Syrian students describe life under regime rule

LONDON: Life in regime-held areas of Syria is marked by forced evictions, widespread looting and desperate attempts to avoid military service, according to two Syrian students who lived under regime rule.
Despite regime attempts to project a veneer of normalcy, even in Damascus residents live in near-constant “fear of being arrested or evicted,” said Tareq, a master’s student in London who asked that his real name be withheld to protect family members in Syria.
Regime forces are systematically looting the homes of citizens who fled the war, he added. “They’re robbing empty houses” and “making a fortune” in the process, he said in a talk given at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) earlier this week on life in regime-held areas.
Moreover, forced evictions of entire neighborhoods are taking place with startling regularity, said Sawsan, a Syrian architect who joined Tareq in the talk, which was held as part of Syria Awareness Week.
Areas whose residents voiced opposition to the regime in the early years of the conflict are being conspicuously targeted for “reconstruction,” even in places such as Damascus where minimal battle damage has been incurred, said Sawsan.
Families are being “forcibly evicted with no compensation and no resettlement plans,” she added, their legally owned homes bulldozed or blown up.
Deeper political currents are shaping Syria’s redevelopment, she said. “Iran is being promised big time with things in Syria,” Sawsan told the audience.
Lucrative contracts to rebuild areas surrounding Shiite holy sites across Syria have been reserved for Iranian companies, she added.
“Iran was given access to develop all the areas surrounding shrines in Syria. There’s actually a specific reconstruction committee for shrines headed by an Iranian,” Sawsan said.
With Shiite militias controlling the shrines and their environs, some Sunni Syrians have converted “just to be protected,” said Tareq, who left Damascus last September to pursue studies in urban planning.
Public buses have been co-opted by the military, leaving severe transportation shortages across the country, he added.
Private companies contracted to fill the gap are often closely linked to the regime and have hiked bus fares, Tareq said.
Military officers posted on roads leading to opposition-held areas require truck drivers carrying food and supplies to pay bribes, causing surges in the cost of living, he added.
Young men, required by law to serve in the military, are going to extreme lengths to avoid conscription, Tareq told the audience.
As Syrian men who have lived outside the country for an extended period are exempt from military service, a black market in forged foreign visas has emerged.
“Some people, and some generals and officers in the military, are taking bribes” to provide desperate Syrian teenagers and young men with fake exit stamps, making it appear as though they have been living abroad, Tareq said.
But often the schemes turn into scams, with officials pocketing the money and refusing to provide the fake documents, he added.
The hapless victims are forced to “remain in their houses, afraid of going outside in the street because if they come across any military (checkpoint) they’d be taken directly to the army,” Tareq said.
Those who are able to leave the country legally have done so already, said Sawsan. “Those who are still there are the poor, the most deprived and the most marginalized,” she added.
“They’re the ones who are suffering (on a) daily basis. They’re just becoming a ticking bomb, with the regime doing everything from selling their properties to using them as bargaining chips… to evicting them from their residences.”
Even if the conflict ended tomorrow, Sawsan said, average Syrians without ties to the regime and its cronies would remain marginalized. “Now it’s their battle, and that’s going to explode,” she added.

Syrian students describe life under regime rule