Syria was responsible for one of my more pleasant experiences at the hands of USA immigration officials. I had flown into Washington for meetings related to the International NGO I managed.

Flipping through my passport the official looked up at me: 

“ Says here Sir that you recently travelled to;  Syria ,Lebanon and Jordan, can you explain why ?”

I had anticipated the question, considered options but gave the  true answer 

“ Of course. It was our 30th wedding anniversary and I wanted to take my wife somewhere special, unusual.” 

A long pause , more paper flicking then without the slightest hint of a  smirk 

“ Are you still married, Sir?” 

“ Barely” 

“I can recommend Florida this time of year “

“ I will keep that in mind “

“ Have a nice day !”

The trip, with a well known adventure travel company and 10 other companions, still rates as one of the most special we have ever been on . It is remembered fondly but also with a tremendous sense of sadness too. This was 2005. Since then, Islamic State, the Syrian revolution, brutal repression, the gassing of children, three million Syrian refugees in Turkey alone , twelve million estimated in total. Half the population. 

Put all of the horror of what the Middle East is now to one side and what I remember most are the people. Particularly three young boys playing next to the Citadel in Aleppo being …boys. Cheeky, rude, funny. Kids being kids, laughter. 

The journey started in Beirut and ended in Amman. Along the way we met our co-travellers, including an exceptionally erudite Antiquities Professor from the USA travelling with his 15 year old daughter . And two young men from the BBC. They really were from the BBC but they said if they were stopped they would say it stood for Bournemouth Borough Council . Thankfully they were never stopped ! 

I recall what was called the “Martyrs Museum” in Baalbeck. You had to use it as it was part of the entrance to the castle . Full of bits of bombs, guns, suicide vests, histories  of Hezbollah actions and most  bizarrely body parts; a forearm here , a knuckle bone there of “ Martyrs” who had blown themselves up in the cause . The museum staff , if that is what they were, were as friendly and welcoming as anyone carrying an AK47 can be . There were a lot of “staff”  some young and  in conference, some in front of computers . I noticed two things recently, the museum was replaced by another in 2017 and the Israelis bombed it a few weeks back “ The Zionists – It was just a museum ….” 

We remember well the moment as we drove up the Bekaa valley when suddenly all the imagery of Christian faction fighters stopped and was replaced by Hezbollah imagery of fighters with AK47s and 74s. 

The Professor stood up “I’d like to say at this point we are officially Canadian.”

He had a great sense of humour . Sadly my memories of people fade but two of him stick with me . The first was in a fried chicken outlet where there was a group of students keen to practice English . Hearing where he was from there was a silence then he said “ Can I begin by saying , it’s all our fault .” After that the conversation was brilliant, cultures exchanging ideas and views  and the enquiring and open minds of youth .

The second image I have of him was standing at the Border with Iraq, looking sadly in the Direction of Baghdad  and imagining  academically known wonders of Antiquity that because of his nationality he would probably never see for himself in his lifetime . 

Lebanon is a crucible of history. Crusader castles  like the Krak Des Cheveliers are a wonder , Roman ruins everywhere , the incredible Cedars of Lebanon . Impossible to do justice. But Syria was truly special . 

Damascus is astonishing. So much history. The Al-Hamadiyah Souk assaulted the senses with; colour, people sound and the smell of spices . The Ummayad or Great Mosque was one of the first major Mosques I had visited outside of the UK . It is just incredible, the history, it has a shrine to John the Baptist, allegedly his head is preserved there. An icon of Christianity preserved and honoured in a Mosque.  But the sense I got was much more about humanity . Families with children playing, areas of great peace, welcoming, light coming through the high windows bathing the place with a sense of the spiritual. I’ll say it again, welcoming, to those of us who clearly didn’t belong there . 

The City also had its challenges. We had a day to ourselves and wandered . Our family worry about our wandering!  We wandered happily and as a dedicated photographer I was in my element . Then we turned a corner. There was a group of men talking. All were armed and the look some gave us was the exact opposite to the Mosque. One with a slight but rather sinister smile wagged his index finger from side to side in the universally used gesture to say “ no.” We got the message.

“ Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul , for he is praying “ (Acts 9:11)

I am not inclined to any one religion but when you walk in the Street Called Straight in Central Damascus  and you visit that house, it is hard not to feel a sense of history and…something else . Don’t ask me what because I couldn’t explain it . 

What else do I remember from 19 years ago? Homs and its water wheels of course. The City of Hama. Aleppo. 

