War-weary Syrians merely shrug at Trump’s military threats

For Reem, impending US-led military action against her country is unlikely to affect the flow of life in the Syrian capital. “For the past few months, we have slept amid the sounds of bombs during fighting in nearby Eastern Ghouta,” says the Damascus resident, referring to an enclave that government forces have wrested back from rebels.

“What will change if the US bombs us now? Only the bombs will be louder a bit,” the 49-year-old mother cynically tells dpa.

Reem lives in the vicinity of the heavily guarded presidential palace in Damascus.

But in the streets of the capital, one can see the traffic thinning out in the evening, as people anticipate US airstrikes.

US President Donald Trump has accused the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of carrying out a deadly chemical attack in the once-rebel-held town of Douma in Eastern Douma last week.

Damascus and its key ally, Russia, have denied the charges.

The threat of military action against Syria has prompted authorities in Damascus to take precautionary measures, including reducing the numbers of employees reporting to work at civil institutions, according to sources close to the government.

“I am still carrying on with my daily life,” the engineering student said.

“I go to my classes and go out with my friends. Nothing has changed,” Ghassan added.

Alaa Yehia, a Damascus resident, dismisses Trump’s threats as a “mere stage play.”

“We are living in a wait-and-see state,” Ibrahim Ali, 29, said.

“Life is normal in Damascus during the daytime, but, at night, people are keen to stay indoors,” he told dpa.

Al-Assad appeared at ease at a meeting on Thursday in Damascus with a senior Iranian official.

Al-Assad warned that any US-led military action against his country will threaten international peace.

Syria and Russia have called on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate after the Syrian opposition and medical groups said more than 40 people died in last week’s suspected chemical attack on Douma.

Videos circulating on social media showed dead children, pale and frothing at the mouth, sending shock waves around the world.

However, some opposition activists are sceptical about the Western agenda in Syria.

“I do not count on the Western world any more for punishing al-Assad,” said activist Nour Adam, who was recently displaced from Eastern Ghouta under a Russian-brokered evacuation deal.

“They [the West] give fiery speeches, but do nothing in order to stop the killing machine against the Syrian people,” he told dpa by phone from northern Syria.

Al-Assad’s forces have regained full control of Eastern Ghouta, a former opposition stronghold, due to a sustained military campaign and evacuation agreements with rebels.

Some opposition groups have condemned these deals as forced displacement.

To Yehia al-Aridi, the spokesman for the Syrian opposition’s negotiating committee, “all possibilities” are open when trying to figure out which targets might be struck in the threatened military action.

“But they should target the hands of this war machine, which has caused all these sufferings to the Syrian people,” he said, pointing the finger at al-Assad.

“No one likes to call on a foreign force to strike his country, but those responsible for tragedies in Syria must be punished,” al-Aridi told dpa.

Activist Mazen al-Shami, displaced from Douma to Aleppo in northern Syria, has his doubts.

“Al-Assad killed my relatives and neighbours. He displaced me and my family from my home and my land, but no one has lifted a finger,” al-Shami said.

“I am sure he will also escape punishment this time as he did before.”