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| In this Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 photo, Mustafa Sobhi, 53, and his wife Faten Shaar, 52, sit under a portrait of their son Majed, who was killed while serving in the Syrian army, at a shelter in Tartous, Syria. The family was forced to flee the northern Syrian city of Aleppo to the coastal city of Tartous. Their story spotlights the pain and challenges as Syrians adjust to life in this truncated country, now in its fourth year of war, still firmly under the grip of President Bashar Assad, despite an armed rebellion to uproot him and losing territory to opposition rebels and the extremist Islamic State group. |
TARTOUS, Syria
(AP) -- Syrian businessmen start from scratch after their shops and
factories were destroyed. Families who lost their homes struggle to rent
new dwellings and make ends meet. Along highways stretching through
government-controlled areas are the bombed ruins of once-rebellious
towns, now dotted with checkpoints.
Government-controlled
Syria is truncated in size, battered and impoverished. But it carries
on, underscoring how Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has
clung to power, despite an armed rebellion to uproot him, now well into
its fourth year.
Visits the past week to the
capital, Damascus, and the coastal region of Tartous, a stronghold of
government support, show how Syrians have adjusted to life in this
reduced country. Thick barriers surround government buildings, painted
in the red, black and white of the Syrian flag. Assad's portrait is
everywhere: as a soldier, a businessman and a father.
After
years of brutal back and forth, the government rules over Damascus and a
sweep of territory west to the Mediterranean coastal region that
includes Syria's biggest cities, along with some parts south of the
capital. Rebels hold some suburbs in the countryside around Damascus and
parts of the northwest. The extremist Islamic State group has imposed
its rule over territory encompassing a third of both Syria and
neighboring Iraq.
The war constantly intrudes. The persistent thud of bombings of nearby rebel-held areas is the soundtrack of Damascus.
Checkpoints
dot roads, often concrete shacks spruced up with posters of Assad cut
into heart shapes. Soldiers rest on faded couches.
"Got any cigarettes, sir?" one soldier hopefully asks a driver.
Local pro-government militias also guard towns and neighborhoods, aiding Assad's stretched army.
Mustachioed
men with assault rifles peer into cars at the entrance of the historic
Bab Touma area of Damascus. The majority Christian district is a
favorite target for mortars from the nearby rebel-held neighborhood of
Jobar. Anti-Assad activists accuse some pro-government militias of being
more brutal than soldiers, and say they demand bribes and steal cars.
Leaving
Damascus, the highway is well-paved, including a strip of freshly
asphalted road. Nearby stands part of the smashed remains of the town of
Nabak, whose residents rebelled against Assad early in the uprising.
The yellow Ferris wheel in Nabak's amusement park is faded.
Graffiti nearby reads "Assad for eternity." Another reads: "I love you Lulu."
It's
unclear how many Syrians live in rebel- and government-controlled
areas, given the demographic upheaval in a country where nearly half of
the population has fled their homes. Areas once dominated by Assad-loyal
minorities, like the Alawite-dominated coastal region of Tartous, have
seen their communities change character as they host some 350,000
displaced people, mostly Sunni Muslims.
That
ultimately will have a longer-term effect: It will be difficult for
Assad's government to carve out an Alawite bastion, as some critics
suggest he is doing - and which government officials deny.
It
also highlights the fact that Sunnis, who form the country's majority
faith group, form Assad's chief power base, even as the rebellion is
dominated by Sunnis. Minorities, like the Alawites, Shiites and
Christians, mostly support the government or have remained neutral.
The
displaced include a Muslim preacher, Mustafa Sobhi and his wife, Faten
Shaar, who fled to a town in Tartous province after rebels burned down
their pharmaceutical factory. Sobhi says the rebels in his hometown in
the northern city of Aleppo punished him because his son, Majed, was in
the army. Majed was killed in March last year.
Sobhi's
other son now sells sandwiches outside a local university. The
upper-middle-class family's fortunes were destroyed in the war, but they
were safe in Tartous, Sobhi says.
"We have to
be one hand," he says, sitting beside his wife on a thin mattress on
the floor, the apartment's only furniture. A large poster of their slain
son in his army uniform and another praising Assad hangs on the wall.
The
displaced include Sunni traders from Aleppo, once the country's
industrial powerhouse. Some have re-opened businesses in Tartous on a
smaller scale.
Mohammed Jallad, an oven maker,
fled as fighting intensified in his Aleppo neighborhood. His home and
business were destroyed in shelling.
With a
loan, he reopened business in Tartous, sharing an industrial space with
four other Aleppo men. He sleeps in a nook above his ovens to save
money.
His shop's rent tripled over two years as demand by displaced people rose. From 15 workers in Aleppo, he now employs two.
Jallad
says he doesn't want to flee abroad, fearing he would join the fate of
some 3 million Syrian refugees who mostly live in miserable
circumstances.
"I wanted to work, so where could I go? The situation abroad is humiliating," he says.
As Syrians struggle to get by, they have adjusted to reality.
Taghrid,
an embroiderer in Damascus, says she sent her army-age son to Egypt to
avoid conscription, something many families have done.
"May
God protect him," she says outside Damascus' grand Umayyad Mosque. She
only gave her first name out of fear of endangering her son.
Government
services, while scrappy, still exist. Workers receive salaries, even if
the local currency is falling. There is still power, though cuts are
routine. Health care is still free, although residents say waits are
long as doctors leave their posts.
"The Syrian
government holds and clings to the unity and territorial integrity of
Syria. And this for us is a sacred issue," Assad adviser Bouthaina
Shaaban says.
Life continues on for Syria's
wealthy. Cafes and restaurants in Tartous are half-filled, with
apologetic owners saying young people being back at school has cut into
their crowds. Businessmen have opened an entertainment center and mall
in Damascus and a seven-story shopping center in Tartous.
At
Damascus' Malki Mall, a sign advertises a selfie competition. At the
mostly empty Tartous Mall, investor Ali Naddeh smokes a waterpipe and
says shops soon will open.
"This is a time of opportunity," he says.
