by Eva Bartlett, from Popular Resistance, January 9, 2018 (initially published on In Gaza and Beyond as ‘Video Updates From Syria, Where Peace Reigns Nearly Fully Again’)
Note: This article and series of videos show realities we do not see in the western media. The US, NATO, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Turkey have been defeated in their brutal attempt to take over Syria. This is what life looks like in the capital city, Damascus, after dealing with terrorist attacks and mortars (supported by the US). Life is returning to normal. We hope the withdrawal from Syria announced by President Trump continues and pressure from neocons like his National Security Adviser John Bolton and other neocons is defeated. Patrick Coburn describes this conflict in the administration, the inaccurate media reporting in the US and the weak position of the US in Syria in this interview by Ben Norton of the Real News. We hope the report by Eva Bartlett reflects an ongoing reality of peace in Syria. Donate to Eva Bartlett’s work here. – Kevin Zeese
New Year’s Eve 2018 in Syria
Throughout the evening, I walked around Damascus neighborhoods, watching Syrians celebrate and talking with people, some of which I caught on camera.
This is a compilation of scenes from New Year’s Eve in Syria, where the pulse of life was stronger than I’ve ever seen over the years.
May 2019 bring full peace back to this beautiful country and its wonderful people.
Damascus Late 2018 Festive Atmosphere Without Terrorists’ Bombings
Some clips from al-Qassaa, Damascus, and Dweila, just before New Year’s Eve. Notice at the end, the photos of martyrs who died defending Syria. The martyrs are always present, around Syria. May their souls rest in peace and their loved ones be consoled by their heroism.
Mortars Which Terrorized Damascus Residents Fall No More
Reflecting on the terrorism Syrians faced for years, until the liberation of eastern Ghouta earlier this year, and how that liberation enabled Syrians to walk freely and celebrate without fear of being killed or maimed by terrorists’ mortars. As I noted on Twitter, in Dec 2015 I was in Syria. Syrians braved the streets in spite of risk terrorist mortars killing them. According to Dr. Zaher Hajo, head of forensics, as of early 2018, terrorists had already killed over 10,000 civilians in Damascus alone (later # higher).
RELATED links:
On the 2016 mortar attack on the Qamar al-Sham restaurant [LINK]
US-Backed Terrorism in Syria: A First-Hand Account of the Use of Mortars Against Civilians [LINK ]
University Hospital, Damascus: Meeting Victims of Western-backed Mortar and Rocket Terrorism [ LINK ]
”Three Year Old Girl Critically Injured by Terrorist Mortar, Syria, Feb 2015″ [ LINK ]
UN Feigns Outrage Over Eastern Ghouta While Terrorist Rockets Rain on Damascus [ LINK ]
Syrian: “It’s Because of Our Martyrs That Syria Has Risen From The Ashes”
Abu Rando has been a friend for a few years now; I’ve gotten to know his family, been welcomed in their home, and now share his sentiments about 2019, which include:
“This year was very special because for 8 years we’ve been devastated by war, but this year was a boost the spirits of Syrians. The Jasmine of Syria is lighting Syria again, lighting the capital city.
My family sacrificed for this country. My relatives were injured, I was injured. Two of my brothers were martyred by the terrorists. I dedicate this celebration to the martyrs, its because of them that Syria has risen again from the ashes.
We were facing over 130 countries which conspired against Syria. But we were stronger than those countries, thanks to our leadership and President Assad, and thanks to the people of Syria who were patriotic and wise enough to know that there was a conspiracy against our country.
When you come to Syria, you will see Christians and Muslims celebrating holidays together, united and facing the war the tried to divide us. We’ll always be here, this land is for us.”
Steel Artisan From Old Damascus On Life Without Terrorism
Revisiting Areas Mortared by Terrorists Before Peace Was Restored, Damascus
Walking around Old Damascus, revisiting sites where mortars rained down in previous years, seeing the difference now with peace in and around Damascus.
I Never Once Thought of Leaving Here–Patriotic Syrian Insisted to Stay in Syria, Despite Terrorists’ Bombings
A resident of the Bab Sharqi (East Gate) area of Old Damascus speaks of the mortars and other shells that terrorists used to fire on residential areas, noting that not only his shop–now a bar–was affected, but that his own home was hit three times.
He also mentions how early on in the war on Syria, the so-called “revolutionaries”, who the West insisted were mainly calling for democratic changes, used to come from eastern Ghouta to Old Damascus and point out which house they would occupy/steal, mistakenly thinking that Damascus would fall to the terrorist-“revolution.”
Not even one day did he feel that the government would fall, nor did he ever want to leave his area–because he had faith in the government, that it would defeat the terrorists.He is so patriotically-Syrian that he didn’t even want a Syrian passport because he has no intent to leave the country.
“I don’t have a passport, we are in the land of the Syrian Arab Republic and I have my Syrian I.D.”
Damascus Wood Worker: Traditions Continue, People Return
Fascinating wood artisan, old Damascus, January 2, 2019.
Pluralistic Syria Found In Damascus Shop Window
Hadi Nasrallah noted that in Lebanon only in the airport & touristic areas will you find multi-religious icons and items, whereas in Syria, pluralism is fabric of the society, and finding so many differing representations of faiths in one place–or indeed so many different faiths period in one place–is common.
