Almost daily we see photos and videos of the horrific destruction in Syria that is the result of four years of war. Bombed houses, streets littered with ruins, destroyed infrastructure. Vast areas of the country were captured by the group “ Islamic State”, which establishes Sharia law where a couple of years ago there was not even a hint of fundamentalism. Until recently, Syria developed as a secular state, open to the world, where it never occurred to anyone to blow up monuments of ancient architecture. It is precisely such a country - Syria of the 2000s of the 21st century, not yet torn by war - that is shown in the Ruposters photo collection.
2007 Balloon over Damascus - one of the oldest existing cities on Earth. Today, such a ball would be used not for admiring the beauty of the Syrian capital, but for adjusting artillery fire.
August 2006. A busy market in the Syrian capital.
August 2008. Shepherd in northeast Syria.
July 2008. Showcase of the Syrian fashion designer's summer collection in Damascus.
2000s. Souk Hamidiya Market. The largest market in Damascus, existing since ancient times.
October 2008. A dervish dancer from the Aleppo ensemble performs in Damascus.
March 2006. Carpet production at a bazaar in the historical center of Aleppo.
2000s. Umayyad Mosque. Muslims from all over the world flocked to this shrine.
2003 Syrian chefs prepare a marzipan and pistachio cake weighing four tons at a stadium in Aleppo. Then the Syrians broke the Dutch record by preparing a pie measuring 200 square meters.
Leisure time of a Christian family on the roof of a house in Maaloula.
Damascus. Children during the holiday of Eid al-Fitr (Eid al-Fitr).
Meeting at the market in Damascus.
View of the ancient citadel of Aleppo from the balcony of one of the houses. Now the citadel is occupied by government troops, and positional battles are being waged for the surrounding areas. Most likely, both the house and the balcony from which the photo was taken have already been destroyed.
Representatives of the Syrian culinary academy having lunch in one of the restaurants in Aleppo, which was considered its “gastronomic pearl”.
One of the markets in Aleppo. Aleppo (Aleppo) for many centuries was one of largest centers trade in the Middle East. The many markets are proof of this, which was clear until the moment when the city was overrun by jihadists.
Syrian Bedouins.
Children on swings in the center of Damascus.
The city of Maarat al-Numan in northwestern Syria. The girl looks with interest at young man. Today similar photo it is impossible to do: the city lives according to Sharia laws established by the Islamists, and girls are supposed to look strictly at the ground.
Bakers joke with each other at a market in Aleppo. Back then, no one could have imagined that soon on the city streets they would be aiming at people not with “pistols,” but with real weapons brought into the country with Saudi Arabia’s money.
Ancient Palmyra is one of the many tourist “Meccas” of Syria. Now it is controlled by IS militants, who dispose of the cultural property at their discretion.
Traders in Aleppo. Unlike the last decade, now is the most hot commodity in the city - weapons and ammunition.
Casino in Damascus. Today, Islamists of all stripes prohibit not only gambling of any kind, but also any entertainment - be it music or dancing.
A Syrian girl in the capital's Umayyad Mosque. Life in the country moved in a secular direction and no one could think of the idea of forcing a woman to walk the streets in the same clothes that Muslim women wore in the 7th century.
More recently, foreign tourists could be seen in the country. Now foreigners on Syrian territory are either war correspondents, military advisers, or thugs who came “to jihad” from all over the world.
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Today, Syria is on everyone’s lips: the number of air sorties, bombings, destroyed bases, etc. And we visited there shortly before the start of the war, when, it would seem, nothing was foreshadowed. The country was considered relatively calm and safe - for the Middle East, of course. Because when Chief Editor Muslim TV channel Al-RTV Rustam Arifjanov invited several friends to fly to Syria for the weekend for his birthday, there were no refuseniks. Aeroflot flew there twice a week, tickets were inexpensive, visas were issued at the border.
Syria was great. Secular, civilized Damascus, where Christians and Muslims lived without much conflict. Nightclubs, shops, water parks. At night the city glowed with lights no worse than any Dubai. Fountains roared in the closed courtyards of the caravanserais. In the restaurants of the Christian district of Bab Tuma (we nicknamed it Baba Dunya, it’s easier to remember) there is a wide selection of wines, the average bill is 20 dollars. Girls in jeans and miniskirts (although they also wore hijabs). We smoked hookah in cafes, sunbathed in swimsuits in pools - that’s the East for you. And there is no personality cult of President Assad - in any case, there were fewer portraits of him on the streets than, for example, presidents in Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan.
