Exhausted by battle, Damascus longs for unity as ceasefire sparks hope. However questions of integration and stability stay.
Damascus, Syria – Damascus had breathed a sigh of reduction 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 bop in jubilation.
The hope was that the battle that flared up prior to now few weeks in northern Syria was now over, and that the nation had resolved one of many main points nonetheless dividing it within the 12 months for the reason that overthrow of longtime chief President Bashar al-Assad.
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“It’s a fantastic feeling, and I’m positive 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 just 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 constructions.
Anger in the direction of the SDF
Because the clock ticks down on that deadline, in Damascus and different areas outdoors 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 don’t seem to be Kurdish. They’re occupiers,” stated Maamoun Ramadan, a 75-year-old Syrian Kurd residing in Damascus.
For a lot of right here, the SDF is now not seen primarily as a power that fought ISIL (ISIS) on the peak of Syria’s battle, however as an actor that entrenched a parallel authority backed by international powers, akin to the US, maintaining massive components of the nation past the central authorities’s attain.
In cafes, taxis and authorities places of work, the language is more and more blunt. The SDF is accused of delaying reunification, monopolising oil and agricultural assets within the northeast, and shielding itself behind US assist whereas the remainder of the nation endured sanctions, collapse and battle. The renewed combating has strengthened a perception amongst many Syrians that the standoff might solely ever finish by means of power 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’s additionally an undercurrent of hysteria. Whereas the prospect of reunifying territory is well-liked, 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 specific 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 might a central state, stretched skinny after years of battle 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 will to lastly shut one of many final unresolved fronts of Syria’s lengthy battle.
