Leila Fadel
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
I'm Leila Falzel in Damascus with Stephen Skeap in Washington, and this is Up First from NPR News. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying one more time for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
In the past few days, we've watched many Syrians break into impromptu dance parties in the street. But in that joy over their newfound freedom, there is also grief and desperation for the families of the tens of thousands of people who disappeared under Bashar al-Assad's rule and the hundreds of thousands killed in a civil war.
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Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And then there are people who are worried what the new leadership might do to them.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Yeah, I mean, Assad really leaned on religious and ethnic minorities and marginalized communities to shore up support against the opposition, stoking fears that they would be even more oppressed if the most extreme within his opponents rose to the top. And because Alawites are of the same sect as Esed, it's an offshoot of Shia Islam, they dominated the top ranks of the military and intelligence.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
There's this assumption that the community was more loyal to Esed than others in Syria. So now they feel like they could pay the price for Esed and his top loyalist crimes against Syrians when they lived under the same oppression that other Syrians lived under.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
In short, no. I mean, the elite are a tiny sliver of an otherwise really poor community. And Assad's loyalists, the elite in Syria... We're Sunni, we're Halawite, we're Christian. And it's evident, this poverty, as soon as you drive into the Meza 86 neighborhood in Damascus that's in the shadow of Bashar al-Assad's palace.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Right away, you see the cinderblock homes, the electric wires tangled and hanging in the narrow alleys. The pot holds streets. A lot of families here say Alawites stayed in military service because the Assad family gave them no other economic choices. Listen to what Ibrahim Issa, who runs a perfume shop in the area, said.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And if you could see Issa, I mean, he was so excited that Assad is gone. He had this twinkle in his eyes and what seemed like an incurable smile because he can finally leave his neighborhood. He was evading military service for two years because he didn't want to fight fellow Syrians. That military service is mandatory.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Some people aren't sure how much to celebrate the fall of Syria's government.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Which is something American diplomats have said many times before. What makes this time any different?
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And because conscripts are paid next to nothing to fight for this regime, that gave them next to nothing. So he couldn't risk getting snatched up at a checkpoint.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
I mean, in a word, no, not in this neighborhood. When the rebel fighters first came to their neighborhood, they were polite and peaceful, people in the area told me. They took away weapons from soldiers and told them, go home, now you're civilians. The new leadership has said they will be protected and part of a new Syria, but they're still scared.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
This is a community that had both soldiers in Assad's army and people fighting with the rebels. They've bled in this country's civil war on both sides. The community was also targeted with bombings by extremists, including in this neighborhood. And now they're starting to see threats on Facebook, warning Alawites that revenge killings are coming.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
One showed me a video of an Alawite shrine that he said was recently burned outside of Damascus. And it is showing up not from leadership but in their daily lives. I met a man who is engaged to a Sunni Arab woman and the family loved him until Esed fled. Now some have turned on him and don't want him in the family because of his religious sect.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And another woman is having a neighborhood dispute about the pipes leaking in her apartment from the apartment above. And that neighbor is Sunni. And now she leans out the window and taunts them, saying, where are the Alawites? The tables have turned. So there's definitely apprehension and concern that they'll become scapegoats. But they hope that fear is just that, fear of the unknown.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
You're welcome, Steve. There's renewed hope for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
NPR's diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kellerman joins us now from Tel Aviv. Good morning, Michelle. Good morning, Leila. So we've heard many, many times that negotiations are underway, are intense, and there's optimism that a possible deal is afoot and then no deal. What are you hearing from U.S. officials that makes it different this time?
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
So what do we know about this deal that's emerging and the sticking points?
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And you're there in Israel. What are you hearing from family members of some of the hundred hostages still being held in Gaza? Are they optimistic?
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
What have you heard from Palestinians in Gaza who are living under these airstrikes and in this war about a possible ceasefire and hostage detainee exchange?
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
NPR's diplomatic correspondent, Michelle Kellerman. Thank you, Michelle.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And I'm Leila Faldin. We here at Up First give you three big stories of the day. Our Consider This colleagues take a different approach. They dive into a single news story and what it means to you in just 15 minutes. Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.