The Sayyidah Khawla sanctuary in Baalbeck, on Jan. 23, 2025. (Credit: Emmanuel Haddad/L'Orient Le-Jour)
On Jan. 23, in Baalbeck, hundreds of Syrians idly pace back and forth or sit in small groups, chatting on the marble forecourt of Sayyidah Khawla, the mausoleum of Imam Hussein’s daughter. Beneath its golden minaret and blue arches adorned with Persian-style ceramics, these are not religious pilgrims but refugees — many with vacant, uncertain gazes.Among them, some may have once taken up arms in the Syrian army or pro-Assad regime militias against the Islamist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now in power. Others might have supported Bashar al-Assad’s regime in other ways, politically or financially. In any case, almost all have likely — whether out of fear or self-interest — denied the countless atrocities committed by Assad’s forces and intelligence services since the 2011 uprising. Now, following the fall of the regime, they...
On Jan. 23, in Baalbeck, hundreds of Syrians idly pace back and forth or sit in small groups, chatting on the marble forecourt of Sayyidah Khawla, the mausoleum of Imam Hussein’s daughter. Beneath its golden minaret and blue arches adorned with Persian-style ceramics, these are not religious pilgrims but refugees — many with vacant, uncertain gazes.Among them, some may have once taken up arms in the Syrian army or pro-Assad regime militias against the Islamist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now in power. Others might have supported Bashar al-Assad’s regime in other ways, politically or financially. In any case, almost all have likely — whether out of fear or self-interest — denied the countless atrocities committed by Assad’s forces and intelligence services since the 2011 uprising. Now, following the fall of the...