The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime has triggered a wave of uncertainty and upheaval across Syria, with the first to flee being top officers from the now-defunct Republican Guard. Their hasty departure has left abandoned homes, rising tensions, and a deepening sense of resentment among those who remain.
“They fled as soon as the regime collapsed. They’re responsible for destroying Syria,” said Abu Yassin, a coordinator for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as he stood outside the deserted barracks in Qudsayya, a suburb just outside Damascus. Yassin is tasked with ensuring that the unoccupied flats are neither looted nor illegally taken over, as the area adjusts to the new reality of post-Assad Syria.
The Republican Guard, once a symbol of the regime’s strength and loyalty, has now become a source of anger and bitterness for many Syrians. The officers’ departure highlights the stark divide between those who wielded power and those who bore the brunt of the war. The future of Qudsayya’s common citizens, many of whom had connections to the military or security forces, is now unknown.
Some residents—especially low-ranking troops and their families—do not have the resources to go, while others are hurriedly packing their things and departing the barracks. They remain in the abandoned flats, clinging to the hopes of staying despite mounting pressure to leave.
“After 12 years of civil war, there is a lot of hatred here for those who collaborated with the regime,” explained James André, a senior reporter for FRANCE 24, reporting from Qudsayya. The animosity stems from years of suffering, displacement, and destruction caused by the prolonged conflict. For those who were seen as complicit in the regime’s actions, life has become increasingly precarious.
The collapse of the Assad regime has also left millions of former state employees in limbo. Among them are security services members, part of a group that once amounted to about 1.2 million. These people, most of whom were key to helping keep the regime in power, haven’t been paid for more than a month, adding to financial strain for families already suffering from Syria’s abysmal economic picture.
The Syrian economy, hobbled by years of war, sanctions and mismanagement, is now on the verge of collapse. It has pushed the surviving society to the brink of survival with the income of former state employees lost. With inflation soaring and basic goods increasingly out of reach, desperation is growing among the population.
“There is a large mass of people right now who have no money in a country that is in a very deep economic crisis,” André noted. It has reduced the opportunities and resources available to the Syrian people to nonexistent they no longer have a coherent forward of hope.
In Qudsayya, the increase in atmosphere pressure is felt. People live amongst shadows of a war and their daily existence is a constant struggle between life and death, on one side, and ethnic cleansing, on the other. As for the rest of those who used to work for the regime, either of their own free will or under coercion, the future is unpredictable. Some do not want to be punished and others want to start anew in a nation devastated by more than ten years of war.
This means that as Syria enters into a new era for the country there are several questions that surround the concept of reconciliation and reconstruction that must be answered. This escape of the Republican Guard officers represents the speed with which the political edifice – once described as invincible – is collapsing. But for the millions left behind, the question remains: how will they actualize their relationships when the war that defines their reality is over and done with?
While Qudsayya’s barracks stand as a stark reminder of the regime’s downfall, they also reflect the broader struggles facing Syria. With no easy solutions in sight, the country must confront the human and economic toll of its long and devastating conflict.
