assad family ruled over Syria with an iron fist, but it only took a week for the regime to come crashing down.
Many in the country are hopeful for Syria’s next chapter. But the rebels who stormed into Damascus have a complicated past and offer an unpredictable future.
MaltaToday spoke to Syrian refugee Ahmed who lives in Malta, and Ghassan Rababah who is currently in Damascus, to try an understand what faith awaits the Middle-Eastern country and its people.
On Sunday, after 13 years of civil war that fractured the country, the regime was toppled. Rebel fighters declared Damascus “liberated” in a video statement on state television, sending Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fleeing to Russia.
A new rebel coalition, led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched a surprise attack on November 30, seizing control of Syria’s largest city, Aleppo. The move, considered seismic, faced minimal resistance from the Syrian army.
Syrian and Russian jets struck rebel positions in Aleppo and Idlib, but opposition forces captured a second major city, Hama, and swiftly advanced towards Homs – a key gateway to the capital, Damascus.
As Homs fell, rebels encircled Damascus and marched into the city. Videos showed prisoners being freed from Assad’s notorious detention centres, while rebels and civilians ransacked the presidential palace.
The Assad family had ruled Syria since 1971. Hafez al-Assad, a military officer and member of the Alawite minority, seized power through a coup and established a secular, authoritarian regime. His rule was marked by strong central control, suppression of dissent, and regional conflicts, including the 1982 Hama massacre.
After Hafez’s death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad took over, initially promising reforms. However, his regime faced widespread protests during the 2011 Arab Spring, leading to a brutal civil war. The Assad family’s rule has been characterised by its resilience, heavy reliance on military force, and support from allies like Russia and Iran.
Living under the iron fist
Ahmed, who has lived in Malta since 2009, explained how the Assads divided Syria’s people to retain control over the country.
“We were always brothers in Syria no matter where we were from, and what religion we practiced. The purposely turned us against each other,” he said.
Rababah, who was closely watching the situation evolve, explained how Syrian society is a “multi-faceted fabric” of different cultures. “There are Sunni and Shia Muslims, Ismailis, Christians including Protestants, Druze, Kurds, Armenians, Turkmen and Jews as well. We are diverse,” he told MaltaToday from Damscus.
They explained how life under the regime was characterised by anxiety, vigilance and caution.
“We were living a life of slaves under one master. We were eating from his leftovers while he and his entourage lived in luxury,” Rababah said.
Ahmed explained how family members would warn young children to not say anything against the regime, or else punishment of the worst kind would await them.
“My father would tell us to leave the country and never look back. He knew exactly what faith awaited us if we stayed in Syria,” he said.
They also detailed an ever-deteriorating economic situation, where corruption was the order of the day.
“It was simple – if you have the money to pay them off, you got the best education, the best land and the best life, but if you didn’t, then it was the complete opposite,” Ahmed said.
Ghassan Rababah explained how 13 years of war had weakened the country financially and psychologically.
“We became extremely poor, and to add to the hardship, the regime was set on seeking revenge against those who had opposed it,” he said.
Ahmed also spoke of friends and family he lost under the regime. He would not go into detail, but recounted how his brother had been arrested in an attempt to squeeze out information over Ahmed’s whereabouts.
“They knew I had not returned to Syria because my visa had expired, and they took him in for questioning on where I was,” he said.
The regime comes crashing down
“I did not sleep for 10 days with the excitement” was Ahmed’s answer when asked to describe his emotions as he read articles on the rebels’ progression in his country.
“I honestly have no words. This was a dream,” he said.
Rababah acknowledged his emotions of jubilation, but is being cautious.
“In the road to democracy, it is essential to first rehabilitate and educate our society so that it can learn about democratic life, because it has never experienced it,” he said. “Syrian society is unique, and we must work together to move forward. We are used to living together in diversity, so I don’t think there will be any difficulties.”
A Syria ‘like Malta’
Having spent the past 15 years living in Malta, Ahmed says he still feels a connection to the country he was born and raised in.
“Malta has become my second home, but you still feel the connection to Syria,” he said, explaining his love for Malta’s culture and its people. “I used to sneak into Syria, making sure I am not caught – that is the love I still have for my country.”
When asked what kind of Syria he envisions, he promptly responds, “like Malta.”
But given how toppled regimes have led to further chaos in countries like Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, Ahmed and Rababah are wary of what the future holds for Syria.
“I am afraid that what happened in countries like Libya and Egypt could happen in Syria, and I fear in foreign interference, but I trust that God leads my people towards a new prosperity in Syria,” Ahmed said.
The latest on Syria
On Tuesday, the regime’s collapse prompted a punishing military response from Israel, which has launched airstrikes at military targets across Syria and deployed ground troops both into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone for the first time in 50 years.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a rare press conference on Monday evening that the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime was “a new and dramatic chapter.”
“The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” he said. “The axis has not yet disappeared but as I promised – we are changing the face of the Middle-East.”
The IPA said that the decision has been taken to allow the agency to thoroughly assess the evolving situation in Syria and ensure that applications are reviewed under accurate and up-to-date conditions.