The downfall of Syrian President Bashar Assad after the Syrian rebels took over the capital city of Damascus was already inked on a wall in 2011 by 14-year-old Mouawiya Syasneh’s graffiti which said: “Ejak el door, ya doctor” (It’s your turn, Doctor).
“If we had known what would happen, we’d never have written that graffiti,” said Mouawiya Syasneh in The Boy Who Started The Syrian War, an Al Jazeera documentary.
“We saw what was happening in Egypt and Tunisia,” he said and added, “So we got together at school, took some paint and sprayed the walls. We wrote on the school wall, ‘Your turn next, Doctor (Assad).’ A few days later the police saw what we’d written and rounded up the boys in the neighbourhood.”
The Boy who started the Syrian War | Featured Documentary
However, their act of defiance against Assad’s regime was met with a swift and violent reaction. For 26 days, they were detained by the Mukhabarat, Syria’s secret police, where they were reportedly tortured and mistreated. Their eventual release only fueled further anger among the people of Daraa.
Recollecting the police torture, Syasneh said, “The electric shock treatment was the worst,” adding, “They took me to the bathroom and it was really wet and they would turn on the shower. They ran the current through the water and onto my back. I felt the shock wherever the water went.”
Fearing for the boys’ safety after a month in police custody, thousands of people took to the streets demanding their release. When the peaceful protests in Syria were met with more violence, they quickly escalated. What began as a call for the return of a few young boys transformed into a full-scale uprising.
In the wake of Assad’s sudden departure, rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has sought to reassure Syrians that his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), does not aim to dominate the country. He has emphasized the group’s commitment to maintaining government services and establishing a decentralized governance system.
For Assad’s rule, the “writing is on the wall”, Joshua Landis, of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma told AFP.
As Assad fled, several government officials who remained in Damascus, including Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali, have engaged in discussions with the rebels regarding the transfer of power.