Nick Schifrin:
Oppression was an Assad family affair. Hafez al-Assad Assad and his son Bashar ruled the country for 52 years. He and his wife, Asma, claimed to be Syria’s stylish modern future.
But, in 2011, as part of the Arab Spring, pro-democracy protests swept through the country. Assad unleashed a brutal crackdown that triggered civil war and left cities in ruins. Half the country, more than six million people, fled their homes, desperately making a dangerous journey by boat because the land was no longer safe.
But so many, including 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, never made it, this image becoming the icon of fear and flight from Syria. Those who stayed to fight and whom the regime caught disappeared into Sednaya, a notorious military prison outside Damascus. Some were tortured so severely, the only word he can say today is Arabic for Aleppo, the prison the crucible of Assad’s cruelty, the bodies that embody Assad’s brutality.
Now Assad stands no longer, his legacy smashed, his stature diminished. His army retreated, hollowed out by years of corruption and defections, and Assad’s previous saviors, Iran and its allied militia Hezbollah and Russia, unwilling and or unable to save him.
Syria’s new apparent leader, Ahmed al-Shar’a, better known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, met today with the prime minister. Jolani vows a smooth transition and moderate governance to respect minorities. But he and his group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, are designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorists. Whether they govern for all Syrians, whether this country’s splinters is unknown.
But, for now, these Syrians enjoy a new day of freedom and hope the future brings peace.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Nick Schifrin.
