Buzz on the streets of Damascus

Buzz despite renewed pressure from U.S.
Dr. Nidal Kabalan, the head of Channel Two, a government TV station, spoke to us about the renewed pressure from the United States, especially in the wake of the Hariri assassination.

Kabalan said that Syrians are not frightened by the prospect of confrontation with the United States and that they are as puzzled as anyone else about Hariri's death.

Hariri was practically a favorite son, according to Nidal. He explained that the former Lebanese prime minister owned a couple of mansions in Damascus, funded the construction of Syria's presidential palace on a hill overlooking the city, and had interests in several media companies here.

Later that night, we heard the similar comments in cafes and restaurants in different parts of the city.

Questions about future relations between Syria and Lebanon produced regretful sighs. Many said the Lebanese were ungrateful after asking for help in 1976 and now biting the hand that protected them. As for the possibility of tighter economic sanctions from the U.S. and France, perhaps even war? The response was, God willing, it won't come to that.

But there was definitely a buzz in the streets of Damascus.

The city streets are clean and crowded with well-lit shops selling clothes, shoes, and electrical goods. The famous Damascus souk is bursting with food. Luxury cars from the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon cruise the avenues ferrying Arab tourists between shops and restaurants.

A fabulous meal costs less than $10. Pirated CD's and DVD's go for $5. An Iraqi fugitive with last-minute access to Baghdad's Central Bank vault could find exile here one step short of paradise.

Iraqi refugees in Syria
There are half a million Iraqi refugees living in Syria and their numbers swelled during Ashoura, one of the holiest days on the Shiite calendar. We visited the Shia shrine of Sit Zeinab, just outside Damascus, where we ran into a procession of black-clad young men beating their chests in unison. 

We were invited into the two-room rented apartment of Harbi Saidi, 46, his wife Intisar, and son Maytham. A small color TV set sat on top of the refrigerator in the corner of the living room and a clean carpet covered the cement floor. We lounged on cushions while Intisar Saidi served us tea and oranges.

Saidi is from Baghdad and once worked as a forklift driver until U.N. sanctions, imposed on Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, ruined the Iraqi economy and plunged the country into poverty and fear generated by a regime trying to ensure its own survival. 

Forced to sell the family house at a loss and living from hand to mouth, he said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the final straw for his family. He led his wife and son to Syria where they live on $200 per month sent from relatives in Lebanon. 

Saidi said has never heard of any high-ranking Iraqi Baathists in his new community, and he doubted any Iraqi insurgents would find much support from his fellow refugees in Syria because they are all just too poor to provide money or weapons.

We were told much of the same from Syria's minister of information Dr. Mehdi Dakhlallah in a formal interview the following evening. 

We transmitted our story from Syrian TV, gathered a few more shots for another report we will complete from the Iraqi side of the border sometime in the future, and packed to leave.

A week later Lebanon's government resigned, and Damascus is now saying it is redefining its Lebanon policy and will have its troops out of there within a few months.

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