Syrians hope fall of Assad regime will lead to improvement of dire economic conditions

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(25 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 11 January 2025
1. Various of Samir al-Baghdadi, a 46 year-old Syrian, walking on rubble next to his damaged house in Qaboun neighborhood near Damascus
2. Al-Baghdadi inside his damaged house
3. Various of al-Baghdadi fixing electricity
4. Various of al-Baghdadi going up to roof and smoking a cigarette and drinking tea
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samir al-Baghdadi, Syrian trying to rebuild his house:
"We stayed in the neighborhood until 2011 or 2012, but the airstrikes increased, and we couldn't stay because we had children. So we gathered some of our belongings—though not much—and left everything else behind. We fled to safer areas with no bombing. Every now and then, whenever things calmed down, we'd return to check on our homes and belongings."
6. Pan left from damaged buildings to al-Baghdadi on top of his house
7. Al-Baghdadi on top of his house
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samir al-Baghdadi, Syrian trying to rebuild his house:
"Financial resources are basically non-existent. As you can see, the rubble needs machinery to be cleared, and that costs money—money we don't have. The financial situation is dire. We can barely cover basic living expenses, like food and water, and I also have rent to pay. As I mentioned, things are very difficult. The children and I do what we can with our hands (to rebuild the house), but financially, we're at a standstill."
9. Al-Baghdadi smoking
10. Damaged buildings
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Samir al-Baghdadi, Syrian trying to rebuild his house:
"What can I say? We left and moved to many places, but we never felt truly alive. However, when I come back here—where I was born, my hometown—despite all the destruction and how the house looks now, I feel a sense of inner peace. I can tell you, I'd rather live in one room here than in a palace elsewhere."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 11 January 2025
12. Wide of Damascus old marketplace
13. Abou Samir, a 68 years-old Syrian carpenter working inside his shop
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abou Samir, carpenter:
"The economic situation (is dire). If we’re talking about electricity, for example, I only have it for an hour a day—or maybe less. This affects the entire country. With just one hour (of electricity), I can’t produce anything. Technically, I’m working at a loss. At my age, I can’t manage large workshops without power, and age plays a role as well. Thank God anyway, but the economic situation is bad."
15. People walking in Damascus old marketplace

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 14 January 2025
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Sinan Hatahet, economic researcher and nonresident senior fellow at Washington-based think tank, the Atlantic Council:
"Without jobs, without huge flows of money, investments, financial support from donor countries, these families have no way of making ends meet. And this is a situation that is actually on the top of the agenda of the new government. In order to solve this issue, they need to re-encourage production, which is dependent on sanctions. There needs to be a lifting of sanctions."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria - 11 January 2025
17. Wide of Damascus old marketplace
STORYLINE:
Syrians hope the fall of Bashar Assad's regime will lead to the improvement of dire economic conditions as the country begins to rebuild under a new government.

Samir al-Baghdad is rebuilding his destroyed family house in the Qaboun neighborhood near Damascus, Syria‘s capital. His house, like scores of others nearby, has been reduced to heaps of rubble during years of civil war.










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