The attitude towards tourists from Russia is fantastic. One of the hotel guests, who came to Damascus from somewhere in the north of the country, upon learning that we were from Moscow, was as happy as if he had met relatives - he booked a luxurious table in the restaurant and spent the entire evening talking about how much he loved Putin.
There are 2 thousand mosques and dozens of churches in Damascus. Much is intertwined here so that it cannot be unraveled. For example, one of the main Christian shrines- the head of John the Baptist - is kept by Muslims in the Umayyad mosque. They also consider the Christian saint a prophet, although they call him in their own way - Yahya. Over the centuries, at least a dozen temples have replaced this place: Aramaic, Assyrian, Roman and others. The penultimate one was Byzantine.
Straight Street mentioned in the Bible, Mount Kasyun, where the first murder in the history of mankind took place - Cain killed brother Abel, Chapel of St. Ananias, who, after a miraculous epiphany, became one of the main propagandists of the teachings of Christ - the Apostle Paul. We met a flea market near the President Assad bridge. Several books in Russian, including “Anatomy of the conflict in the Middle East” by Primakov.
We wandered around Damascus, and at this time Bashar al-Assad was planting a time bomb under his country, refusing to sign an agreement with Qatar on the construction of a gas pipeline from its fields through Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and further to Europe. I thought that this was not beneficial for the Russians. And instead he agreed to build a gas pipeline from Iran through Iraq and Syria (bypassing Turkey). And soon it began.
To be in Damascus and not go to the city hall public bath(hamam), in my opinion, big mistake. So then you will walk dirty all the way, disgracing your homeland. In addition, the ticket costs a penny, and for it each visitor is also entitled to the service of a soap man and a massage therapist. The bathhouse is completely international. In a locker room similar to ours in Sanduny, we chatted with our neighbors over tea. Syrian, Jordanian, Iraqi and Lebanese. And again: Russia is super, America is the enemy, “Abu Ali Butin” (hero Putin). And please take a photo for memory.
It is interesting that women also go to the bathhouse in Damascus on Fridays.
The village of Maaloula (55 km from Damascus) is a unique place: people here speak Aramaic, the language in which Christ preached. Here it is Orthodox monastery Saint Thekla - the same one on whom the ruler of Antioch, Alexander, unleashed a bear and a lioness, but the lioness tore first the bear, and then the lion released to help her. Many legends are associated with Thekla’s life here. You can get to the monastery through a narrow gorge, probably a kilometer long and a meter or two wide, which seems to cut through the mountains. As the locals told us, Thekla once fled from a detachment of Roman legionnaires and when they almost overtook her, she turned to the Lord. And the mountains moved slightly apart, giving her the opportunity to escape.
At the entrance to the local temple, the clergyman kisses the hands of everyone entering, including Muslims. Not the other way around. Nothing is sold in the temple; it is strictly controlled. You can get candles and other things for free.
We also talked with the nuns. And later, having returned to Moscow, they heard that the Islamists, having captured Maaloula, staged a pogrom in the monastery, and took the nuns hostage. Only three months later, in March last year, they were exchanged for relatives of the militants. And soon the village was liberated Syrian army. Crosses were cut off from churches, everything was stolen and looted. The statue of Jesus by Russian sculptor Rukavishnikov also disappeared.
Native speaker
We got out of the gorge - there was a cafe by the road, the owner was smoking a hookah. It turned out to be a living native speaker of Aramaic. I was again delighted to see the Russians and pulled out a bottle of local whiskey. And soon he was teaching us Aramaic - you’ll break your language. When we had a good time, he suggested we go to a small cave, which is far from the tourist trails: “No one will show you this.” We walked along some paths for about 10 minutes. The cave is like a cave, although, of course, it cannot be ruled out that Jesus once spent the night in it. We climbed inside and used our phone to illuminate it in the darkness. And both of them: on the ancient wall, in huge red, spray-painted letters, it is clumsily written - Ryazan!
Our answer to Chamberlain - the stones in the gorge are also written on, but mostly in English, French and Arabic.
Palmyra
The road to Palmyra seemed tedious and boring - howling from the radio, the desert outside the window. And suddenly the roadside Bagdad cafe 66. Tea, hookah. It remains a mystery where it came from mobile connection and the Internet. I recently looked at the map - the cafe is right in the center of the territory captured by ISIS. And I left the business card there - the owner hung them on the wall. I hope he destroyed it before the Islamists arrived, otherwise they could have been shot for others.
Palmyra was not crowded that day - no guides, no crowds of tourists. We wandered through the ruins alone, except for the camels and their life-worn owners, darting between the columns. And everything was still untouched - the temples of Bel and Baalshamin, the Triumphal Arch, the agora, the theater, the caravanserai, the colonnades. All this stood for more than two decades, survived a variety of invasions - from Nebuchadnezzar II to Aurelian - and was preserved.
