Inside Syria: The Backstory Of Their Civil War And What The World Can Expect - Plot & Excerpts
Machine-gun fire crackled until late at night. The Syrian army pounded towns held by the rebels on the outskirts of Damascus. The artillery rounds were so common that locals didn't even flinch when they exploded and the sound rumbled across the city. I definitely flinched. Damascus had changed profoundly since my last reporting visit in 2011—and definitely not for the better. Back then, Damascus was home to frequent rallies and marches calling for freedom. Damascus of late 2013 was a city at war. Concrete barriers blocked formerly busy thoroughfares, and military checkpoints pockmarked the city. “We learned to ignore the sounds of war,” said Dr. Bassam Barakat, a medical doctor and progovernment political consultant. He didn't mind the inconvenience of the checkpoints, he said, because they helped maintain security.1 Some Syrians agreed with Barakat and continued to support the Assad regime. After three years of civil war, the Syrian military and intelligence services remained loyal to the ruling regime, unlike their counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt.
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