Bashar al Assad falls and thousands of Syrians return to their country, but there are also many who decide to pack their bags and leave while waiting for the situation to clear up. The Al Masnaa crossing, the main passage from Lebanon to Syria, was blocked throughout the day by vehicles trying to leave the country; it took more than six hours to complete the procedures. The former president has escaped to Russia and the country’s new strongman is Abu Mohamed Al Jolani, a 43-year-old former leader of Al Qaida who arrives with the promise of building “a Syria for all Syrians”, a promise that, especially minorities, , they don’t quite believe. A promise that he wants to put into motion with the start of the work of the new interim government and with measures such as the prohibition of scolding women for their clothing, a gesture towards that part of Syria that is not covered with a veil. The uncertainty at the domestic level is shared internationally and the United States bombed positions of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) and Israel said that among its objectives of the day were the chemical weapons plants of the former regime. After passing the Lebanese border post, no man’s land begins, that space that the Israelis bombed when they launched the invasion of southern Lebanon and that has been miraculously repaired. In a few minutes you arrive at the Syrian post, completely empty. The ‘duty-free’ of the border has been looted and the portraits of Assad and his father Hafez, creator of modern Syria, that remain are the ones that are highest and that people have not been able to reach. The passport booth, the vehicle customs office… everything is deserted. The only presence of armed people are groups of young people from nearby towns who have arrived to prevent new looting, but they do not ask for documents or ask questions of the new arrivals, their only words are: Ahlan Wasahlan! (Welcome). Standard Related News If Al Jolani reinvents himself to apply his roadmap: hiding his jihadist past with a call for unity David Alandete The leader of the revolt repudiates Iran, to which the United States says it is going for the proper roadFrom the Syrian border post to Damascus it is barely thirty minutes by car on a road that previously had five checkpoints and now none, not even the one at the entrance to the capital through the Mezze neighborhood, the main gate to Damascus from Lebanon, where the regime previously had its last major filter to control arrivals. “We are free, free from the Assads, 50 years of nightmare are over, we are free!” explains Moutaz, a veteran taxi driver on the line between Damascus and Beirut, who shouts “freedom!” at every old checkpoint you pass. Before, you could not pass without paying a small bribe to those responsible for the military or intelligence services. The arrival in the capital in full curfew takes place between the shots in the air and the tracer bullets that rise to the sky from the Umayyad Square, in front of the national radio and television, and the explosions of the Israeli bombings, which make people tremble. the city. Incredible, but the drunkenness of joy means that no one is distracted by the explosions in the background. The cars advance among thousands of shell casings. These images of joy in the heart of the capital are repeated in all parts of the world where exiled Syrians live; the general feeling is that they have recovered their country. The new Syria wants to start as soon as possible and after the shock of the eleven days of military offensive that overthrew the regime, the time has come to take the first steps in the transition. Former Prime Minister Ghazi al Jalali met with the commander of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) – Organization for the Liberation of the Levant – and the country’s new strongman, Abu Mohamed al Jolani, and agreed to hand over power to Mohamed Al Bashir, key figure in the Syrian salvation government that was in charge of managing Idlib. The mirror of AleppoIn this province in northern Syria, bordering Turkey, armed opposition groups have remained, with HTS at the helm, for a decade and now that structure will be the basis for change. As the days go by, in addition to politicians, more and more militiamen from this province also arrive and vehicles with the Idlib license plate have taken over the capital. The work is piling up for new authorities who are trying to secure the territory, reactivate institutions, free thousands of prisoners and help refugees return home. All this with the urgent obligation to provide basic services to the population such as electricity, gasoline, water and food. Damascus tries to look at itself in the mirror of Aleppo, the country’s second city and the first great conquest of the opponents, and trusts that day by day new businesses will open their doors and a certain normality will be recovered. In order not to open new fronts, the authorities announced that for the moment they will maintain the use of the Syrian pound as the national currency, with banknotes with Assad’s face in circulation.
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