The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuan and Wang Lunyu
[Editor's note]
started in Tunisia and started a prairie fire in Egypt , Libya and even Syria and Iraq . The "Arab Spring" in the entire Middle East and North Africa has passed. Ten years. Although ten years may not be enough time to draw a conclusion on its final impact, there is no doubt that the bloody war it triggered has brought endless fear and uneasiness to the Middle East, and even the world. The chaos in the Middle East and North Africa has brought disaster to the Xiaoqiang and the world.
On this occasion, the International Department of The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) will launch a special report on the 10th anniversary of the "Arab Spring" from December 23, presenting how the decade since 2011 has changed from multiple dimensions It analyzes individuals, countries and the Arab world, and sorts out and looks forward to the pattern, current situation and future of Arab countries and the world ten years after the "Arab Spring" for the benefit of readers.
Under the dome made of gray and white stone, rows of simple wooden benches are arranged neatly. The rubble on the ground has not been cleaned up, and the air is filled with the smell of dust. A candle standing on the altar cast a faint light, illuminating the Orthodox icon hanging on the repainted white wall. The atmosphere here became tense.
"My uncle was the first person to die in this town. He fell in the square outside the door." One day in February 2019, the newly rebuilt Shengde Church in Maaloula Town, Rural Damascus Province, Syria At the Convent of St. Thecla, Syrian Yusuf Saada told The Paper about a past event. It was a clear day and the wind was blowing fiercely in the valley. In the sacred building under the shade of the cave, Yusuf's voice echoed, calm and solemn.
The Convent of St. Thecla in Maloula was destroyed during the war and later rebuilt. The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuantu
Located among the towering cliffs in the mountains north of Damascus , Maaloula is one of the oldest Christian settlements in the world. The name means "entrance" in Aramaic - this is a This language has survived for more than 3,000 years. It is considered to be the daily language of Jews in the time of Jesus Christ, and it is also preserved by the residents of the town to this day. Before the Syrian war, this town attracted thousands of tourists every year, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the late Venezuelan leader Chavez.
However, since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, blood and violence have caused the pilgrims in the town to disappear for a time. From September 2013 to April 2014, the ancient town lying in the quiet valley experienced eight months of fighting. The extremist organization "Nusra Front" tried to overthrow Syrian President Assad with arms. Occupy this place. What Yusuf and other Maaloula residents did not expect was that the people who led the enemies into their homes were their Muslim neighbors who once lived with them.
Today, even as reconstruction efforts continue, Maalula bears the mark of war indelibly, its wounds exposed in the valley's winds—churches, icons, murals and sculptures that are thousands of years old have been inhumanely destroyed. Different kinds of brutal destruction, the bumpy roads are littered with the rusty car bodies left after car explosions, the surfaces of buildings with roofs torn off are covered with bullet holes, and there is an occasional empty window without glass, revealing the past existence of snipers. message.
In March 2011, the so-called "Arab Spring" wave that swept across North Africa spread to West Asia. Protests triggered by stagnant economic development and rigid political systems gradually spread to all parts of Syria. The protesters initially demanded democratic reforms by the Assad government, but the massive protests soon ignited conflicts among various sects and ethnic groups in Syria. Under the influence of various internal and external factors, the riots that lasted for several months eventually escalated into a A war that dragged on for ten years.
Car wreckage left behind by the war. The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuan Picture
By 2013, various armed groups had appeared across the country.Those who appear as opposition forces include not only Turkey and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) supported by Gulf countries, but also the Nusra Front (Editor's note: later renamed), which is associated with Al Qaeda. As the "Sham Front", it was originally the branch of "Al Qaeda" in Syria. It announced its separation in 2016, and some members of the "Free Syrian Army" switched to its command).
In the following eight years, the Syrian government forces, with the support of Russia and other countries, reversed the decline in the early stages of the war and gradually defeated opposition armed forces and extremist organizations. At present, the Syrian civil war has come to an end, and the dawn of peace has appeared. Although the war is about to be extinguished, countless small towns like Maloula remain as "witnesses" to painful memories. Everything is in ruins and wounds are everywhere. Although ten years of bloody violence have made the Syrian people despise war, the root contradictions that sparked the conflict have never been eliminated. As a microcosm of Syria, Maloula provides another narrative about the Syrian war - as a multi-ethnic country, sectarian divisions, ethnic conflicts and the rise of religious extremist forces have profoundly affected Syria's nation-state construction. After ten years of war, Syria’s social fabric appears to be further torn apart. Can it heal in the future?