But then the ISIS fighters appeared and declared: the monuments of pagan times belong to the “period of ignorance.” Anything that could not be sold on the black market somewhere in Turkey or Europe was destroyed. The 82-year-old guardian of Palmyra was also executed...
A huge part of the state was captured by the Islamic State group. Under her leadership, Sharia law is being established in the territories of Syria, where just a couple of years ago there was not even a hint of fundamentalism.
It’s hard to even imagine that just a couple of years ago Syria was developing as an advanced secular state open to the world. That just recently it never even occurred to anyone to destroy monuments of ancient architecture. It is precisely such a country—Syria of the 2000s of the 21st century, not yet torn by war—that is shown in the photo selection.
2007 A hot air balloon over Damascus, one of the oldest existing cities on Earth.
August 2006. A busy market in the Syrian capital.
August 2008. Shepherd in northeast Syria.
July 2008. Showcase of the Syrian fashion designer's summer collection in Damascus.
2000s. Souk Hamidiya Market. The largest market in Damascus, existing since ancient times.
October 2008. A dervish dancer from the Aleppo ensemble performs in Damascus.
March 2006. Carpet production at a bazaar in the historical center of Aleppo.
2000s. Umayyad Mosque. Muslims from all over the world flocked to this shrine.
2003 Syrian chefs prepare a marzipan and pistachio cake weighing four tons at a stadium in Aleppo. Then the Syrians broke the Dutch record by preparing a pie measuring 200 square meters.
(Hereinafter – 2000s). Christian city of Maaloula. A father teaches his son a local dance.
Leisure time of a Christian family on the roof of a house in Maaloula.
Damascus. Children during the holiday of Eid al-Fitr (Eid al-Fitr).
Meeting at the market in Damascus.
View of the ancient citadel of Aleppo from the balcony of one of the houses. Now the citadel is occupied by government troops, and positional battles are being waged for the surrounding areas. Most likely, both the house and the balcony from which the photo was taken have already been destroyed.
Representatives of the Syrian Culinary Academy dine in one of the restaurants in Aleppo, which was considered its “gastronomic pearl”.
One of the markets in Aleppo. Aleppo (Aleppo) was for many centuries one of the largest centers of trade in the Middle East. The many markets are proof of this, which was clear until the moment when the city was overrun by jihadists.
Syrian Bedouins.
Children on swings in the center of Damascus.
The city of Maarat al-Numan in northwestern Syria. The girl looks at the young man with interest. Today it is impossible to take such a photo: the city lives according to Sharia law, established by the Islamists, and girls are supposed to look strictly at the ground.
Bakers joke with each other at a market in Aleppo. Back then, no one could have imagined that soon on the city streets they would be aiming at people not with “pistols,” but with real weapons brought into the country with Saudi Arabia’s money.
Ancient Palmyra is one of the many tourist “Meccas” of Syria. Now it is controlled by IS militants, who dispose of the cultural property at their discretion.
Traders in Aleppo. Unlike the last decade, now the most popular goods in the city are weapons and ammunition.
Casino in Damascus. Today, Islamists of all stripes prohibit not only gambling of any kind, but also any entertainment - be it music or dancing.
A Syrian girl in the capital's Umayyad Mosque. Life in the country moved in a secular direction and no one could think of the idea of forcing a woman to walk the streets in the same clothes that Muslim women wore in the 7th century.
More recently, foreign tourists could be seen in the country. Now foreigners on Syrian territory are either war correspondents, military advisers, or thugs who came “to jihad” from all over the world.
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From the Mediterranean coast to southern deserts and the fertile plains near the Iraqi border, Syria boasts a variety of species. Today, the headlines are filled with increasing division and endless bloodshed, but Syrians continue to remember and take pride in being part of one of the world's most ancient civilizations.
