after fifteen years of exile, return to “Daraya the revolutionary” – Libération

In the town in the southern suburbs of Damascus which saw the first demonstrations of 2011, “Libération” met a family finally reunited after the expatriation of some, the prison and torture of others. A joyful reunion made possible by the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Mouafaq Chourbagi, 53, his scalp as smooth as his cheeks, observes his Daraya neighborhood from the window of his apartment. It is no longer strictly speaking a neighborhood. Rather a succession of piles of rubble and buildings with holey facades that give them the appearance of giant architect models, with a view from the street of what was once a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, a staircase. “This is Hiroshima,” said Mouafaq. He bursts out laughing.

Daraya, about ten kilometers south of Damascus, embodies the peaceful uprising of March 2011. It was in its streets that the first demonstrations were organized during which the protesters distributed roses to the soldiers, before being shot at. . A pacifism anchored since the beginning of the 2000s, when a group of young people organized themselves to demand reforms and fight against corruption.

The city paid dearly: a massacre in 2012, a chemical attack in 2013, a four-year siege and almost total destruction. The regime, as elsewhere,