UNDER THE MISSILES IN DAMASCUS
(Submitted to Mondoweiss)
A loud and persisant booming woke up everyone here in the early hours of Saturday morning. To this visitor from Boston it sounded like the Fourth of July fireworks we hear every year over the Charles River. But this was Damascus and the thunder was exploding missiles from the long-awaited attack by Trump and US allies Britain and France.
The bombardments started precisely at 4am local time and continued for the better part of an hour. Only the timing was a surprise here, as Trump had been threatening a reprisal attack for the alleged use by the Syrian government of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus last week. Most Syrians and others in the region derided the charge as fake news – and in fact it is hard for anyone to fathom why the Syrian army would use chemical weapons when they were on the verge of military victory in Ghouta. To the question of “cui bono?” (who benefits) it was hard to avoid the sense that only the so-called rebels and the enemies of Syria could get any advantage from this alleged chemical attack.
It was an ironic time for an American to be in Syria. Arriving earlier that same day from Beirut with a group of international activists, including three Americans, two Canadians , two Brits, two Irish, two Germans, one and one Dutch, we passed with some tension and delay at the Syrian-Lebanese border but ultimately we received our visas from the government authorities in Damascus. I was the designated translator at the passport control window, responding with some difficulty to the questions of the officer there, especially with the challenge of explaining the occupations of the visitors. “Retired,” “journalist” and “teacher” I knew, but a German choreographer and a Swiss film director became “Theater workers,” the Dutch machinist became an “engineer” and the German head of an HR recruiting firm became a “clerk.” Anyway, we passed muster.
Crossing the many security checkpoints on the way into the capital, it was touching to be met with smiles and greetings from the soldiers on duty, even though our countries had been complicit in the near destruction of Syria and were expected to launch a new attack at any moment.. There and in fact everywhere we went the universal greeting from all Syrians was the only English word many of the knew: “Welcome!”
By all accounts, most Syrians were unfazed by the latest missile attack. There were videos of Damascenes cheering from rooftops as anti-missile rockets were launched over the city to intercept the US, French and British missiles.
Trump’s tweet that the attack had been “perfectly carried out” is likely an overstatement. The Russian and Syrian militaries claim that the majority of the incoming missiles were shot down or diverted electronically from their targets, although this is impossible to verify. In any case, before and after photos of th e alleged military/chemical research center in Damascus show pretty thoroughgoing destruction. But the US attacks had been so fully telegraphed – and there were claims that the Russians were informed in advance of the targets - that the buildings were empty and there were no reported fatalities.
Of course, if these Damascus targets were actually chemical weapons facilities as charged there would have been massive civilian casualties from the bombing. There were none.
The next morning, after a mostly sleepless night, we were led around the neighborhood by our Syrian translator and guide. Abu Maher, a very jovial Muslim who claimed his family had been Christian until a few centuries before, had been a tourist guide for 25 years. A strong supporter of the Syrian government, he lived in the neighborhood regarded himself as a patriot rather than a political person. Like many Syrians, he was passionate about the long history and multi-cultural identity of his country. Before the war he had been a guide for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. (He said that Brad was intelligent and asked good question; Angelina, not so much!)
Our hotel, Beit al Wali, is a beautifully restored Ottoman period mansion in the Bab Touma quarter of the Old City. Syrians had invested heavily in the tourist sector before the war in the expectation of attracting badly needed hard currency, but of course these days there are hardly any foreign visitors apart from a small number of well-to-do Lebanese. Beirut is just couple of hours away and Lebanese do not need visas for Syria.
Bab Touma is a traditionally Christian part of town, but the are also mosques here, in some cases directly neighboring churches of the 12 Christian denominations said to exist in Syria. Orthodox (Greek, Syrian and Catholic Melchite) are the majority, but there are also Roman Catholic, Maronite, Armenian and even evangelical churches. The restaurants are frequented by mixed crowds of Muslims and Christians all happily drinking Arak and smoking shisha (water pipes). Liquor stores and bars are commonplace here and unmolested. We visited more than one (the very old “Abu George” was my favorite).
Nearly everyone we met on the streets and in the shops derided Trump’s missile attack. Locals in Bab Touma were much more focused on the government recapture of Eastern Ghouta, where the neighboring rebel-held town of Jobar had been the source of daily rocket and mortar launched against this part of the city. We were shown many sites of these attacks on the walls and roads of the area, including the locations where people had been “martyred.” More than a hundred Damascus civilians had been killed by these attacks in recent months – of course little reported in the Western press – and the residents were clearly relieved that their town was now safe.
Compared to this, Trump’s missiles were a minor annoyance, ridiculed by all as a “show” from that American “donkey.” There were spontaneous demonstrations of support for the government during the past few days and a larger organized rally scheduled for Monday afternoon. The atmosphere in the city was much more relaxed than it had been when I visited two years ago, reflecting a string of government military advances since then.
Of course, the missile attack was derided by many war cheerleaders in the West as “insufficient.” Israel and rebel supporters inside and outside the country also expressed their disappointment.
Saturday night the hotel prepared a festive dinner for us – it was the birthday of Mario, one of the Germans among our group. Present also was the British journalist Vanessa Beeley, who has exposed much of the phony Western propaganda coming out of Syria – and been vilified for it – together with some locals, including the very colorful Syrian comic who goes by the name of “Treka.” Treka, who grew up in Nigeria among the Syrian business community there, sports long dreads and speaks in very colloquial but accented English, defies all sterotypes about “Arabs.” He has posted many videos deriding the MSM narrative abroad. His latest, deriding the alleged chemical attack in Ghouta is here.
We may or may not be allowed to visit recently-liberated Eastern Ghouta, but were are definitely going to Aleppo tomorrow, where there will be a large official Syrian Independence Day ceremony. It’s a long way from the Fourth of July.
More postings to follow as circumstances permit.
