Syrian suburb surrenders after four years
FOR four long years the Damascus suburb of Daraya endured siege, bombardment and starvation at the hands of the Syrian regime.
The city was one of the first to rise up in peaceful protest against Bashar alAssad during the early days of the Arab Spring, and it stood strong in the face of his violent oppression.
But yesterday, Daraya’s long defiance came to an end as the city finally surrendered to regime troops.
Its loss is a blow to the Syrian rebels as Daraya, just 15 minutes from central Damascus, was an icon of resistance. Its capture is both a symbolic victory for Assad and a battlefield success that will free up his troops to fight elsewhere around the Syrian capital.
Under the terms of the surrender, the 8,000 civilians who stayed in the city will be moved to regime areas, while several hundred rebel fighters will be given passage to Idlib, an opposition-held city in the north.
The first stream of civilians and rebel fighters began to leave Daraya yesterday, many in tears as their years of holding out ended in surrender.
“Daraya will be delivered to the Assad regime. This is how he is rewarded for four years of bombing, dropping chemicals and killing Daraya’s children,” said Ahmad, 23, who has not seen his girlfriend or family since the siege began in 2012. “I do not know what will happen to us, whether I will be killed or allowed to live. For so long, Daraya is all I have known, and I am feeling lost and distraught at having to leave.”
Some supporters of the Syrian rebels voiced their disgust on social media that Daraya’s military commanders and civilian leaders had decided to surrender. However, Husam, a city resident, told The Daily Telegraph: “Those who didn’t live under siege can’t judge how it looks.” He said food had run out and regime forces had captured the agricultural fields. “I’m not talking about a shortage of food supplies; I’m saying there was none at all,” he said.
The city’s only hospital was struck with napalm last week, putting it out of commission. As the rebel fighters, mainly from the Islamist groups Ajnad al-Sham and the Martyrs of Islam, left town in coaches yesterday regime soldiers waved their guns and taunted them with pro-Assad chants.
During the four years that the suburb was under siege, only one food convoy was allowed to enter, in June this year. The regime permitted a Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy to enter the city yesterday but only after the surrender deal was finalised.
The UN was not consulted on the deal and Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, said residents must be allowed to leave safely. “The world is watching,” he warned.