Dawn in Damascus, by Kareem Shaheen – 8 December 2024

In the end, Bashar al-Assad had nothing to say to the country he bludgeoned and bled, but what matters now is that his ‘forever’ rule is over

The last time I set foot on Syrian soil was in 2017, when I went to the town of Khan Sheikhun to report on a chemical attack carried out by the now-deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad. I remember sitting next to a man named Abdul Hamid al-Youssef, who had buried his wife and two infant children a day earlier. They had choked on poison gas while he rushed to help the wounded, fainting and waking up in a nearby hospital.

One of those attending their memorial service told him a story from one of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. On Judgment Day, all people will have to cross a bridge called “al-Sirat” that stretches over hell and leads to paradise. Evil people will stumble and fall while, for the good, that bridge will widen into an avenue to cross at their leisure. But for those who lose their children young and persevere, their little ones will be reincarnated as winged angels who fly them across the bridge.

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Kareem Shaheen is Middle East and Newsletters Editor at New Lines magazine.

Dawn in Damascus, by Kareem Shaheen – 8 December 2024

In the end, Bashar al-Assad had nothing to say to the country he bludgeoned and bled, but what matters now is that his ‘forever’ rule is over

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