One Evening in Secular Syria
The secular Syria the lamestream, terrorist-supporting media doesn’t want you to see. In Syria–all over Syria, not only in its capital Damascus, Muslims and Christians share one another’s festivities and holidays and interact without the sectarianism the West projects onto Syria. This sectarianism is true of Saudi Arabia, and other western client states, but not Syria. Syria is secular, independent and rich in traditions and culture.
Btw, this restaurant was nearly as full in 2016, at a time when terrorist mortars rained down on Damascus. Now, Syrians can enjoy life w/o fear of being murdered or maimed by mortars.
Herbal Medicine Man: “All The Countries All Around The World Participated in Destroying Syria”
In Rukn al-Din, Damascus, last night, came across this delightful herbal medicine man.
In addition to having wisdom about natural remedies (vs. pharmaceuticals), he has a wisdom about Syria, like most people I encounter.
“All the countries all around the world participated in destroying Syria.”
On President Assad:“He’s a good man. A good man, but they didn’t give him a chance to make progress.”
“They are mad people, stupid people, they thought that they are going to make a revolution, to make change for better, but, in my view they are stupid people. All the people laugh at them.”
Me (joking):“What kind of medicine would you give to someone who thinks there was a revolution in Syria?”
Him:“I recommend him to stop making a revolution and to support the government because we are all Syrians.”
(I was told, by the way, that Rukn al-Din is a primarily Sunni district. I only mention this to again counter the sectarian lie that Sunnis are against their president.)
Vanessa Beeley & Eva Bartlett in Syria: on Positive Developments (& Subsequent Media Silence)
Back in Syria around the same time, Vanessa and I discuss recent positive developments in Syria, the completely unsurprising silence of western corporate media on Syria’s progress towards full peace, and taking a principled and unapologetic stance against Imperialism and its wars against humanity.
As award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger said:
“Edward Bernays, the so-called father of public relations, wrote about an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. He was referring to journalism, the media. That was almost 80 years ago, not long after corporate journalism was invented. It’s a history few journalists talk about or know about, and it began with the arrival of corporate advertising.
As the new corporations began taking over the press, something called ‘professional journalism’ was invented. To attract big advertisers, the new corporate press had to appear respectable, pillars of the establishment, objective, impartial, balanced. The first schools of journalism were set up, and a mythology of liberal neutrality was spun around the professional journalists. The right to freedom of expression was associated with the new media.
…The whole thing was entirely bogus. For what the public didn’t know, was that in order to be professional, journalists had to ensure that news and opinion were dominated by official sources. And that hasn’t changed. Go through the New York Times on any day, and check the sources of the main political stories, domestic and foreign, and you’ll find that they’re dominated by governments and other establishment interests. That’s the essence of professional journalism.” [LINK]
Or, as he more recently wrote:
“…Although journalism was always a loose extension of establishment power, something has changed in recent years. Dissent tolerated when I joined a national newspaper in Britain in the 1960s has regressed to a metaphoric underground as liberal capitalism moves towards a form of corporate dictatorship. This is a seismic shift, with journalists policing the new “groupthink”, as Parry called it, dispensing its myths and distractions, pursuing its enemies.
…Complex stories are reported to a cult-like formula of bias, hearsay and omission: Brexit, Venezuela, Russia, Syria. On Syria, only the investigations of a group of independent journalists have countered this, revealing the network of Anglo-American backing of jihadists in Syria, including those related to ISIS.
…In what is known as a hatchet job, a Guardian reporter based in San Francisco, Olivia Solon, who has never visited Syria, was allowed to smear the substantiated investigative work of journalists Vanessa Beeley and Eva Bartlett on the White Helmets as “propagated online by a network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists and trolls with the support of the Russian government”.
This abuse was published without permitting a single correction, let alone a right-of-reply. The Guardian Comment page was blocked, as Edwards and Cromwell document….” [LINK]
Hadi Nasrallah on Anti-Syria Sentiments at SOAS & His Work to Educate People on Syria
In discussing his (increasingly successful) efforts to educate people and win hearts and minds to support Syria, Hadi describes being physically attacked for standing with Syria, and that police dubbed the attack “freedom of speech”. However, Hadi’s perseverance has meant a growing shift towards people supporting Syria.
Damascus Walks: Glimpses of Normal Life Without Terrorism
Going to do an errand in Damascus the other day, I walked alone (as I often do) from Bab Touma in the old city to nearby al-Marjeh, taking in the old markets and street life as I went, stopping for a bowl of fateh at a street restaurant, and walking back.
These scenes, this peace, would not be possible under the rule of the terrorists which the West dubbed “moderates”, thugs who literally starved populations wherever they ruled, who assassinated civilians in public squares, and who have recently, in Idlib, been killing one another. This is the West’s idea of democratic rulers? Syrians say otherwise, and in areas under the rule of the Syrian government, life is returning to as it was pre-2011.
In my 10 visits here since April 2014, I’ve heard from Syrians over and over again, ‘We just want Syria to return to how it was before’. Thanks to the Syrian Arab Army, Syria’s allies, the steadfast Syrian people, and Syria’s leadership, Syria is returning to a state of peace, against all obstacles and after the most powerful entities in the world conspired to divide and conquer Syria.
It’s a truly remarkable time to be in Syria.
More observations by Eva during her time in Syria:
