When I started a text about Syria several years ago, a country where a civil, (geo)political and religious war has been fought for the last 13 years, with brief interruptions, the deep impressions of the cultural and historical heritage of that country led me to a long introduction, so that something later my modest book was titled "On the Road to Damascus".
Who today, after the brutal war of direct and indirect protagonists, was on that road, actually already arrived in Damascus?
What is waiting for that city and country, not by chance once called the pearl of the fascinating Middle East?
But before trying to explain what is happening there now as a result of the brutal internal and international redistribution of power - so that we might better understand the responsibility for the systematic devastation of the country - let me start again, this time with a shorter, cultural-historical introduction.
History, culture, spirituality
Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world. Its urban existence dates back some 6 years. It is a city with strong traces of three monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
56 kilometers from Damascus, in the town of Malula, the local population still communicates in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ.
Damascus has great significance for the history of Christianity. The evangelization of Europe started from Syria. Seven popes are from Syria. And several Roman emperors.
It is probably unfair to talk about Damascus as a treasury of civilizational goods and not mention Aleppo and its history and culture, where Venice opened a consulate in 1548, which lasted for four centuries.
It is no coincidence that recently in Venice, traditionally economically and culturally oriented towards the Levant, a large exhibition was organized under the title - Syria, where civilization was born (Syria, where civilization was born).
Aleppo, the second largest city in northern Syria, now with two million inhabitants (before the last wars it had three), is also a symbol of systematic and vandalized destruction.
And the concept put za Damask, full of biblical symbols, it signifies the uncertainty of the journey, which at one moment turns into a sudden transformation, into the ability to suddenly change one's decision. The road to Damascus, a symbol of the uncertain drama of wandering, became for the apostle Paul a turning point in his life. At first, an opponent of Christian stories and messages, faithful to the old narrative of Moses, on the way to Damascus he suddenly decided to follow Christ's teaching, then becoming one of the central missionary figures of the Christian church.
Thus, the journey to Damascus, as an old, complicated and mysterious topic, in addition to its historical-biblical dimension, over time became a concept of a cultural and psychological character. And as such became the motif of great works of art.
Renaissance art, especially painting, is full of great works dedicated to this motif.
Caravaggio's masterpiece from 1601 bears the title The Transfiguration on the Road to Damascus. Strindberg wrote in 1898 Put u Damask, while Bergman directed the same drama in 1974, reinforcing the myth of the demonic director.
The theme has become classical and modern in a symbolic sense, so strong over time that, it seems, we have all found ourselves on that path, even if we never headed towards the fascinating Middle East. It is an open and challenging road that is constantly ahead of us.
The dynastic republic of the Asad family
The Assad family's dominance in Syria began with General Hafez al-Assad who ruled the country from 1971 to 2000, when his son Bashar al-Assad took over. So, Bashar's rule lasted for 24 years, and its end is happening these days, as we write these lines.
The father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled undemocratically, a kind of "reform dictatorship", even though this term carried many contradictions.
When in the Arab-Muslim world, in a wide area "from Morocco to Indonesia" the rise of the signpost phrase "Islam is the solution" began, in Syria General Hafez, somewhat inspired by another general and statesman, Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, organized a secular state with the authority of a strong army, prohibiting political organizations on religious grounds.
The so-called system was introduced. of Arab socialism - secular and national at the same time, inspired by the party organization of political doctrine Baath. General Hafez did not hesitate to use brute force to suppress movements inspired by religion and religious clergy. The general, the head of state, announced that there is no place for imams, muftis, ayatollahs and their fatve. In state positions and in public life, Syrians should dress according to Western customs, and culturally, politically, and economically support, as far as possible, the Western style of work. Hafez al-Assad wanted Syria to be different from theocratic monarchies like Saudi Arabia, but also Islamic republics like the one in Iran.
Although Western oriented, Hafez's state maintained contacts with the countries of the so-called of the Soviet bloc, among other things educating its students at technical colleges in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Romania.
In any case, Syria is the only Arab country with a secular constitution. Islamic law is unconstitutional. The work of national and religious parties is prohibited. In Syria, women are not required to cover themselves with a veil, burqa or chador.
It should be noted that Hafez al-Assad appointed the first woman as a minister in the government of Syria in 1976.
Anyone who has dealt with Syria more seriously, who is not subject to propaganda from various types of internal and international sources, knows that there are two sides to the Syrian system, which has been run by the Al Assad family for more than five decades, first by father Hafez, and since 2000 by son Bashar.
