Five months after Assad, where is Syria heading?
Newshour
BBC
4.4 • 984 Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Five months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, we ask can Syria overcome its immense problems under its new Islamist rulers? Also in the programme: Europe commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Nazi surrender in 1945; and the end of the road for Skype.
Photo: A torn poster of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus suburb. Credit: Reuters.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour. |
| 0:05.5 | It's coming to you today live from Damascus and London. |
| 0:09.8 | Celia Hatton's in the BBC studios in London. |
| 0:12.3 | You'll hear from her a bit later. |
| 0:14.4 | I'm Tim Franks and I'm in the Syrian capital |
| 0:17.2 | because five months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, |
| 0:20.3 | five months after Syrians escaped thear al-Assad, five months after Syrians |
| 0:21.6 | escaped the clutches of a choking family dynasty turned dictatorship, many Syrians seem |
| 0:28.0 | caught between hope and fear. They have a new president who, for many, is something of |
| 0:33.1 | an enigma, this one-time militant Islamist rebel leader, Ahmed al-Shara. |
| 0:38.7 | They've also, in recent weeks, seen some terrible sectarian bloodletting. |
| 0:42.9 | That's led to fears here that this country could fracture once more, |
| 0:46.7 | tear itself back into conflict with all that that might mean for the entire Middle East. |
| 0:51.7 | Over today and tomorrow will be ranging widely |
| 0:54.2 | over some of the biggest issues facing Syria |
| 0:56.3 | as it tries to stagger to its feet |
| 0:58.5 | after years of civil war, |
| 1:00.4 | terrifying repression and a shattered economy. |
| 1:03.6 | We're going to begin with the most recent events, |
| 1:06.0 | the violence which enveloped neighborhoods |
| 1:07.7 | close to Damascus with large communities |
| 1:10.1 | from the Druze minority. |
... |
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