Najwa Saeed, principal at Dar al-Salam School, told hundreds of students standing in the schoolyard: “You’ve come to school today so that we can go back to opening our doors, our books, and continuing our education. To contribute to building a new, free Syria—a Syria without oppression, a Syria without fear, a Syria where you can speak your mind without being afraid of anything.”
Damascus is under the de-facto rule of Hay'at al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda offshoot and a US-designated terrorist group. But there's no sign of this here at Dar al-Salam school in central Damascus, where girls and boys continue to study together.
“We have great hope that Syria will be better,” Saeed added. “We have a lot of hope. And there’s a sense of happiness, a feeling that a new Syria is on the horizon.”
More dramatic scenes at the University of Damascus. Students toppled a statue of Hafez al-Assad, the father of the ousted leader Bashar, who has fled to Russia.
“An indescribable feeling, an indescribable joy,” said Asil Mounzir, College Student, expressing her feelings about studying in a country without Assad family rule and the restrictions it had placed on free speech.
“It’s the first time I enter the university and truly feel happy to be there to learn. Not just to get a degree and leave to work abroad. This degree I’ll earn, I’ll put all my effort into it so I can give back to my country here. Build something beautiful for my country and for myself,” she added.
Hookah cafes are open, and upscale hotels offer alcoholic drinks, though some liquor stores have closed as a precaution.
It's uncertain if HTS's moderate policies will last. Some suggest the group aims to rebrand for international legitimacy and removal from the US terror list. But US officials say it's too early for that and that they’re watching to see if Syrians can establish a more inclusive government that respects the human rights of all.
“We call on everyone to be optimistic,” Ahmed Mohammed, an HTS Officer in Damascus, told Rudaw. “First and foremost, we are all one Syrian people, all of us. One Syrian people. Whatever sect we belong to, in the end, we are all Syrians. We are all brothers, God willing. We need to unite our religions and join hands to rebuild the country and start from scratch.”
In Damascus, workers were painting over the old Syrian flag under which the Assad family committed mass atrocities. HTS has raised a different flag, the one that Syrians first used when they became independent from French rule in 1946.
