One week into the new Syria, rebels aim to adapt and Syrians vow never to be silent again

DAMASCUS (AP) – At the international airport in Damascus, the new head of security – one of the rebels who marched in Syria to the capital – has arrived with his team. A handful of maintenance workers who had arrived for work crowded around Maj Hamza al-Ahmed, eager to learn what would happen next.

They quickly released all the complaints they were afraid to express during the reign of President Bashar Assad, which has now ended, in an incomprehensible way.

They told the bearded fighter that they were denied promotions and benefits in favor of Assad's favorites, and that management threatened them with prison for working too little. They warned of staunch Assad supporters among airport workers, ready to return whenever the facility reopens.

As Al-Ahmed tried to reassure them, Osama Najm, an engineer, announced: “This is the first time we are talking.”

This was the first week of transition in Syria after the unexpected fall of Assad.

The rebels, suddenly in power, met with a crowd full of emotions: joy at the new freedom; grief during years of oppression; and hopes, expectations and worries for the future. Some were moved to tears.

The transition was incredibly smooth. Reports of reprisals, reprisal killings and sectarian violence have been minimal. Looting and vandalism were immediately stopped, and the terrorists were disciplined. On Saturday, people continued their lives as usual in the capital, Damascus. Only one army van was seen.

There are a million ways it could go wrong.

The country is fractured and divided after fifty years of rule by the Assad family. Families are divided because of the war, former prisoners are traumatized because of the brutality they receive, tens of thousands of prisoners remain missing. The economy is collapsing, poverty is rampant, inflation and unemployment are high. Corruption permeates everyday life.

But in this moment of flux, many are ready to feel on track.

At the airport, al-Ahmed told workers: “The new path will have challenges, but that's why we said Syria belongs to everyone and we all have to work together.”

The rebels have so far said all the right things, said Najm. “But we will no longer be silent about injustice.”

Idlib comes to Damascus

In the police station that was burned, Assad's pictures were torn down and files were destroyed after the terrorists entered the city on December 8. All the police and security forces of the Assad era disappeared.

On Saturday, the building housed 10 policemen working for the rebels' “salvation government”, which had ruled Idlib in northwestern Syria for years.

Rebel police patrolled the station, dealing with reports of petty theft and street brawls. One woman complains that her neighbors are wasting electricity. The policeman tells him to wait for the courts to start working again.

“It will take a year to solve the problems” he muttered.

The rebels wanted to bring order to Damascus by replicating its governance structure in Idlib. But there is a problem of scale. One of the officers estimated the number of rebel police to be around 4,000; some of them are based in Idlib and others have been assigned the task of maintaining security in Damascus and other places. Some experts estimate the total fighting strength of the rebels to be around 20,000.

Right now, the fighters and the community are learning from each other.

Fighters drive large SUVs and new models of cars that are out of reach for most residents of Damascus, where they cost 10 times more because of custom jobs and bribes. Fighters carry the Turkish lira, which has long been banned in government-held areas, rather than the depreciating Syrian pound.

Most of the beard fighters come from the conservation areas, the provinces. Many are strict Muslims.

The main rebel force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has dismissed al-Qaida's past, and its leaders are working to assure Syria's religious and ethnic communities that the future will be pluralistic and tolerant.

But many Syrians remain suspicious. Some fighters sport ribbons with Islamic slogans on their uniforms. and not all belong to HTS, a highly organized group.

“The people we see on the streets do not represent us,” said Hani Zia, a resident of Damascus, south of the city of Daraa, where the uprising began in 2011. He was concerned about reports of attacks on minorities and revenge killings.

“We should be afraid,” he said, adding that he worries some rebels feel superior to other Syrians because of their years of fighting. “With all due respect to those who sacrifice themselves, we all sacrificed.”

Still, fear does not prevail in Damascus, where many insist they will no longer allow oppression.

Some restaurants have restarted serving alcohol openly, others openly to test the situation.

At a roadside shop in the historic Christian Old City, men were drinking beer as an army marched past. The men turned to each other, unsure, but the fighters did nothing. When a man brandished a gun and harassed a liquor store elsewhere in the Old City, riot police arrested him, another police officer said.

Salem Hajjo, a theater teacher who took part in the 2011 protests, said that he does not agree with the Islamic rebels' views, but he is impressed by the knowledge they have in handling their issues. And he expects to have a say in the new Syria.

“We have never been so free, the fear is over. The rest is up to us.”

The fighters made a concerted effort to confirm

The night after Assad fell, gunmen roamed the streets, celebrating victory with deafening gunfire. Some buildings of the security center were set on fire. People ransacked the airport duty free, smashing all the bottles of alcohol. Rebels blame some of this on defections from government loyalists.

The community was sitting in their houses, peeping at the new arrivals. Shops are closed.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham moved to impose an order, ordering a three-day curfew. It prevented popular gunfire and prompted fighters to secure buildings.

A day later, people started showing up.

In the tens of thousands, the first place they went was the Assad prisons, especially Saydnaya on the outskirts of the capital, to look for loved ones who disappeared years ago. Few have found clues.

It was painful but also inclusive. Rebels, some of whom were searching, mingled with the relatives of the missing in the dark halls of the prisons they have been afraid of for years.

During the celebrations in the street, the gunmen invited children to jump into their armored vehicles. The terrorists took pictures with the women, some with their hair open. Pro-revolution songs are heard in the cars. Suddenly shops and walls everywhere were plastered with revolutionary flags and posters of activists killed by the Assad regime.

TV channels did not miss a beat, from praising Assad to playing revolutionary songs. State media broadcast a series of announcements issued by the new rebel-led government.

The new administration has called on people to return to work and urged Syrian refugees around the world to return to help rebuild. It announced plans to rehabilitate and inspect the security forces to prevent the return of “those with blood on their hands.” Fighters assured airport workers – many of whom were loyal to the government – that their homes would not be attacked, one worker said.

But the problems in Syria are far from being solved.

Although commodity prices fell after the fall of Assad, because merchants no longer had to pay exorbitant taxes and bribes, fuel distribution was severely disrupted, raising transportation costs and causing widespread and prolonged power outages.

Officials say they want to reopen the airport as soon as possible and this week maintenance crews checked a number of planes on the tarmac. The cleaners removed the trash, broken furniture and merchandise.

Another cleaner, who gave his name only as Murad, said he earns the equivalent of $15 a month and has six children to support, including one with disabilities. He dreams of getting a cell phone.

“We need a long time to fix this,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Ghaith Alsayed contributed.