rj_yul

I'm of Syrian origins and I grew up in the west. I had spent enough time in Syria to have vivid memories though before we immigrated. My life in Syria was in a half Christian half Muslim neighbourhood so I have friends on both sides and I respect both without discrimination. I am a hardcore anti-Assad and anti-Baath way before the war ever started and I think the war was the result of years of hatred, explicit injustice and hidden sectarianism favoring alawites over anyone else. My family suffered under the regime before the war but they also managed to get by just like anyone else and they were well off to a certain degree. We also lost many family members during the war so you can I'm not out of touch with the reality of the people's suffering. I won't ask you questions from a foreigner eyes, but rather from a compatriote who despite the distance and having grown in different political environnements, still would love to read your answer.

1- What do you think of the "We were living كنا عايشين" narrative? Were Syrians really well off before the war? Don't you think the country was slowly but very silently heading towards a catastrophe with the rabid corruption, gap between te rich and poor and the Makhloufs (Assad cousins) swallowing 60% of the economy?

2- Do you, or your entourage, really think Assad will protect the Christians or they don't trust him but they have no choice and think he's the lesser of two evils?

3- Do people talk and understand that Syria has a political history that extends far beyond Assads ruling and that we lived in harmony and had a form of democracy before the Baathists usurped power? Do they know that Syria was a modern ans upcoming country with knowledge, culture and innovation before 1970 and that the world does not revolve around Assad who literally transformed Syria to his own barn?

Finally, I wish you all the best. I also salute your courage and resolve and I envy you for being in Syria now because I, like hundreds of thousands cannot go back ever again as long as the current regime is in power. I wish nothing but peace and prosperity and FREEDOM for my country of birth. تحياتي لك و للشام

Thanks for your reply. I sincerely appreciate it. I respect your opinion and I agree with a lot of what you said. One thing I disagree with though, and it's perhaps because I grew up in the west is the notion of "stability" and "safety" before the war. I hope that we can agree that it was an artificial stability and a mere mirage of a safety because security forces, secret intelligence, moukhabart and so can can arrest you and make you disappear at any given moment without any accountability, and that you needed to be plugged with the higher echelons of power to navigate in the system and have a backup for when things go sour. It saddens me to see how Syrians have surrendered to that reality and started to put up with the fact that I'm fine as long as I don't talk about politics and don't criticize the government and the regime.

Yes Christians are not oblivious to the reality and there were even armed rebels amongst them at one point in Homs. I know many have settled with the lesser evil but I feel sad, and I shared this with my Christian friends, that they would think that they would be next given they lived with Muslims safely and both went through much more tumultuous times in history proving their safety and support was never challenged.

I'm originally from Damascus. So you could say I'm "Shami" to the bone but I have the "Homsi citizenship" by marriage hehehehe.

It has lots of inaccuracies. Check my post history or go on the sub dedicated to the series to read what I wrote about it.