The Lost Virgin Mary
In Maloula, faith is an organic component of history and daily life.
"Of course, we were born, lived and died in Maalula." The owner of the small shop at the entrance of the town shrugged a little shyly, and took out a bottle of plainly packaged red wine from the cellar, "We drink our own wine. Wine, full story Leah thinks it is of the best quality.”
Following Yusuf’s footsteps along the way up the store, you will pass two prestigious religious buildings: the Monastery of St. Decla (Antioch Greek Orthodox Church) and Mar. Sarkis Church (Mar Sarkis, Melkite Greek Catholic Church). They are surrounded by walls that are thousands of years old, and the weather-beaten walls still bear the scars of the fighting in September 2013.
Yusuf graduated from the Department of Medicine at Damascus University and is the only dentist in the town. He knows everyone's stories in the town and has become the "spokesperson" of the town because he can speak English. He told The Paper that in 2013, armed men who broke into Maloula desecrated and destroyed almost all religious artifacts. Some of them gouged out the eyes of religious figures from historic icons and mosaic murals, and then set them on fire. Its burning. One day, the statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the town also disappeared.
The picture shows the destroyed icon. The Paper reporter Wang Lunyu Yu Xiaoxuan Picture
“The terrorists blew her up.” Yusuf said while standing next to the statue of Santa Maria on the top of the mountain. Maria, with a downcast face, stands at the top of the town, slightly spreading her arms to protect her residents - this is a recreated statue in 2015 by the foundation of Mrs. AssadAsma Assad Donate to build. If you ask other people in the town, they will all say without hesitation that those who destroyed the statue of Santa Maria "were not the opposition" but "they were indeed terrorists."
The Virgin Mary sculpture on the top of the mountain. The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuan Picture
"We have seen the faces of most of them. What surprised us is that they used to be thieves and criminals, but in 2011, they suddenly became members of the 'Free Syrian Army'." You Sufou said that the scene was chaotic, and many militants who had previously claimed to be the "Free Syrian Army" also joined the fighting. "They kidnapped many people and demanded ransom. They even stole our phones, maybe to make bombs..."
Abdul Haddad, a Syrian political scientist and head of the Melkite Catholic Church in Maloula, also told The Paper, "We must emphasize that the so-called The 'moderate' Free Syrian Army is their main partner (the attackers of Maloula). There is no distinction between the 'moderate' groups and the extremist factions."
public reports show that on September 4, 2013, a suicide bomber drove a truck near the Syrian government army checkpoint at the entrance to Maloula. After the attacker blew himself up, he came from" Militants from the Nusra Front and other organizations took control of the checkpoint. In the following days, they occupied the "Diplomat Hotel" on the top of the mountain and used it as their base camp. After several rounds of fierce confrontations, in April 2014, with the help of Lebanese Hezbollah forces, the Syrian government forces recaptured the "Diplomat Hotel" on the top of Maaloula. It was once a place where tourists stayed. During the war, it was used as a base camp by the "Nusra Front", and the outside of the bombed-out building was overgrown with grass. Yu Xiaoxuan Tu
Local government soldiers who participated in this battle said that at least 200 Syrian government soldiers died within 8 months, at least 4 of them were brutally beheaded by terrorists, and three more were brutally beheaded by terrorists at the end of the battle. Lebanese reporter working for Hezbollah-owned media "Lighthouse TV" (Al-Manar TV) was attacked and killed by the "Nusra Front"
"Malula represents the coexistence of the Syrian people. "On the anniversary of the town's recovery, the Patriarch of Maloula said in a commemorative speech of the war, "This town is not particularly important militarily and strategically. They destroyed the town to send a strong message - they had attacked a symbol of Christianity. ”
The altar of the Convent of St. Thecla, the wall has been damaged. The Paper reporter Wang Lunyu Picture
Lebanese media reported that members of the "Nusra Front" are considered to be the most active traders in the antique black market in the Middle East. They smuggled a large number of ancient icons, sculptures, crosses and other holy objects from Syria to Lebanon and then shipped them abroad . Interpol stated that hundreds of Marula artifacts were shipped to Europe, with the main destinations being Turkey and Italy.
"This is not a 'revolution', this is a group of terrorists attacking our historic culture. If we If we don't submit to them, they will kill us. Yusuf never agreed with the term "Syrian Civil War". He complained about this unjust war for him, "They are supported by Europe and the West. They think they are fighting for freedom, but their The purpose is to force Christians like us to migrate to other countries and destroy everything that belongs to Christianity. ”
According to the 2004 census, the population of Maloula is about 2,000. However, many residents had moved away at the beginning of the war, and now many dilapidated houses are empty. Except on some religious festivals, Maloula’s The atmosphere is deserted. Since 2015, United Nations agencies, , Russia and other countries have been inactive. Lula provided some assistance, and some non-governmental organizations associated with the Christian Church from France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and other places also sent volunteers to come here from thousands of miles away. Malula began a long reconstruction. .
"Defender of Christians"
In addition to religious icons, the most common thing seen in Maaloula is the photo of President Assad.
On April 21, 2014, the first Easter after the recapture of Maaloula was rarely seen outside Damascus. Assad appeared here on Syrian state television . In the picture, Assad inspected the destroyed religious relics and expressed condolences to the government officers and soldiers stationed in the town. When Assad was about to leave in a car, dozens of excited local residents surrounded him tightly. They shook hands with each other. The photo recording this scene was hung in the most conspicuous place at the entrance square of the town.
"He is an angel and the defender of Christians." The shop owner gave a thumbs up, with an icon hanging above his head and a photo of Assad walking side by side with Russian President Putin .
Photo on the counter of a shop in Maloula , the top is the icon, the bottom is Syrian President Assad, and the picture of Assad and Putin on the right is The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuan.
The rise of extremism in Syria has solidified Assad's image of "standing with minorities." According to the London-based "Middle East Eye", Fabrice Balanchine, an expert on the political geography of the Middle East and author of "The Alawite Region and Syrian Power", believes that Assad Germany "uses" religious minorities to "build its own political system."
Christians are a minority group in Syria, accounting for only about 10% of the total population. The Assad family also comes from a minority group. They believe in Islam Alawite (علوية), which is a branch of Shia Islam founded in the 9th century AD. It recognizes the fourth orthodoxy of Islam. Caliph Ali (عليّ بن أبي طالب) received this name as the "incarnation of God". However, because of its belief in the legend of "soul reincarnation" and its refusal to build exclusive mosques, it has long been regarded as heresy by Sunnis and even other Shia sects. Alawites have long been concentrated in the mountainous areas on the border between Syria and Lebanon and in coastal areas such as Latakia and Tartus, accounting for only 12% of the Syrian population.
In addition, there are Shiites, Ismailis, Druze and other minority groups in Syria. Sunni Muslims are the majority in Syria, accounting for nearly 70% of the country's population. During the French colonial rule of Syria in the 1920s, France deliberately instigated independence in areas inhabited by minority groups in order to split anti-French forces and suppress the development of Arab nationalism. This also laid the groundwork for various regional issues in the future.
Since the Arab Baath Party came to power in Syria in 1963 and the Assad family seized the leadership of the Baath Party in 1970, the Syrian government has implemented a secularization policy and adopted secular "Baathism" to advocate "Arab national unity." However, most of the powerful figures in the Baath Party and the Syrian army are Alawites, which has always made the Sunnis, the majority of the population, dissatisfied.
As a representative political force of Sunnis, the "Muslim Brotherhood", a political party with strong religious overtones, was active in Syria as early as the 1930s and was once supported by a large number of Sunni people. Similar to the Muslim Brotherhood in several other Middle Eastern countries, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria also hopes to establish a theocratic religious conservative regime. This has led to conflicts with the Alawite ruling group that promotes Arab nationalism and has a secular overtone. Irreconcilable conflict. “Alawis go to their graves, Christians go to Beirut!” This sentence was one of the slogans shouted by the Syrian opposition during protests in 2011.
Because of this, the Syrian government has long classified religious affairs as a national security category. As early as the era of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad (old Assad), the government was vigilantly examining the emergence of the dregs of political Islam at the end of the Cold War. To some extent, in order to "prepare for a rainy day", officials with Baath Party background tried to "bureaucratize" Sunni religious organizations. To this end, security personnel who were close to the old Assad were directly placed everywhere to help religious organizations. The Ministry of Religious Endowment monitors activities in the religious field and determines important local religious personnel arrangements.
Old City of Damascus, Syria The Paper reporter Wang Lunyu Picture
Such methods will inevitably arouse dissatisfaction among the Sunni people, who make up the majority of the Syrian population, and the changes in the current situation have given the Muslim Brotherhood the opportunity to incite anti-Alawite ruling groups. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution broke out in Iran and the Pahlavi dynasty fell. In the same year, the Soviet Union's armed invasion of Afghanistan aroused widespread resistance in the Islamic world, and religious fundamentalism also took advantage of the situation. It was during this year that the Muslim Brotherhood secretly supported and instigated a wave of demonstrations, strikes, and even riots that spread almost throughout Syria. In the following years, the situation in Syria deteriorated rapidly, and bloody incidents occurred frequently.
In February 1982, some members of the Muslim Brotherhood armed themselves and occupied the city of Hama, which has a large Sunni population. More than 70 local Baath Party members were directly executed by armed militants, and Hama was completely out of control of the central government.The elder Assad was greatly shocked and immediately assigned his younger brother to lead several divisions of troops to suppress the riots. With the help of thunder , Hama returned to government control a few weeks later, but large areas of the city were reduced to rubble. According to senior American journalist and travel writer Robert Kaplan, in addition to thousands of combatants from both sides, more than 10,000 civilians were killed in the crossfire. After this battle, the relationship between the Syrian government and Sunnis continued to deteriorate.
In order to reduce the risk of separatism, starting in the 1980s, the Syrian regime led by the Baath Party implemented "" Arabization” policy. A large number of Arabs who were moved to the local area were of lower social class, and some even belonged to the extremely poor class. They came to live in the local area in a hurry, lacked local foundation, and their income and education level were low. Naturally, it was easy for them to form groups according to religious sects, which would facilitate the development of religious extremist organizations in the local area in the future.
At the same time, in order to ease tensions with Sunnis and religious conservatives to a certain extent, the old Assad government also relaxed some control measures on religious activities in a bribery manner. Kaplan visited Aleppo, Damascus and other places in the late 1990s and found that the local religious atmosphere had rebounded compared to the 1970s. The Syrian government had built many new mosques to appease the fundamentalists who had been attacked. ists. However, he also observed that although the space for activities has become larger in recent years, religious people have maintained a certain low-key dress and do not overly highlight their religious identity.
“If there is still a fundamentalist movement in Syria now (referring to the late 1990s), it must be well disguised and will never expose itself until the (Assad) government shows signs of vulnerability. ” he predicted.
Neighbors and Enemies
Kaplan hit the mark. After the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, religious extremism that had been dormant for decades suddenly resurfaced, bringing unprecedented catastrophe to Syria and its people who were in chaos.
Although Maaloula is a historically Christian town, it has also been home to a small number of Muslims over the years. According to Yusuf, after the "Nusra Front" entered the town in 2011, it forced the residents to convert to Islam. If they did not submit, they would be threatened with death. The person who initially led the way for the "Nusra Front" It turned out to be some Muslim neighbors of local Christians. Other local residents said that after the attack on Maloula, every "terrorist organization" claimed that "it had a share", and people from nearby Muslim-inhabited villages also came here to participate in the destruction of the ruins, and they received "Nus" as a result. Pull the Front” reward.
"We lived together for hundreds of years without any problems until some residents went to Qatar and Saudi Arabia to live." Another Maloula resident named George Lihan told the British NGO that came to help. Volunteers with the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) noted that "they came back here with their sectarian tendencies and tensions developed."
overlooking Maaloula. The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuan Picture
Before the so-called “Arab Spring”, the risk of extremist thoughts mainly came from outside Syria, especially the Gulf countries. Traditionally, the Syrian government has relied on the power of the Sufi "stronghold" Aleppo and the capital Damascus to supervise Islamic affairs. There are some long-established religious schools in these areas, which until the 1990s were popular places for nearby residents to study religion. place. However, it was also in the 1990s that Salafism gained an increasingly wider audience in Syria (Editor’s note: Salafism is a conservative religious sect that originated in the Middle Ages and advocates the strict observance of the Holy Quran and the Holy Spirit. "Tradition", with special emphasis on purifying beliefs, respecting scriptures and sacred scriptures. Wahhabism originated in the Arabian Peninsula in the 18th century and became the forerunner of modern Salafism.) Many Syrians working and living in the Gulf countries have returned to the country. It brought back some of the more radical Salafi ideas. Some satellite TV channels with backgrounds in the Gulf countries began to broadcast religious programs, and many of their viewers were Syrians.
