I finally managed to get my Damascus visa following long and tiring five-month procedures in the crowded corridors of the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul where I have waited countless times.

It was not my first journey to Syria. I had previously worked for a long time as Damascus correspondent for various press outlets, but this time the situation is different and tension is in the air. Turkey is actually at war with Syria.

On leaving Istanbul, there was talk of Idlib everywhere from the media to the street. If those who ask what business Turkey has in Syria are being openly branded traitors, it is not hard to guess that this very question is passing through the minds of many people who remain silent. Moreover, with Turkey dependent on Russia’s approval for each of its moves inside Syria, Syrian airspace being closed to Turkey and it by now clear that Idlib is in the hands of Al-Qaeda-instructed jihadists, sound justifications need to be offered to sell this war to people. Not justifications, but young soldiers in coffin after coffin have come from Idlib. A strenuous effort has been embarked on to make the coffins into justification for war but vociferous support has come from neither Turkish public opinion, not allies such as NATO with whom relations are in any case fraught.

Turkey is still battling the Syrian military in Idlib, which is Syrian territory.

Idlib is Turkey’s agenda.

TURCO-SYRIAN WAR FEARS

The only route from Istanbul to Damascus is Beirut.

Beirut’s Raric Hariri Airport is known for being crowed in all seasons and at all times of the day. The rebellion starting in 2011 saw many foreign companies along with press and aid organizations in neighbouring countries, chiefly Syria and Egypt, moving their headquarters to Beirut.

Even so, Lebanon has remained just about the only place to have been spared the security problems unleashed by the turmoil in the region over the past eight to nine years. In short, until a few months ago Lebanon was a lively country whose streets were thronged with foreigners.

However, with the protests that started in September having for some time morphed into violent conflict, many countries have warned their own citizens against traveling to Lebanon. In conjunction with the economic and political crisis, the corona epidemic appears to have dealt Lebanon the final whammy.

I have been to Beirut airport many times in the past twelve years but this was the first time that I had seen it so deserted.

There is certainly plenty to be said about Lebanon and I will fill you in on what I saw, the country’s latest situation and the expectations and impasses in a detailed Lebanon article in the coming days.

In the time I spent in Beirut before getting to Damascus, the only question being asked about Turkey was the Idlib issue. Interest focussed on Turkey’s moves in relation to its Syria policy such as what Turkey had to gain in Idlib and the risk of a new chaotic environment that would affect the whole region including Lebanon if the Turkish and Syrian armies went to war. Lebanon is, after all, a country directly affected by every development in the region to which one and a half million refugees fled due to the uprising in Syria and whose economy has reached rock bottom. With a new war troubling the whole region, it is terrifying Lebanon.

Economic and political crisis is on Lebanon’s agenda. And the corona epidemic.

IS THE BEIRUT-DAMASCUS ROAD OPEN?

The Beirut-Damascus highway and border gate has been one of the few transportation points that has regularly been open and in operation since 2011.

Thanks to the ongoing protests in Lebanon over several months, the road has undergone closures, even of short duration, due to protesters burning tyres or setting up barricades.

Having ascertained that the road was open, Damascus was the destination.

CORONA CHECK

On the Lebanese side of the Lebanon-Syria border gate, some soldiers were wearing gloves and masks out of corona conceerns but a number of soldiers and most customs officials must have got fed up of the masks, having lowered them to beneath their chins.

Home to United Nations’ refugee tents, both sides of the border and the interborder zone were until recently fairly packed due both to the refugees and to bidirectional journeys between Lebanon and Syria.

The refugee tents are still in place but are empty. There is a striking amount of Syrian and Lebanese-number plated traffic, but it can be said to have thinned out to an extent that bears no comparison to a few years ago.

I speedily complete the formalities on the Lebanese side of the border and finally pass to the Syrian side. Here, those ushered towards the area where passport procedures are conducted first encounter a doctor. Officials take everyone’s temperature and then direct them towards the area where formalities are conducted. Prior to placing the final stamp in the passport, the official first says, “Go to the doctor’s surgery and bring a paper showing that you are not sick,” and beckons towards another doctor. The second doctor asks if I have corona symptoms, conducts an examination and the passport procedures finally end.

There has yet to be a confirmed corona case in Syria, but two cases were confirmed in Lebanon last week. News is coming of deaths from the epidemic in Syria’s other neighbour of Iran. Considering the frequency of crossings and human traffic between Syria and Lebanon and Iraq, it is doubtful how efficacious the existing measures will be.

