Renee Davis is a journalist based in Lebanon who has reported for L'Orient Today and other outlets.
"Now people are breathing again. After over 50 years of oppression, they can finally live a proper life."
Yasser Jamal el-Din was speaking in the ruins of Darayya on the outskirts of Damascus, its streets scarred by the carpet-bombing of the Assad regime throughout Syria's civil war. Once a bustling suburb south of Damascus with nearly half a million residents—and a hub of protest against President Bashar al-Assad in the early days of Syria's revolution—Darayya is now home to less than 50,000 people. Like so many residential areas not only around Damascus but throughout the country, Darayya is mostly rubble now, another neighborhood ravaged by war.
Yasser, 38, is the leader of a local rebel faction in Darayya called the Free Army. Against the backdrop of both ruin and resilience following the fall of Assad's regime last month, the faction he leads faces an existential challenge. While they fought alongside the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to overthrow Assad in a stunningly swift rebel offensive, their uneasy alliance with HTS raises deep questions about their future and Syria's prospects for peace and unity.
When the Free Army in Darayya joined forces with HTS, it was a partnership born of necessity, reflecting the harsh realities of Syria's fragmented opposition after years of stalemated civil war. Yet with HTS firmly in control of Damascus, key members of the Free Army in Darayya now express mounting distrust toward their new allies.
"We want everyone to work and have a better life," Yasser said, but he and the men in his rebel faction fear how power is being consolidated under HTS.
With HTS firmly in control of Damascus, members of the Free Army in Darayya now express mounting distrust toward their new allies.
- Renee Davis
This week, the rebel coalition led by HTS declared its leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, president of Syria, to preside over a still-undefined transitional period. Al-Sharaa, who dropped his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, after Assad's ouster and traded his military garb for a suit and tie, has been Syria's de facto ruler since December. The new Islamist authorities in Damascus also announced that the Assad-era constitution had been nullified and the legislature and army dissolved.
"HTS does not represent the revolution we believed in," Yasser said. "We wanted to bring down a dictatorship, not replace it with another. This self-declared presidency is a power grab."
In Darayya, Yasser and his Free Army remain wary of HTS's Islamist ideology and tactics, given its roots as an al-Qaida affiliate. For the fighters in the Free Army, their partnership with HTS was less about shared values and more about survival on a shifting battlefield. "We have no problem with any Syrian citizen, even with their history," Yasser said. "We're not like the regime where, if you were against them, you get killed or disappear."
Darayya's scars run deep. Before the popular uprising of 2011, the Assad regime's corruption had eroded trust and crippled the city's infrastructure for years. Then came the civil war.
"When the regime army took over Darayya, they claimed to have kicked out the 'terrorists' and kept the civilians," said Amer Khoshaini, another member of the Free Army faction. "But the truth is, they made the situation worse. They didn't fix anything—not even roads or houses. All you see here that is fixed is from the citizens themselves."
Residents faced constant extortion from Syrian soldiers and pro-Assad militias. "Even with people's efforts, they still had to pay the regime," Amer said, including for a permit to rebuild their houses destroyed in the fighting. "There was bribery, corruption, favoritism, even murders."
Darayya was the site of one of the worst massacres of the civil war. In 2012, after shelling the town, Syrian government forces reportedly went house to house, killing hundreds of people, including mass executions of men, women and children. State media at the time said that the Syrian Army had "cleansed" Darayya of "terrorist remnants."
HTS does not represent the revolution we believed in. We wanted to bring down a dictatorship, not replace it with another. This self-declared presidency is a power grab.
- Yasser Jamal el-Din, Free Army faction in Darayya
The widespread suffering in Darayya, including a years-long siege by the regime that starved its residents, has left the people there longing for a new beginning. Yet rebuilding trust in governance remains a daunting task. "The mafias that have been ruling this country are gone," Yasser said. "This is a new chapter for Syria."
While the Free Army faction's goals in Darayya are ambitious, the challenges are vast, including the proliferation of weapons in the hands of civilians. "People are still not convinced that they don't need to protect themselves anymore," Yasser said.
Another hurdle is addressing the legal injustices of the Assad era. "Under the Assad regime, anything could be solved with bribery and money," Amer said. It is a daunting challenge throughout Syria, uprooting a system of institutionalized corruption that underpinned more than 50 years after Assad family rule.
Rebuilding Daraya's shattered infrastructure is another monumental task. With the Syrian pound's value plummeting, basic necessities like water and electricity remain inaccessible to most Syrians. "Even people who want to return to Darayya can't afford to rebuild," Amer said, stressing that the Syrian pound is effectively worthless against the U.S. dollar.
The psychological scars of war also persist amid the ruins. Yasser expressed particular concern about young Syrians. "The generation raised by the regime has been taught to lie, steal and live in fear," he said. "They're used to paying bribes to protect themselves. Rehabilitating this generation is the most difficult task we face."
The opening up of Syria's gruesome prisons and detention centers after Assad's fall has underscored the human toll of the regime's brutality. Yasser detailed the plight of families searching for missing loved ones. "In Darayya, we have data on 5,212 detainees from 2011 to now," he said. "Only 2,298 have been released. The rest are still missing." The infamous Saydnaya prison outside Damascus exemplifies the horrors endured. "Prisoners knew they were going to be executed," Yasser said of Saydnaya. "They heard the sounds of the gallows and the cars taking bodies to mass graves."
Despite all these challenges, and its wariness of HTS, the Free Army faction in Darayya remains optimistic, its fighters envisioning a Syria where all citizens can contribute to rebuilding their homeland. "We've contacted our friends in Europe," Yasser said. "We told them, 'We need you. It's time for you to come back home.'"
His sentiment reflects a broader aspiration for unity and progress among Syrians who fought in and survived the civil war. Mohammad Mujahed Khoulani, a 30-year-old fighter from Darayya in the Free Army faction, said that they had and would "defend Daraya not just from the Assad regime but from external threats," singling out countries like Iran that had sent their militias to prop up Assad throughout the war.
As this rebel faction navigates the many uncertainties in the new Syria, its fighters still speak with resolve and determination, even from the ruins of Darayya. Assad had only brought Syrians pain and humiliation, Yasser said. "This ends here. Now, we rebuild our country, and one day, people will wish they had a Syrian passport."
