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New Delhi:
As rebel forces move into the Syrian capital Damascus after the fall of the Bashar Al-Assad regime, there is panic as well as celebration on the streets. While some people were seen celebrating atop a tank in Ummayad Square, a resident told AFP that Damascus residents were worried over what would come next and looking for essential supplies.
Rania, a woman resident, said traffic jams had begun as people amassed essential items and queued to withdraw money from ATMs. “The situation was not like this when I left my house this morning… suddenly everyone was scared,” Rania told AFP.
“We are afraid because we really don’t know what’s going to happen,” another resident, Shahla, told BBC. “Nobody wants to see fighting in Damascus. Everything is ambiguous and nothing is clear for anyone.”
Rim Turkmani, director of Syria Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics, told BBC that her sister in Damascus told her that shops were closing down, supplies were running low and ATMs were out of cash. “No one knows what’s happening,” Ms Turkmani said.
When an Al Jazeera correspondent spoke to people on the streets, they welcomed the rebel forces’ win. Slamming the Bashar Al-Assad regime, one of them said it was forcing young men to join the Army and many people fled to Lebanon because they did not want to fight their fellow Syrians.
The overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime follows a 13-year rebellion that started as a peaceful uprising against President Assad and snowballed into a full-scale civil war that devastated Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the offensive, was formed in 2012 under the name of al-Nusra. It pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda the next year. In 2016, however, it broke ties with al-Qaeda and took the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Global powers, including the US and the UK, continue to see it as an al-Qaeda affiliate. The organisation has, in recent times, tried to soften its image and assured minority groups in the areas it controls have no cause to worry.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham consolidated its power in Idlib and Aleppo and formed the Syrian Salvation Government to administer the territory. In 2020, Turkey and Russia brokered a ceasefire to halt the Bashar Al-Assad regime’s push to retake Idlib.
Over the last two months, the rebels renewed their offensive, aware that the Syrian government’s allies were caught up in other conflicts. Hezbollah and Iran have taken a blow after Israel’s offensive and Russia is fighting Ukraine. This left Bashar Al-Assad exposed.