Shortly after Assad came to power, the "Arab Spring" broke out, and Islam itself in Syria began to divide. According to Hedar Khadour, a scholar at the Carnegie Center for Middle East Studies in Beirut, from the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011 to the present, the distribution structure of Sunnis across Syria has undergone "fundamental changes." Sunnis living inside and outside the government-controlled areas have actually been divided into two types of believers - Sunnis in the areas controlled by the Syrian government support the Assad government, while those outside the controlled areas oppose the Assad government.
In fact, in 2011, anti-Assad protests on the streets of Syria often revolved around mosques that were not controlled by the government and more active local religious figures. In the small city of Tal near Damascus, protesters initially gathered around the mosque controlled by the more powerful Arnus family in the area, while avoiding the large mosque monitored by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. In May of that year, after the protests became more intense, demonstrators also conveyed their political demands to the Syrian authorities through the Arnus family.
During the Syrian war, the Assad government tried to continue to view religious issues from a "securitization" perspective and strongly encouraged the spread of specific religious interpretations that were considered to be beneficial to national security. Religious figures who supported the government Also be promoted. However, in areas that have long been controlled by the opposition, radicalization has become increasingly intense.
Damascus Old City Market. The Paper reporter Yu Xiaoxuan's picture
At the same time, according to the research on Salafist activities in Syria's wartime by French scholar Thomas Piet, author of "Religion and State in Syria: Sunni Ulema from Coup to Revolution", These local mosques with close ties to the political opposition are often influenced by Salafist networks originating in the Gulf countries, which directly finance Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam. al-Islam) and other Salafi ideological armed groups.
"It depends on where you go, if you go to Idlib you will hear different answers." Palestine who works for Al Jazeera Journalist Khaldun told The Paper. Khaldun was a Palestinian refugee who was forced to move to Syria and holds a Syrian passport.
Xinhua News Agency data shows that the current population of Idlib Province is about 4 million people - this is the last stronghold of the opposition. Here, although the war has been "frozen", many people are still staunch opponents of Assad. March 15 this year marked the 10th anniversary of the outbreak of anti-government protests in Syria's "Arab Spring". At that time, protesters in Idlib took to the streets again. "The people want the regime to collapse!" Their slogans were still the same as those ten years ago. Nothing has changed.
In addition to the Turkish-backed opposition armed National Liberation Front (NLF), the main armed groups active in Idlib also include the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has been recognized as a terrorist organization by many countries. "Sra Front" merged with several other small terrorist organizations), "Hurras al-Din" loyal to "Al Qaeda" and the "Turkic Islamic Party" (TIP), and there are sometimes conflicts between different groups. A fight breaks out. According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2020, the "Sham Liberation Organization" also established a civil administration agency called the "Salvation Government" in Idlib with thousands of employees.
Across the northern border of Syria, the narrative of the war is telling another version. In Gaziantep, on Türkiye's southwest border, Syrian refugee Mia (pseudonym) worries that she will never be able to return to her homeland. She told The Paper that Assad's name would always evoke painful memories for her. During an air strike by Syrian government forces against rebels in Homs Province, Mia's mother and sister died under a collapsed wall, while her brother is still "fighting for freedom" in Idlib.
Bombed buildings on the outskirts of Damascus.The Paper reporter Wang Lunyutu
Hadur believes that the bloody conflict that has lasted for ten years has undoubtedly greatly separated the religious identities of Syrian cities and villages, government forces and opposition-controlled areas, especially the Sunni identity has been completely Reshaping, the old Sufi-dominated pattern under government supervision was completely broken, and fierce competition emerged among multiple religious sects.
Former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford, who was attacked by the British media for speaking out in support of the Assad government, also admitted to The Paper that despite years of war and peace of mind, the Syrian government has once again occupied most of the country. It cannot be said that the Syrian government has regained control over religious affairs.
In Maaloula, efforts to rebuild lives continue. Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, there are fewer volunteers here, many houses in the town have not been built, and occasional interruptions in power supply will hinder reconstruction and normal life. Yusuf said the town now lacks necessary medical equipment, and he charged, "Countries that support terrorism are now killing us with sanctions."
At present, residents have begun to prepare for the New Year. In addition to festive decorations, the town is dotted with Syrian flags.
"Whether we are Sunni, Shia, Alawite, Druze, Orthodox or Catholic, we are all Syrians." Abdul Haddad, whose ancestors lived in Maloula, has a Wishes, "May we first admit that we are Syrians."
Editor in charge: Hu Zhenqing Picture editor: Zhang Tongze
Proofreader: Liu Wei
