DAMASCUS, Syria - A week after the collapse of Syria’s Baathist regime headed by Bashar al-Assad, Syrians are hopeful for a better future in their war-torn country.
Heavy tanks and weaponry from the old regime are abandoned on the streets, serving now a playgrounds for children.
Syrians hope for the calm to continue and for life to return to normal.
“We are hoping for the situation to calm down and for things to stabilize. And the livelihood begins again, and the stores are refilled, like those which sell food, and the bakeries reopen. Ours, which covered the whole of Damascus, was stopped. We wish for life to return to how it was before the crisis,” Yahya Zabi, a Damascus resident told Rudaw.
The Syrian regime collapsed last week after rebels, led by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), launched a blistering offensive and captured the largest Syrian cities one after another.
The fast-paced developments brought several vital facilities in the country to a standstill.
The Damascus International Airport has been out of service for over a week. Some planes have been abandoned, and some have been hit by Israeli strikes.
“It [Israeli strikes] has affected the civilian planes, we have tried to repair as much as we can. The airplane runway was hit, and it halted operations at the airport for some time. Now we are back to continue our work, with the efforts of these young men,” said Samr Radzi, the deputy maintenance director of the Syrian Airlines.
The HTS-led Syrian rebels are now controlling the capital, and have formed a transitional government headed by Mohammed al-Bashir until a new governmental body is elected for the country.
Although negotiations to form a new government have begun, no agreement has been reached.