Daily life in Syria begins to return as new leaders work on building a functioning nation

Read the Full Transcript

• Amna Nawaz:

  Now to Syria.

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan today and Turkey tonight meeting with leaders of two crucial Syrian neighbors. And within Syria, an American was found as the prisons are emptied. Many people initially thought he was journalist Austin Tice, believed to be held in Syria the last 12 years.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Instead, we now know it is Travis Timmerman from Missouri, detained earlier this year by the former regime on what he called a religious pilgrimage for which he would later write a book. Tice's whereabouts remain unknown.

  Apart from the joy and relief the mundane, but vital work of making a country function is job number one for many.

  Simona Foltyn reports now on that huge task and the mess the Assad family left behind.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Outside Syria's Central Bank, a new police unit is in charge. Almost overnight, Syria's security institutions have melted away, from the feared intelligence agencies down to the traffic police.

  Abbas Sheikh is from Idlib, the northern province from where the rebels launched their lightning offensive.

• ABBAS SHEIKH, Traffic Police (through interpreter):

  The liberation happened Sunday morning. We arrived from Idlib in the afternoon and immediately took over to protect the public and private facilities, to protect the people, to facilitate things and to receive the people's complaints.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Days after Bashar al-Assad's overthrow, the capital appears to be functioning. Streets are getting busier by the day. Shops and government institutions are slowly returning to work.

  The opposition has taken over government institutions in the capital, Damascus, and has begun the task of governing the country, using its experience in Idlib as a blueprint. But administrating a whole country, as opposed to a province, is quite a different matter, and it remains to be seen how easily it can be scaled.

  In front of the municipality, Assad's picture lies on the floor for passersby to step on. Fighters from the leading rebel faction, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, guard the building. Inside, we meet Syria's newly minted deputy minister of local administrations, in charge of providing services across the country.

  Mohammed Yasser Ghazal is also the acting governor of Damascus province.

• Mohammed Yasser Ghazal, Deputy Minister, Local Administration:

  I'm Syrian from Aleppo. I'm a civil engineer. Then, I have worked in Saudi Arabia for two years. Then, God bless me, I joined the revolution in 2014. I traveled to Syria in 2014.

• Simona Foltyn:

  So, what is this government called now?

• Mohammed Yasser Ghazal (through interpreter):

  The government of the Syrian Arab Republic.

• Simona Foltyn:

  So no more HTS?

• Mohammed Yasser Ghazal (through interpreter):

  HTS was one of the factions that was part of the liberation. And after liberation, no factions remain. These were a tool for a certain period, and they won't remain. We have transitioned from the revolutionary phase to the phase of statehood.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Do you that think you have the experience and capabilities to run a country?

• Mohammed Yasser Ghazal (through interpreter):

  Yes. During the previous period, from 2018 from the formation of the salvation government until 2024, the date of the liberation, we have gained a lot of experience. Before the revolution, Idlib was called the forgotten Idlib. It was very poor.

  We provided electricity. Idlib, which has four million inhabitants, we are providing 24 hours of electricity, without any cuts. Entire networks were built, thousands of kilometers of asphalt, infrastructure, sewage.

• Simona Foltyn:

  What are the challenges you face in scaling your work?

• Mohammed Yasser Ghazal (through interpreter):

  The challenges are immense. Unfortunately, we only received the remnants of a state. There was a ruling league or gang, and people of all sects and religions remained crushed.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Ghazal is holding daily meetings with the staff to get services up and running. At first glance, it appears to be an inclusive approach, a drastic change compared to Assad's draconian rule.

  Hala Halla has worked here for decades and is stunned by the transformation.

• Hala Halla, Syrian Civil Servant (through interpreter):

  I have been working here for 28 years, and I never entered the office of the governor. Yesterday was the first time I entered. I was amazed at the office, at the hall.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Under Assad's rule, the sole purpose of the state was to protect those in power. Bureaucrats like Hala weren't given the authority or resources to serve the Syrian people.

• Hala Halla (through interpreter):

  We were receiving requests from the citizens, but we couldn't record them unless we got the approval from inside that office. We would raise a problem. Nobody would answer.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Now that he's gone, the full extent of Assad's corruption is coming to light. State resources were stolen, siphoned off into the pockets of the ruling family and their loyalists. Civil servants only earned around $20 per day, and even had to purchase their own supplies, creating fertile ground for petty corruption.

• Hala Halla (through interpreter):

  We didn't have papers. We would have to even purchase our own pens. The couriers delivering the post had to pay for their own transport. This is what caused corruption, because the employees couldn't afford to pay rent or feed their children.

• Simona Foltyn:

  Hala has been told that salaries will be raised. But it's too soon to tell if the new government will deliver on its many promises for this new Syria.

  For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Simona Foltyn in Damascus, Syria.

Improved audio player available on our mobile page