In short, the prevailing assessment is that it is, on the one hand, a government with stains of autocratic rule, nepotism, corruption, and armed interventions.
On the other hand, the system in question is, for the most part, a market economy, pragmatic reforms, a system in which there is interethnic and multicultural coexistence. The Christian community, which makes up 10 percent of the population, is culturally, economically, and politically integrated into Syrian society, in any case safe. Syrian women have the same rights as men in health and education.
Syria is the only Arab country that has not owed anything to international banks, not even the IMF, for a long time.
Syria is a country that has always been one of the more active participants in the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, which did not prevent it, like Yugoslavia, from cooperating with Western countries and the USSR.
Thanks to an agreement, President Hafez al-Assad allowed the USSR to use the Tartus military base in Syria, which eventually became the most important Soviet military stronghold in the Middle East.
Civil, religious, geopolitical war
The autocratic rule of the Assad family was undoubtedly the reason for occasional rebellions and the legitimate constitution of the Syrian opposition. On the other hand, the fact remained that this was a country that was more advanced than other Arab states in the region in many parameters.
Syria became more and more a victim of the wars in neighboring Iraq, initially with the migration of huge numbers of Iraqi refugees to Syrian territory. The Iraqi Christian community mostly fled to Syria.
The atmosphere of Iraqi war chaos and the growing presence of Islamic extremists who territorially controlled part of Iraq was transmitted to an already shaken Syria.
Everything somewhat coincides with the appearance of the Arab Spring, especially in North African countries, during which many, especially young people, sought democracy and a break with the corrupt elites.
On the other hand, some international centers saw in all these processes a previously planned chance for political restructuring of the Middle East, combining the struggle for democratic principles and concrete national interests. At the time, influential people in American politics, the so-called neoconservatives, which was joined by some European countries. After Iraq and the changes in Libya, the situation in Syria was further aggravated, so in 2011 a civil, religious and geopolitical war broke out there, which will continue, with shorter interruptions, until today.
Bashar al-Assad has been increasingly condemned, not only for suppressing Syrian political pluralism, but also for using chemical weapons against his opponents.
It was threatened with allied bombing in 2013, which US President Obama abandoned after the meeting between Kerry and Lavrov.
Nevertheless, the country was sinking into internal conflicts with a strong influence of international factors. The military forces of the USA, Turkey, Russia, Israel, Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Kurds and many paramilitary formations of unknown ideologies and goals were operating on the territory of Syria at one point. For years, Syria has been divided into parts controlled by other countries. Bashar al-Assad managed to control Damascus and the central part of the country. Among other things, because of Russia's help.
The dramas of the civil war caused many tragedies, primarily human tragedies. In a devastated country, economically devastated, the cultural heritage of one of the oldest civilizations was also destroyed. The dramas of refugees also unfolded in waves. Many went to European countries. Chancellor Merkel's statement was remembered, indicating that the reception of Syrian refugees had a double motivation, humanitarian, but also useful for Germany due to the arrival of many Syrian experts of various profiles.
And so until these days, when the rebel forces continued their offensive towards Damascus by attacking and quickly conquering Aleppo. On Sunday, it was announced that President Bashar al-Assad had left the country. This ended the 54-year reign of the Al Asad family.
In addition to the satisfaction of many with the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the traumatic question of who are the forces that conquered Damascus and who should lead the country opens up.
Behind the different terminologies that are used - rebels, opposition, jihadists, better connoisseurs of the situation believe that it is a recycled Al Qaeda that is fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria.
It is not clear what the state will look like in the future, from the territorial aspect to the way of governance.
One phase of another ends Great Game geostrategic interests in the Middle East. With results in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, which are not unknown. Now in Syria. And which, no doubt, were caused by domestic non-democratic regimes, but also by international centers, among which there are now those who admit mistakes, especially with the balance of the doctrine of "democracy export". It is about admitting mistakes after all the tragedies of the innocent population.
We do not think that these days' warriors on the road to Damascus should be interpreted with the mystery of biblical symbols, the paintings of Caravaggio or the demonic plots of Bergman's dramatization of Strinberg.
It will be that this is also a story about mundane gods of war, of which there are plenty in the modern, increasingly chaotic world.
Center for International Politics, Diplomacy and European Integration
Bonus video:
