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A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 3 June 2017
In Damascus, a general feeling that the war is winding down

By ZEINA KARAM rampant inflation, and resi-
Associated Press dents remain deeply ap-
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In prehensive about the fu-
Syria’s capital these days, ture. Tens of thousands of
people are breathing a young men who left Syria
little easier. Across Damas- will not return as long as the
cus, new shops are sprout- war rages on, fearing they
ing up, business is brisk, and would be drafted into the
some people who fled the army. More than 400,000
civil war years ago are con- people have been killed,
templating a return. the country is beyond frac-
The Syrian war is likely to tured, entire cities stand in
drag on for years, sustained ruins and half the popula-
largely by the interven- tion is displaced.
tion and rivalries of foreign But the government’s re-
powers. But in President capture of eastern Aleppo
Bashar Assad’s seat of gov- late last year was in many
ernment, there is a general ways a turning point. In re-
feeling the six-year conflict cent, the military, aided by
is winding down. allies Russia and Iran, has re-
“I haven’t slept so well covered rebel strongholds
in weeks,” said Alya, a around Damascus. Many
27-year-old kindergarten are convinced that Assad
teacher who, in her spare In this May 18, 2017 photo, Syrians shop under a banner showing President Bashar Assad at the is here to stay, despite Pres-
time, volunteers with an Hamadiyah market, in the Old City of Damascus, Syria. Across the capital, new shops are sprout- ident Donald Trump’s pos-
organization that helps dis- ing up, business is brisk, and some people who fled the war years ago are contemplating a return. turing and retaliatory bom-
The Syrian civil war is likely to drag on for years, but in the seat of Assad’s government, there is a
placed people around Da- general feeling that the six-year conflict is winding down. bardment of a Syrian army
mascus. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) base in April, following a
She recalls how only two chemical weapons attack
months ago, she was cow- fierce clashes broke out af- rebel-held neighborhood security perimeter — lasted that the West blamed on
ering in the bathroom with ter insurgents and suicide of Qaboun and nearby several days, disrupting Assad’s forces.
her mother and sister when bombers infiltrated the city areas. The attack — a sur- businesses and terrifying The Syrian government now
through tunnels from the prise breach of Damascus’ residents who have been controls the four largest cit-
relatively insulated from the ies, and many feel the con-
catastrophic destruction flict has been at least con-
that has been inflicted on tained to the north, where
opposition-held parts of the various groups are fighting
country. the Islamic State group and
Since then, the government each other for leverage.
has regained full control of Across the capital, new
all but one opposition-held restaurants, sidewalk cafes
neighborhood on the capi- and other businesses are
tal’s periphery, where reb- spreading out.
els regularly lobbed mortar On the east end of Old
shells into the crowded city. Damascus in Bab Sharqi —
This week, the last group of one of seven Roman gates
opposition fighters and their of the Old City— there’s a
families cleared the north- strip of new bars lining the
eastern neighborhood of historic street known as Mus-
Barzeh, completing a series taqim, or the Straight Street.
of similar evacuation deals Music and laughter fill the
that leaves Assad’s gov- narrow street as young,
ernment firmly in control of cocktail-drinking Syrians go
Damascus, once encircled bar-hopping and dancing
— scenes unthinkable only
by rebels, for the first time two years ago when most
since 2012. if not all those places were
“We haven’t heard the nonexistent. It’s become
sound of a shell for a while the equivalent of neighbor-
now,” said Alya, who gave ing Lebanon’s famous bar-
only her first name in line lined Gemmayzeh strip.
with the regulations of the “The wound and the pain
organization where she vol- of all the martyrs who have
unteers. During this year’s died are always with us, but
holy month of Ramadan, we are trying to escape.
she said her older siblings — There is a big difference
who left for the safety of Eu- between trying to escape
rope in 2013 — were visiting and being indifferent,” says
Damascus for the first time Amro Tozan, 33.
in four years and were con- Tozan left his job in shipping
sidering a more permanent and clearance a couple
return to the city. years ago and opened up
Many in Damascus are four pubs in Bab Sharqi in
struggling to survive amid the past 14 months. q