[[link removed]]

LIBERATION IN SYRIA IS A VICTORY WORTH EMBRACING  
[[link removed]]


 

Layla Maghribi
December 10, 2024
New Lines Magazine
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The country is now free, yet some remain trapped in the past _

Syrians in Istanbul, Turkey, celebrate the toppling of the Bashar
al-Assad regime on Dec. 8, 2024., Burak Kara/Getty Images

 

I was just a few months old when I first visited Syria. My mother took
me to see her family in Damascus, and every summer thereafter, we
would travel from London to spend time with her mother and siblings.
Those annual visits were a fairy tale of family feasts on the city’s
hilltops, adventures through vibrant historic souks and endless
laughter in the company of relatives and friends I sorely missed
during England’s colder, lonelier school terms. Damascus was my
haven of joy and wonder. I’ve yet to meet anyone who wasn’t
instantly charmed by Syria or profoundly changed by it. But beneath
its warmth and exuberance, we all felt the shadow of the cold cruelty
that shaped its reality.

When the Syrian uprising began in 2011, the Bashar al-Assad regime’s
swift, bloodthirsty response shattered any illusion of progress and
exposed the brutal truths about its gangster-like rule.

Over the past 13 years, my relatives have been killed, disappeared,
displaced, imprisoned and forced into exile. When I heard that the
“eternal Assad” had fled like a drain rat, the first face I
pictured was my cousin’s — disappeared at a checkpoint, never seen
again. He was a sweet young man who never received a funeral, was
never mentioned publicly, was silenced by fear, pain or perhaps both.

“This is for you,” I whispered as new Syrian flags rose across the
country. “I’m sorry we couldn’t properly honor you.”

I thought of another cousin, the one who joined the Free Syrian
Army’s coordination committee in 2011. He took me to flash protests
in Damascus while I reported on the early days of the uprising. I
vividly recall a funeral procession for a protester killed by a regime
sniper. His widow showed me the bullet hole in his stomach and
pleaded, “Write about this! Tell them. Tell the world what he’s
doing to us!”

When it became clear that no words could save protesters, rebels or
civilians from Assad’s wrath, my cousin fled. My mother and I
smuggled him out of Damascus to Beirut. From there, he moved to
Istanbul, then boarded a boat to Germany. He hasn’t seen his mother
or brother in 12 years.

Other faces came to mind: the family from Homs I met in a makeshift
camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. They cooked a spectacular maqloobeh
in a giant cauldron over a wood fire behind their tent. I wonder where
they are now. Did they survive the harsh winters, xenophobia and
financial collapse? Are they finally on their way home?

Their faces flashed like a reel on a viewfinder, and I smiled and
cheered for them — for all that had been fought for and lost. And
for all that had been won: a Syria free of Assad.

The fall of a brutal and inept tyrant should be cause for celebration
among a people who rarely triumph over their oppressors. Yet, in
Syria’s case, conflicting interests and worldviews have tempered
some of the excitement and, in some instances, turned former
“freedom-fighting” comrades into questionable allies.

No sooner had the rebel Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group approached
Damascus, poised to topple the Assad regime, than starkly polarized
reactions began to surface worldwide, including among Arabs. While
most Syrians and their supporters understandably celebrated the
downfall of their notorious despot, some self-styled Western
“anti-imperialists” — including voices within the
pro-Palestinian movement — adopted a more muted stance.

As a self-described anti-imperialist, a Syrian and a Palestinian, I
initially struggled to grasp these supposed competing aspirations.
Freedom from violent oppression unites all three identities — why
wouldn’t they align on Assad’s ouster?

It was after a Syrian friend pointed out a lack of zeal among some of
his freedom-fighting activist friends that I started to notice the
trickle of belated and trepidatious congratulations on the fall of the
regime. “Congratulations but watch out,” came the sentiments.

I nudged an English journalist friend to send me a “mabrook”
(congratulations) and he obliged, but not before adding, “are you
sure this is what you want?”

“Yes, I’m sure. And please don’t ‘But Hamas’ me right
now,” I tapped back, referring to the two words that have become
synonymous with diverting and gaslighting the discourse on Palestinian
liberation.

Am I sure liberation from Assad is what I wanted? Absolutely. Do I
have to be sure about how HTS rule over Syria will be to enjoy that?

“There is a difference between supporting groups and supporting the
act of resistance against the common enemy,” wrote a British-Syrian
researcher and activist on X in the immediate aftermath of the HTS
takeover of Syria.

It feels perverse to see Syrians forced into defensive positions on
the day they are freed from half a century of tyranny. Why must
Syria’s liberation from a notorious regime that spent decades
destroying the fabric of its society — hollowing out its people,
resources, land and opportunities — be met with hesitation, muted
celebrations or warnings to “watch with caution”? Why can’t it
simply be recognized for what it is: a victory for human liberation?

There is growing dismay at those critiquing Assad’s overthrow for
showing little regard for the sincere desire for freedom of Arabs and
relegating their national aspirations to mere chess moves on a
geopolitical board.

Ironically, these oracles of doom are nearly always railing against
the paternalistic patronising of Western orientalists of global south
countries, and yet here they are telling Syrians they don’t know
what’s good for them. As estimations emerge that up to 100,000
Syrians disappeared into Assad’s prison cells, the majority killed,
do the naysayers really expect us to be thinking of “worse to
come” without the regime? It is beyond demeaning.

For some Arab skeptics, the idea that people from these lands could
free themselves from despotism seems so implausible it’s dismissed
outright — like prisoners hesitating to walk out of an open cell
door. Perhaps, as Arabs, we’ve grown so accustomed to tragedy and
humiliation that the concept of victory feels like pure fantasy.
Surely, it must have been the Americans. Or the Israelis. “Haven’t
they already occupied more Syrian land in the Golan Heights?” asks
one commentator notorious for denying the regime’s chemical attacks
on its own people.

