Idlib Revisited

Idlib province abounds with ancient ruins. It is home to a third of Syria’s archaeological sites and antiquities of various eras and civilizations that inhabited the area before the 5th century AD.

Some of these sites are witnesses to Aramaic, Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Byzantine, and Islamic historic eras. They have even been on the World Heritage List.

However over the past decade Idlib has been a focal point of the Syrian civil war .This resulted in turmoil and later on hostilities.From April 2019 until March 2020 the then Assad government along with Russian help launched a prolonged military campaign targeting civilian infrastructure such as schools ,hospitals and civilian buildings.This caused casualties and mass displacement with people having to live in tents .

But Idlib managed to survive and on December 8th 2024 Ahmad Al Shara’a rode into Damascus victorious and to the applause of the people .He initiated efforts to govern the war torn region focusing on maintaining order and integrating different factions into the national army .He also worked on repatriating refugees and drafting a new constitution.These initiatives aim to stabilize Idlib and address the complex challenges of post conflict governance.

Today Ahmad Al Shara’a visited Idlib -not as its leader but as the President of Syria.He was met by crowds of people welcoming him .He then inspected the displaced people’s camps .
President Al Shara’a faces immense challenges in trying to rebuild communities whether in Idlib or the rest of Syria but with God’s grace and the will of the people he will be successful.