(Total 18 photos)
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1. The following photographs provide a glimpse of life in Syria before the revolution. The right to use them was kindly granted by the Creative Syria Foundation, a project of the Syrian Cultural Center in Montreal. Photo: Hala Salhi
2. The ruins of Palmyra, a city in central Syria, surrounded by sand. For a thousand years, Palmyra, also known as the "Bride of the Desert", served as a transit point connecting Mesopotamia and the coast. Mediterranean Sea. The city is located northeast of Damascus and still remains valuable place for archaeological excavations - in 2008, in Palmyra, according to archaeologists, the largest Christian Church in Syria. Photo: Souhail Moukhtar
3. Latakia, in the north-west of the country, is a city of ports and resorts. The city saw unrest during the latest uprising and was under naval fire from the Syrian Navy in August while it was under siege by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. In ancient times, Latakia was often attacked by invaders trying to seize its wealth. Photo: Photo by Bridget Palmer
4. Children on the street of Latakia. Photo: Souhail Mukhtar
5. To the east of Latakia is Saladin's castle. In the 12th century it was a Crusader fortress until it was captured by the Muslim leader Saladin in a fairly successful attempt to push the Crusaders back to the eastern Mediterranean. Photo: Souhail Moukhtar
6. The rocky surroundings of Hosn Suleiman in western Syria are the location of an ancient temple popular with tourists. Photo: Bridget Palmer
7. Noria on the Orontes River in the western city of Hama. The city is famous for its water wheels, as well as massacres under President Hafez al-Assad's regime in 1982 to suppress an Islamist uprising. During the recent uprisings, Hama again became the center of protests, with President Bashar al-Assad's security forces launching an offensive on the city on the eve of Ramadan. Photo: Souhail Moukhtar
8. A man picks cotton on the banks of the Euphrates River between the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. Raqqa, which is located in north-central Syria, began to develop in the 1st century as it was at the crossroads of Syria and Iraq, but fell into decline in the 9th century due to constant wars. Photo: Dr. Jean Otrakji
9. View of the Euphrates River. Originating in the mountains of Turkey, the Euphrates was vital important river in ancient times, and was also mentioned as the border of the Garden of Eden. Photo: Photo by Hovic & Abd
10. Men smoke hookah in the Damascus cafe “Café al-Nofara”. Photo: Hala Salhi
11. Children in front of a store window in Damascus. Photo: Hala Salhi
12. Krak des Chevaliers, a 12th century Crusader fortress, the most famous and best preserved medieval castle. IN peaceful times it still attracts crowds of tourists from all over the world. Photo: Souhail Moukhtar
13. A lantern illuminates a narrow street in the northern city of Aleppo (Aleppo), the largest city in Syria. Aleppo, one of Syria's main economic arteries, has largely remained untouched by the recent unrest that has gripped the country. Photo: Hovic & Abd
14. View of the sea from the town of Badrusi in northwestern Syria. Beaches of this region usually very attractive to tourists from Aleppo. Photo: Hovic & Abd17. An abandoned hospital in the southern city of Quneitra, in the Golan Heights. Syria lost the city during the 1967 war when Israel captured the Golan Heights and destroyed it in an attempt to increase its influence in the region. Quneitra was returned to Syria under the Israel-Syria Separation of Forces Treaty in 1974, but the city remained in ruins, and the New York Times wrote in one of its articles that “it is a monument to Israeli brutality.” . Photo: Bridget Palmer
18. Entrance to the ancient Roman theater in the city of Bosra in the southern governorate of Daraa, where the first unrest against the al-Assad regime took place. This city is home to a well-preserved Roman theater built in the 2nd century AD. Photo: Hovic & Abd
IN last days the situation in Syria has again come to the forefront of the information space. Sputnik spoke with Dmitry Sosnovskikh, a reserve lieutenant colonel who was undergoing military service in Syria within the framework of international military cooperation. According to him, before civil war this Middle Eastern state was a prosperous country and was somewhat similar to the Asian and Caucasian republics of the CIS, solved approximately the same problems and faced comparable difficulties.
What were Syrians like before the war? Did anything foreshadow war?
Before the war, the Syrians were quite friendly and gentle. Although Islam is considered the state religion, about 15% of the population was Christian. There were Christian neighborhoods in Damascus. At the same time, a Christian in a Muslim quarter could walk around calmly. They coexisted very comfortably and friendly with each other.
As in states former USSR, there were many Russian-speaking citizens in Syria. The explanation is simple - most specialists received higher education in our country. The attitude towards the Russians was good. There were many mixed families: the husband was Syrian, the wife was from Samara, Ulyanovsk or Kyiv. Depending on where the father of the family studied. Therefore, the attitude towards Russians was quite loyal.
The Soviet past implies free education, education. Was there something similar in Syria?
I will say that the country could not be called rich. But the state, to the extent possible, ensured the livelihoods of all citizens. There was free secondary education. Further - more difficult. Rich Syrians sent their children at their own expense to Switzerland and France.
Many young people from poor families could be sent to study in Russia at the expense of the state. That is, their studies were paid for by the state. The parents' task was only to send money to their children for food
There were very rich and very poor. But at least there was no internal tension between these two layers. People lived their own lives.
It turns out there were no social crises?
