Anxiety, anger, and hope in Syria’s Damascus after SDF ceasefire

Exhausted by war, Damascus longs for unity as ceasefire sparks hope. But questions of integration and stability remain.

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Damascus, Syria – Damascus had breathed a sigh of relief when a ceasefire between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was announced on the night of January 18. Fireworks lit up the sky, car horns blared and Syrians gathered in Umayyad Square to dance in jubilation.

The hope was that the conflict that flared up in the past few weeks in northern Syria was now over, and that the country had resolved one of the major issues still dividing it in the year since the overthrow of longtime leader President Bashar al-Assad.