Nadine Elali
 
The Syrian town of Zabadani, once considered a summer getaway for Syrian and Arab tourists alike, is in ruins. The Syrian army has been shelling the city for almost one month in the worst attack since protesters first took to the streets 11 months ago demanding the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. 

The Syrian army stormed the city—which lies in southwest Syria, 30 kilometers from the capital Damascus—in early January following a large-scale anti-government protest, but before then, the situation was very much different.

According to Abu el-Ezz, an activist from Zabadani who talked to NOW Lebanon on condition that his real name not be used, “at the beginning the regime didn’t crack down on peaceful protests in the town.” Zabadani, he said, had “the most demonstrations but the fewest victims.”

“The regime was being very careful in dealing with Zabadani,” he said. “It is a city on the border with Lebanon and the only passageway for Hezbollah’s arms, and so the regime did not want to turn it into a heated area.”

By September of last year, the number of Syrian army soldiers defecting in Zabadani had increased, and civilians from the town joined the defectors to form the Free Syrian Army (FSA) of Zabadani.

“The FSA became much stronger; their number had reached 1,200. They were buying arms either from the local markets or by smuggling through the Lebanese border. They were receiving money in the form of donations from the locals,” Abu el-Ezz said.
 
Then, on January 18, after five days of intense battles between the FSA and Syrian army soldiers, opposition forces were able to seize full control of the city. The Syrian army was forced to accept a ceasefire and agreed to withdraw from Zabadani.
 
Activists hailed the event as a “symbolic turning point” in the Syrian uprising. In a statement to the Washington Post, Syrian dissident Kamal Labwi called it a “political victory.”

According to activist Ali Ibrahim, who is also from Zabadani, the city was the first and only place where residents effectively re-seized control from the Assad regime.

“The city was free for around 20 days. There was no presence of the Syrian government or the Syrian army, so the residents decided to form a local council to run the city,” Ibrahim said.

The residents of Zabadani ran elections of their own, and a council of 25 persons was formed to manage the daily lives of residents. The body was divided into two sections, the civilian council and the military one, which took care of city security and coordinated with the Free Syrian Army. Ali Ibrahim was elected spokesperson.

“Zabadani was free,” Ibrahim said. “It demonstrated a model of democracy that the regime feared the world would see. It represented the alternative to the present system; it showed what a free and democratic Syria may look like. The regime was not going to allow it.”

As Zabadani was enjoying its newfound freedom, Syrian security forces were regrouping before returning with reinforcements.

By February 11, after bombarding the city for six days, the Syrian army seized major parts of the town. In a statement  released by the Local Coordination Committee, over 150 mortar and artillery shells were dropped on the city, resulting in the complete destruction of homes and the demolition of mosques and churches.

According to eyewitness Marcel, the FSA was fighting from the outskirts of the city to avoid civilian casualties, but the Syrian army arbitrarily shelled the entire city. The FSA could no longer fight back, as it only had simple artillery. They delegated elders from the city’s most prominent families to negotiate another ceasefire. The ceasefire stipulated that the FSA would leave the city and hand in their weapons on the condition that the regime forces would not pursue the rebels.

“That was the promise, but who is to take any promise from this regime seriously?” Marcel asked. “The Syrian army besieged the city, stormed clinics, raided houses, detained men and women alike. It is shelling us with weapons we’ve never seen before. It is a genocide, and the world sits and watches.”