ECONOMY AND CORONA ON DAMASCUS’ AGENDA

As opposed to Aleppo or Homs, the centre of Damascus did not turn into a conflict zone from 2011 onwards but certain residential units surrounding Damascus, such as Douma and Harasta, were held by various armed groups, chiefly the Al-Nusra Front and Army of Islam, for a lengthy time.

Random rocket attacks from these areas targeting the city centre and air and artillery attacks from the city centre targeting the suburbs became part of daily life. Damascus also became the venue for a large number of destructive bomb attacks in which many lives were lost. For this reason, military control points were set up virtually every hundred metres on all main and side roads within the city. Car boots and occasionally even travellers’ bags were searched.

As the Damascus suburbs also began to come under the control of the Syrian army, this situation inside Damascus started to ease up over time. There were only control points at the start and end of main roads until last year. However, most of these points have been removed, too. Of course, this situation does not seem to have relieved Damascus’ traffic and the roads are still thronged.

Even if the removal of the military control points has brought relief to the city, minor bomb attacks have taken place in the past few weeks. Most recently, an explosion occurred in Umayyad Square, one of Damascus’ most frequented and crowded squares.

The stores, shops, restaurants and hairdressers in Damascus are open. Daily life in the streets follows its accustomed flow.

“THERE ARE NO DOLLARS. FORGET DOLLARS”

Damascus’ sole concern nowadays is the economy. The recovery process in Syria was expected to start in 2017 with the expulsion of the armed groups from Aleppo, a portion of which they had controlled. There are efforts in this direction. Industry, millions of homes, public bodies and infrastructure and superstructure need to be reconstructed.

However, even if the military component of the proxy war in Syria has ended, the political dimension still continues and violently so. For the USA and regional countries like Saudi Arabia which were directly involved in the war in Syria, the proxy war did not produce the outcome they had desired.

Following the nine-year destructive and bloody proxy war in Syria, just as the Assad administration has not been toppled, there is today a Russia that has now thrust itself assertively into the entire region.

Several countries such as Russia, Iran and to a degree China are assisting Syria’s recovery and renewed development. However, the USA has truly stepped up its sanctions that were also in place prior to 2011. Even Lebanese or Egyptian businesspeople who deal with Syria have for some time been blacklisted.

In the region, conversely, even if countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt are disposed positively towards Syria returning to the Arab League and regional politics, they see this as being contingent on stringent negotiations. These countries’ basic condition is that Damascus cut off its relations with Iran or reduce these as far as possible.

Another country in the camp of Arab Spring victors is Iran. This process has seen Iran expand and consolidate its influence in the region.

The outcome of the negotiations vis-à-vis Iran taking place under the auspices of the Arab League is unknown but, to recover, Syria has an urgent need for external support, investments and a lively economy. And, to this end, it needs regional allies who, even if they do not get the sanctions against it lifted, ensure that they are breached.

All this political strife exerts a toll on daily life in Damascus. The taking of certain harsh measures has started to halt the decline of the Syrian pound against the dollar. Numbering among these measures are such decisions as the imposition of seven year jail sentences for trading in dollars, keeping strict tabs on foreign currency being exchanged at the legal rate and payment in Syrian pounds of amounts at places like Western Union which conduct money transfers even if dollars are sent.

The first warning I heard on getting to Damascus had to do with dollars. Forget dollars, there are no dollars, dollars are forbidden…

However, in a Syria whose economy has undergone harsh damage and which needs many inputs, most notably technology, to start producing again, the high dollar has a direct impact on business people. In addition to the difficulty in obtaining certain goods and needs due to the sanctions, this situation leads to them being marketed at high prices.

Even if trading in dollars is forbidden, everything is priced on a dollar basis from rents to consumer goods

STRONG REACTION TO TURKEY

In previous years when I have been in Damascus, I have encountered adverse reaction to Turkey many times on account of Turkey’s Syria policy. However, such reaction was generally voiced with the distinction drawn, “The opposition in Turkey is against the AKP government’s Syria policy.”

Based on the reactions I have encountered in the past few days, it would not be short of the mark to say those who draw this distinction are markedly fewer in number.

The CHP voting in favour of authorizing the Fountain of Peace operation appears to have put paid to the “government-opposition” distinction.

And, furthermore, even if there is questioning in Turkey as to whether we are to wage war in Syria, from the perspective of those in Damascus, the Turco-Syrian has in fact been going on for a long time.

(Translated by Tim DRAYTON)