Syria’s broken people: how Assad destroyed a nation

Whoever leads the country after this conflict comes to an end will inherit not just the rubble and ruins, but a ravaged people, too.

By Shiraz Maher

(Photo By Azaz, on Syria's northern border with Turkey. Photo: Getty)

For a moment, the residents of al-Fu’ah and Kafriya dreamed of a better future. After living under siege for more than two years, civilians from these two Shia villages in the rebel-held Idlib province of north-western Syria were finally allowed to leave earlier this month.

Buses arrived to evacuate them to regime-held areas in Aleppo province, snaking through hostile territory. They eventually stopped at an agreed crossover point, between regime- and rebel-held areas in the Rashideen district of western Aleppo.