Perhaps they were. But this was most likely determined economic condition countries. Everyone there was forced to work two jobs. For example, part of the time the father of the family is an office employee, and in the evening he is a taxi driver. Plus high level unemployment. And when there are 15 children in a family, there is no time for fun.
As in some CIS republics.
Although in terms of landscapes, Syria is rather similar to Armenia. When I came to Armenia for work, I had déjà vu. Buildings outside the city are very similar, the arrangement of rural courtyards. Well, in Armenia, too, the problem with work is quite acute.
Is the capital, Damascus, similar to any post-Soviet city?
Damascus is a rather large and unique eastern city. And according to the standard of living. We lived in the middle class area of Tijara. There were also fashionable places - the Baabtum area, for example. Christian area. Enough nice houses. The front garden is well-groomed, the figures are standing, illuminated at night. You walk like in a fairy tale. It was all very beautiful.
There were also poor areas. For example, Kabun. We had to work a lot in this area. Crooked streets, chaotic buildings. Not self-capturing, but without any architectural solutions - just houses stuck on houses. Who had enough money for what? Was big variety food products, good goods consumer goods, for example, Syrian-made clothing. By the way, Russian shuttles loved to travel to Syria.
What was the social base of the militants who started the war?
I think that this did not happen without the participation of external forces. Because until conditions arose for other states to be interested in the Assad dynasty leaving the political arena, everything was fine there.
In any state you can find those who need power. I don't think that 100% of the so-called opposition that appeared there was local. My personal opinion: a significant part of them are mercenaries. Who, in fact, was involved in fanning this fire.
I just think that a real international intervention is taking place against Assad. For some reason the West didn’t like him. Maybe because his birthday coincided with the day terrorist attack to the Twin Towers in New York.
But this, of course, is a coincidence. And Syria is a stronghold of Russian influence in the Middle East, and therefore the West wants to eliminate the “regime” of Bashar al-Assad. This is covered up with pompous phrases about the fight for democracy. Although his father, Hafiz Assad, had a tougher regime. But at least then any person knew that he could go out into the city at three o’clock in the morning and not get hit in the head.It turned out that in the twenties small years old Hafiz Assad managed to turn a backward country into an outwardly prosperous one. A man with seventeen children and four wives could count on a piece of bread and be confident in a prosperous future.
How combat-ready is the Syrian army?
I believe that I am combat-ready. If she had been toothless, then in a month, like in Iraq, she would have surrendered her country. And so the hardest war has been going on for more than three years. In Syrian society, the prestige of the military profession was very high, so a lot was done for the army.
Was the Syrian army ready for street fighting and civil war?
Some options were constantly being considered. Combat training was carried out continuously. But Israel was considered a potential enemy. The armed forces were trained to fight an external enemy, not an internal one.
Are negotiations with ISIS possible?
Judging by how they don’t care about all the laws and values that do not fall under the ideology of ISIS, it’s useless to talk to them. I have visited the wonderful city of Palmyra several times and the sites of Christian shrines now captured by ISIS - Maaloula and Sidnaya. Over thousands of years of history, conquerors came there, starting with the Romans, continuing with the Crusaders, Arabs, Ottomans, but not a single one, not even the most barbarian ruler, thought of destroying all this.However, one day, when Salah ad-Din came, they stripped the gold and lead plates from the temple. Gold was used for expenses, lead for war needs. But they left the temple. And ISIS destroyed all the temples. The same fate befalls all captured historical places.
Let's talk about refugees. What was the result of this flight?
These people were driven on the road by fear for their lives. What I see makes my hair stand on end. The TV showed the Kabun district where we worked. It has simply been razed to the ground. Not a single whole house, not a single inhabitant. The fashionable central streets of Damascus, where everything was decorated and in lights, was a fairy tale, turned into ruins. Only people with weapons are running. The country is practically in ruins. People simply have nowhere to live. ISIS militants are slaughtering entire villages. It became simply scary to live there. There will be no work and everything else when the country is at war.And the second reason: unknown forces organized a mass exodus of refugees to weaken Europe. Because the war has been going on for several years now, and suddenly there is a sharp surge in the “resettlement of peoples”, and transportation of refugees is being organized.
Can Russia's help have an impact on the development of the situation in the country?
Any help can have an impact, but the question is how much of this influence will be enough, because we also cannot feed everyone. The most important thing for Russia is to maintain its influence in the region, and for Syria to end the war and return to normal life.But this will be a long process, it will not last for one year. It took Hafiz Assad about twenty years to raise the country from ruins, and now, most likely, no less will be required. It is necessary to maintain the existing government and stop hostilities. This the necessary conditions to save Syria.
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