al-Zabadani After the Revolution (original) (raw)

The town of al-Zabadani, located in Damascus countryside on the border with Lebanon, came to prominence during the war in Syria because of the siege and assault campaign launched against it by the Assad regime and Hezbollah. The town eventually came back to regime control in 2017 and was one of the areas of concern regarding a supposed ‘demographic change’ scheme being engineered by Iran and Hezbollah in Syria.

However, the evidence for such plans with regards to al-Zabadani, based on my interactions with people from the town who were on both sides during this war, is very much lacking. It is certainly true that Hezbollah considered the town to be of military importance given its proximity to the border with Lebanon and likely used it as a base for weapons storage within the context of the broader function of Assad’s Syria as an artery of support for Hezbollah. However, that is not the same as demographic engineering.

This interview on al-Zabadani since the fall of the Assad regime was conducted with Samir Darwish, who headed the al-Zabadani town council just before the Assad regime’s fall. He is still acting head of the council amid the transitional phase and is working with the new Syrian government. I should add that I had previously tried to interview Samir in October last year when the war between Israel and Hezbollah was raging and many fled from Lebanon to Syria, as I had been interested to know about how the Assad regime was trying to cope with the influx. Regrettably though, he was not able to obtain the necessary permits to do the interview. Now, however, things run more smoothly and freely in the post-Assad environment.

This interview was conducted on 11 January.

Q: What is the number of inhabitants in al-Zabadani currently and have many of the people returned to al-Zabadani since the regime’s fall?

A: The current number of inhabitants is around 25,000. Since the regime fell, around 400 families have returned (around 2000 people) and the return is continuing.

Q: It has been said for example that Hezbollah prevented many people from returning to al-Zabadani and settled Lebanese in al-Zabadani. Is this true?