Aleppo was beautiful. The Citadel was quite incredible as was the Souk . We spent far too little time there, a fact now much regretted. Because much of the city was bombed flat. But for all of that, what I remember most is  the scene of those three boys playing by the Citadel. Like any kids anywhere. They would be in their 30s now. To me they stand as a picture of all that is right and wrong. Where are they? Do they have family? Are they in Aleppo, Syria, are they alive? 

Then there is Palmyra . The largest and most complete Roman City that I have ever seen . Beyond stunning . In 2015 Islamic State destroyed ;the Tower of Elhabel, several tombs and the Monumental Arch, all irreplaceable cultural heritage. The vandalism is unforgivable but so was the human cost . The amphitheatre was used to execute 25 Syrian soldiers in front of a forced audience of local people. Historians were killed. The insanity of trying to eradicate ideas and culture .

Part of the enigma that is Syria. There are other more humorous  parts. 

I don’t know what it is like now but in 2005 Syria was trying to be anything but American influenced, yet in some respects they were actually doing homage to the American dream. Of course no McDonalds or KFC but almost exact replicas with Syrian names and very similar marketing . There were loads of very carefully preserved 1950s and 1960s era , huge American cars in many of the streets ..Very odd 

Then there is the dark humour associated with repression

Syria was then and probably will be a world leader in paranoia and oppression . There are secret organisations dedicated to monitor other secret organisations .  The secret police are no laughing matter but there was something rather “ Keystone Cops” about the guys who were dedicated to follow us. Always two of them . Always in a black Peugeot 504, always very visible and not very “ secret .”  We even invited them to have tea with us, they very politely declined but we got to “ good morning and have a nice night “ terms .  Our guide told us you could tell they were secret police because only they  were allowed to have black Peugeots …… 

So now, well from today, that regime is gone . Bashar al-Assad seems to have left the country , the entire Army seems to have given their uniforms back . Statues of Bashar’s father Hafez who ruled for 29 years before his son took over in 2000 have been pulled down . Images of Bashar no longer make for good wall art. 

 Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have beaten the regime. I deliberately did not say “ are in charge “ because the defeat of the Assad regime leaves more questions than answers . 

What is HTS? Partly an offshoot of Al Quaeda. Well that’s great news isn’t it?  Didn’t  that  go well the last time?  Except HTS is more a “ get Assad out “ arrangement rather than a collective with a shared  vision post the one event they have focussed upon to date . That which joins them has been achieved . What next ? And of course no one knows – not even Jermey Bowen who was caught on hop and  is frantically trying to get into Syria !! ( Kate Adie would have been there Jeremy – just saying .) 

There are some immediate impacts. Absolute horror for Iran. Their client state has gone, one they have poured billions into with now no effect , and HTS hates them. Two very different wings of a political and religious continuum and never the twain shall meet . Worse still, the land route through which Iran supplied Hezbollah has gone and they are retreating to behind  the Litani river in Lebanon .

Russia loses its only Mediterranean naval base, billions invested in the Assad regime, they couldn’t reverse the HTS advance, did they get their airforce jets out of there in time ?  

What of Israel? Putting aside the manner of how they have gone about things since 7th October 2023, how do they see this? It must be something of a pyrrhic victory for them. Assad was defeated . Hezbollah in reverse, a corridor of safety in Northern Israel , Iran with a bloody nose but now they have  Al Qaeda connections and elements of Islamic State staring across the Golan Heights at them . 

Now will follow political realignment. You will see many many happy faces celebrating the fall of the Assads but not everyone will be happy . Put aside the understandably anxious feeling of those in the regime, and there are many many of them wondering what comes next , there are others . Particularly the Alawite Muslim minority who have had a charmed life over the last 50 years. The Assads were Alawite.But also Christians. HTS has very quickly said that Christians and other minorities  need not fear their taking power, but history says otherwise . The Taliban said  they would preserve the rights of women . Will HTS?  The fact is no one knows what comes next, possibly least of all HTS who may now go back to the fights they had before they found a common purpose . 

Meanwhile, parts of Syria are occupied by Kurds, Turks etc . Will Syria even be able to exist as a coherent State? Will Syria be a country that 12 million exiles see as their home? Incredibly difficult to tell. Books will be written, analysis will follow. But truly no one knows.

It leads me to wonder about those three boys. It leads me to focus on the tragedy of the Middle East which is less a single story,  more a series of chapters in a book of horrors . A book that chronicles many many “wrongs” and very few “rights.” A book that also chronicles the failures of European  colonialism . 

But it also makes me feel the privilege of visiting in a very short window of opportunity . It is why I travel and if you want to see some images of Damascus and Aleppo in 2005 you can find them in the Humanity section of my website www.backabit.co.uk . The boys are there .

I have yet to return to Florida .