That Israel’s violent expansionism knows no bounds should come as no
surprise to anyone alive over the past 14 months. That it would
opportunistically bomb Syria’s weapons depots in this moment is to
be expected. After all, Israel has been bombing Syria for years,
including more than 220 times in the last year alone (before the
latest attacks since Assad’s fall).

For some, the fall of the Assad regime is further proof of the far
reach of international imperial intervention – American, Israeli,
Turkish – with the purpose of weakening the Syrian state, depriving
it of self-determination, and possibly even land annexation. Ironic,
then, that all those travesties did befall the country under the
Assads.

Others appear to be scanning the Syria situation through the “my
enemy’s enemy is my friend” filter, with blinkered results. As one
popular account posted on X, “I think part of my apprehension at the
situation in Syria is rooted in a deep belief that whenever the US
empire wins, humanity loses.” There are countless reasons why this
statement holds true, and yet, what if humanity wins? What if all the
bloodshed, the revolution, the protesting, the pushing back, the
lobbying, the fleeing, the fighting on for the liberation of all
oppressed people are not in vain? Is it possible for us to imagine
that?

Whether in WhatsApp groups or on social media, some of the messages on
Syria from Arabs have a disconcerting undertone of anticipatory
threat.

“Let’s hope this is real liberation and not just switching
dictators,” came one retort to Syrians congratulating one another.

Others have taken to dampening any optimism by posting maps showing
the Greater Israel expansionist plans that include large swaths of
Syria.

Whether anti-Islamist, pro-Assad or anti-Israel, there’s an angle
for those reluctant to celebrate.

“So many red flags,” says one anti-regime Syrian commentator to
CNN about Syria’s new political leadership, less than a week after
they’ve taken power.

“Pro-al Qaeda”, “American stooge” and “Israeli
collaborator” are variations of more toxic accusations leveled at
those backing the Syrian uprising.

“Look at Iraq. Look at Libya. Look at Egypt. Now they’ll destroy
Syria,” are other worrying refrains echoed across segments of Arab
society.

Some also lament Assad’s demise for the almost laughable claim that
he was an anti-imperialist fighter, a deterrent to Israel and a friend
of Palestine. These claims are absurd when weighed against the
regime’s reality. Its survival depended entirely on direct foreign
intervention by Russia and Iran. While they may not fly the stars and
stripes, imperialism comes in many flags. As for deterring Israel, the
obvious question is: with what?

While Syria has historically been welcoming to Palestinian refugees,
granting them more rights and opportunities (short of citizenship)
than neighboring countries, Palestinians were not spared from state
repression. Thousands of Palestinian-Syrians were killed by regime
forces during the war, many lived under siege and all endured the same
authoritarianism as any other Syrian.

Any study of revolutionary history shows that beginnings are often
bumpy and the future uncertain. Yet, by most comparisons, HTS’s
ouster of Assad and takeover of Syria have been remarkably bloodless
and smooth. Still, there remains the patronizing, infantilizing
finger-wagging and cautioning.

As if Syrians aren’t acutely aware of the work ahead and the
pitfalls to avoid. As if 14 years of uprising, civil war, proxy
battles and genocide haven’t already taught them the harsh realities
of geopolitics, competing interests and the fragility of hope. As if
the dozens of civil society movements, working groups, transitional
government experts and opposition forces that emerged over the last
two decades haven’t been holding their breath for precisely this
moment.

Perhaps, for some, the cost of hope feels too high. These cautionary
sentiments seem like a protective buffer, as if over-analysis might
outmaneuver the inevitable disappointment. I’m intrigued by the
psychology behind this resistance to freedom — the impulse to temper
the visceral, emotional response to seeing thousands of men and women
released from prison dungeons, many seeing daylight for the first time
in years, with a warning sign that says, “Watch out.”

Yet what we are watching from Syria so far has been “reassuring,”
according to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen.
HTS has been lauded for its messages of inclusivity and unity.

Ironically, the Islamophobic undertones in the skeptical discourse of
some leftist and Arab circles mirror, in more blatant form, the
rhetoric in Western media. A popular British podcast, The News Agents,
exemplified this with its provocatively titled episode: “Will Syria
be governed by terrorists?”

Fair enough, one might argue, given HTS’s former ties to al Qaeda.
Yet, considering the fluidity with which Western governments redefine
who qualifies as a terrorist, that designation could easily change.
For now, the facts on the ground do not indicate that an Islamic
fundamentalist group is terrorizing its way into power (though the
possibility in the future can’t be ruled out). So why are we acting
as if it already has?

And while we’re on the topic of terrorists, wasn’t it Assad’s
regime —with its thugs, barrel bombs and secret police — that
slaughtered over 600,000 Syrians? Why are we gaslighting ourselves out
of a hard-fought victory?

Even more troubling is the risk of suppressing our grief over the
staggering loss of Syrian lives during the grotesque reign of the
Assad dynasty. Will Syrians now be compelled to intellectualize and
justify their relief at escaping their abuser instead of beginning the
long process of healing? This is about generations of work —
processing trauma, recovering, rebuilding — and Syrians need support
to undertake it, not shame for embracing their freedom.

New Lines: _Become a member [[link removed]]
today to receive access to all our paywalled essays and the best of
_New Lines_ delivered to your inbox through our newsletters._

===

* Syria; The Fall of Bashar al-Assad; Hayat Tahrir al-Sham;
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]