One of the Syrian regime’s goals in the war, according to observers, was to bring about major demographic changes in a number of areas for specific goals. The city of Daraya and its people paid a heavy price for this scheme. Today, they are powerless among the ruins.

The warplanes of the Syrian regime and those of the Russian army destroyed about 90 percent of the inhabited areas in the city of Daraya (near Damascus), which caused the displacement of all its residents in August of 2016, following a systematic siege and destruction that lasted for about four years and ended in reaching An agreement to leave the rest of the population, whose number did not exceed seven thousand at the time, knowing that only in 2015 the city was bombed with more than 3,500 barrel bombs.

After eight months, the regime allowed the residents to return to the city, but forced them to pay the expenses of renovating the streets and removing the rubble, in a move that was almost a new revenge against them. The regime indicates that 80,000 people live in Darayya at present, according to what the official SANA news agency quoted from the city’s mayor, Marwan Obeid, while activists from the city’s residents deny the validity of this number, and accuse the regime of trying to exaggerate and double it. It is noteworthy that the manifestations of massive destruction did not change in the city, and the scarcity of services in its utmost degree.

Moayad Habib, one of these returnees, talks about their current situation in the city of Darayya, while remembering how the displacement was carried out before the return was allowed. He told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “The regime stipulated, during the negotiations with the people’s committees that I joined, that the city be completely evacuated, refusing to allow anyone to stay in it and prevent its entry completely, except for those who have relations with the Baath Party or the regime forces. Within about eight months of our full exit, the regime’s shabiha roamed the city and looted all the property.” Habib adds that, “After this period, the regime allowed the people to enter the city in exchange for a fee that was later canceled, and some of them were allowed to go to their homes directly and start carrying out repair work. Then the regime’s decision to return included everyone without exception. However, all the expenses of removing the rubble and the municipality’s financing process to implement this matter were paid by the people from their own pockets, while the municipality did not have any machinery, truck or bulldozer. Later, the people, on their own initiative, opened the mosques of Anas bin Malik, Al-Mustafa and Al-Hassan, which prompted a group of its residents who rented houses in Sahnaya in Moadamiya Al-Sham to return, even though the destruction rate was more than 90% at the time. After that, some neighborhoods witnessed qualitative stability, including Shamiyat in the center of the city.”

Habib continues, “The regime’s complete reversal of the decision to prevent anyone from entering the city and renovating their home has increased the number of returnees who have built a bakery, shops and a school. Today, the number of residents is about 20,000, at a time when the system is doubling the estimate of this number. These people reside in the city, bearing the lack of the most basic necessities of life, such as electricity, water and sewage, in addition to the poor condition of the infrastructure, which makes those who have a solar panel in a better condition than others. But the general situation is very bad.”

For his part, Wael Abdel Aziz, a resident of the city, confirms to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the returnees prefer to live in their destroyed homes rather than pay high rents for homes in Damascus or in the western Ghouta areas surrounding Daraya. However, they face the obstacles of massive destruction in the city, the lack of the most basic necessities of life, and the absence of security. For example, one of the people told me that he brought building materials to do maintenance work in his house, before they were stolen in about half an hour.” Abdel-Aziz points out that “the returnees to the city are facing the significant negative effects of the tashbeeh operations against them by the militias of the regime’s National Defense Forces.”

As for the returnee, Yasser Abu Ammar, he told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “Al-Mahayni neighborhood, which is closest to the city center, is separated by earth mounds,” noting that “the people are suffering to obtain bread, electricity and water services, even though they actually paid for five generators and took care of their maintenance. and buy tanker water. Abu Ammar believes that “the regime is trying to take revenge on the residents, as it ordered the municipality to demolish violating houses, and kept main roads closed, including the Daraya-Sahnaya road. Also, deliberately subjecting all services to rationing, and the people reporting that they have caused the destruction of the city and the non-potable water network in general, and that there are no solutions available to repair the electricity network. It forces some merchants to finance the operation of circuits. Thus, the only motive for the people’s return remains the high cost of renting houses (outside the city), which obliges them to stay in their destroyed homes, most of them.”