'Everyone wants to leave': death of hope drives

young Syrians to Europe

In a country where beheadings and barrel-bombs are part of everyday life, few see realistic prospects for
change

Syr
ians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following reported air strikes by regime forces in Douma.
Photograph: Abd Doumany/AFP/Getty Images

Ian Black in Damascus-Tuesday 8 September 2015

Suheil, a softly spoken 23-year-old, sees no hope for

the future in Syria. The video engineer is scraping together around $2,500
(1,600) to finance a perilous journey to seek a new life in Europe, fleeing
what looks like a war without end.
In his baseball cap, checked shirt and jeans, Suheil would not stand out in a
Damascus crowd or among the hundreds of thousands of his compatriots
crossing the border to Lebanon. From there they are scrambling on to

planes to Turkey, and then boats, buses and trains to reach Germany or
other safe havens in the biggest movement of people the world has seen in
70 years.

Suheil was 18 when the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. Photograph: Ian
Black/Guardian

I want to do something with my life and theres no way I can see of doing
that here, he says, detailing his plans to follow the route so many others
have taken before him.
Suheil was 18 when the uprising against the Syrian president, Bashar alAssad, began in March 2011 so his adult life has been dominated by a
brutal conflict that has already claimed 250,000 lives. Four million Syrians
have left the country and 6.5 million more are internally displaced. In
government-controlled Damascus, rebel mortar bombs kill a few civilians
every week. In mid-August government forcesbombed the souk in nearby

Douma, killing 250 people almost two years to the day since a chemical
weapons attack killed 1,300 in the same area.

People carry the wounded to hospital after the air strike on Doumas souk in August. Photograph: Anadolu
Agency/Getty Images

In many ways, Damascenes say, the abnormal has become normal. Holloweyed children beg outside restaurants and cafes that hum with the chatter
of shisha-smoking customers. Just a few miles away, Isis is fighting the
army and government militias; typhoid has broken out in the Yarmouk
refugee camp.
Beheadings and barrel-bombs are part of the landscape of a disintegrating
country.
The main thing is the economic pressure, explains Suheil. I earn 100,000
Syrian pounds [$530] a month but I need double that to get by. The second
factor is that life in Damascus is restricted because of the war.
Im trying to get together a group of five or six friends to get to Germany.
Yes its frightening. But its more frightening here.
Three of his close friends were killed while serving in the army Hassan in
Palmyra, and Samir and Salem in Deraa in the south. As an only son, he is
exempt from compulsory military service, though he did consider

responding to the latest call for volunteers to save our country

displayed on posters all over the city.
Receiving call-up papers is often a trigger for departure and arguments.
Nur, a 21-year-old student, wants to leave. But his twin brother wants to
stay put. Anas, a nurse, had wanted her children to stay but she relented
and sold her gold jewellery when her son Salim found a way to get to Brazil,
where he now has asylum after failing to reach the US.
I didnt want my boy to leave, she says, but I heard of my neighbours
children being killed by mortars or car bombs so I caved in and agreed he
could go.
The swelling exodus is the subject of endless conversations and some offcolour jokes. Im offering free swimming lessons for any Syrians planning
to leave for Europe, one woman posted on her Facebook page. Another
crack talks about friends meeting each other more easily in Germany or on
Greek islands than in their Damascus neighbourhoods.
Wry humour is an obvious way of staving off depression. Every week, one
of my colleagues leaves, sighs a middle-aged businesswoman. They sell
their houses, or land, or their cars to finance the trip. This is a country that
has lost its youth. And the pace appears to be accelerating. This wave of
emigration, argues Anas Judeh, a lawyer who is urging the west to
cooperate with Assad to defeat Isis, is just the beginning.
Those leaving are not motivated by their political views, but by a situation
in which few see realistic prospects for change. Suheil believes Assad is the
best person to lead Syria. Wahib hoping to make it to Germany or Sweden
and get his wife and children to join him later blames Saudi Arabia, Turkey
and the west for supporting terrorists the catch-all term for any
opposition to the government. Everyone wants to leave, and its even
worse in the areas held by Daesh [Isis], he adds. They are fanatics and
killers. They will whip you if you dont pray.
In Damascus there is a new industry of facilitators who offer advice to
Syrians who want to get out. Adnan, a lawyer, has helped 16 people in the
past few months and has 22 on standby waiting to go. The biggest group

are 17- to 25-year-olds, including students who are about to graduate but
have no job prospects. But he has wealthier clients too: a 30-something
head of department living in a safe part of Damascus; another man who
sold his car for $5,000 enough for a comfortable trip.
Swelling numbers mean more information is available so people are getting
less dependent on smugglers. Friends follow each others advice. It now
costs on average $2,400 to get to Germany: the asking price for a fake ID is
500 (365) but they can be had for 200.
The road out of Syria is getting easier, Adnan says. The costs have gone
down and the factors driving people to go have not changed. Following
clients progress is part of the service: his WhatsApp timeline includes
Google Maps images and this exchange with a man named Adam sailing to
a Greek island:
It wont sink.
Go ahead, it only takes half an hour.
Can you see the lights?
Adnan also has a handwritten diagram detailing the route from Izmir, via
Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary, along with the cost of trains, buses, cheap
hotels, documents and advice on key points. At the end of the journey in
Germany a tiny stick figure waves a flag in triumphant celebration.

The handwritten diagram detailing a route from Izmir to Germany with translation

above. Photograph: Ian Black/Guardian

Not everyone is planning to seek refuge in Europe. Mayassa Deeb, an
archaeologist at the National Museum, regrets the fact that so many of her
colleagues have left. But I am optimistic, she says with a brave smile.
And thats why I havent gone.
Adnan, making a living from helping others find a better future, says: As
long as I can afford to stay in Syria, why should I leave?
Posted by Thavam