A year has passed since the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Suweyda, a city in southern Syria populated mostly by Druze communities, continues to be the target of joint attacks by ISIS and HTS.
Residents we spoke to in the city say their expectations for freedom and prosperity have been dashed; on the contrary, living conditions have become even worse than during the Assad era.
Speaking to ANF, citizen Issam Nasser summarized the past year as follows: “We were hopeful when the regime fell, but after a year we see that nothing has changed—things have actually gotten worse. The old regime had already torn the social fabric to shreds; now this fragmentation is deepening exponentially. I don’t think the country will return to its former state. National unity has become a difficult issue to attain under these conditions. At this stage, our only concern is to survive and find ways to continue our lives.”
HTS has a mentality darker than Assad’s one
Another city resident, Salam Bahsas, said: “Assad is gone, but those who came have a darker mentality.” He added: “Those who came have the mindset of ISIS, an unprincipled force bound by no pact. There is no electricity, no water, no fuel. Communication has completely collapsed. Yesterday we were shouting for freedom; today we are searching for a liter of gasoline or an hour of electricity. We are faced with a situation worse than the old regime.”