Returning home to Syria

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie introduces stories from Syria, Ukraine, France, Ghana and Saudi Arabia.

The speed at which President Assad was deposed was a shock to many, including the BBC's Lina Sinjab. She had been forced to leave her home country in 2013, after being detained and threatened by Syrian security forces. This week, she finally returned home, without the looming fear of arrest, to find a changed country.

Paul Adams was in Kyiv on the first-day of Russia's full-scale invasion, and reported from the country during much of the early months on the war. He recently returned for the first time in over a year, and found a very different country, where the desire for the war to end is growing by the day.

France has entered a period of political uncertainty, triggered by the collapse of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government ten days ago. On the surface, not much has changed in the country, says Andrew Harding - but what about further down the road?

Like other polls around the world this year, Ghana's recent general election saw another incumbent ousted. The reasons behind this are familiar, too, says James Copnall - rising prices, rising rent and a general malaise and desire for change.

Saudi Arabia was crowned host of the 2034 World Cup this week - the pinnacle of an orchestrated campaign to bring some positive PR to the Kingdom through international sport and culture. Emily Wither recently attended a star-studded film festival, and considers the degree to which Saudi Arabia has managed to pull off its much-desired rebrand.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production coordinators: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, today we're in Ukraine, where the desire to end the war is growing by the day.
0:11.7	In France, the trains are on time, the stately gardens are pruned, but the country's politics are stuck in a state of impasse.
0:20.2	We're in Kana, where amid half-finished road networks and an ailing economy,
0:25.6	voters are hoping the return of the former president will bring much-wanted change.
0:30.9	And finally, to Saudi Arabia, crowned the 2034 World Cup host this week.
0:36.3	Is there real change taking place in the kingdom beyond the glitzy PR?
0:41.8	But first, the rapid fall of the Assad regime in Syria last weekend
0:45.8	astonished even the most seasoned regional experts.
0:49.8	13 years of civil war had failed to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
0:56.1	But in just under two weeks,
1:03.1	rebel forces took control of several cities before finally advancing to Damascus. There's been euphoria on the streets of the capital, with thousands of Syrians returning to their homeland for
1:08.5	the first time in years. Among them, the BBC's Lena Sinjab.
1:13.9	The message came through in the early hours of last Sunday morning.
1:17.6	I couldn't believe what I was reading.
1:19.6	Homs has fallen to the rebels, it read.
1:22.4	Sent by an al-a-white woman whom I'd been in contact with daily
1:26.1	to check on the situation there. I'd been reporting
1:29.2	on the unfolding collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime all week, starting with the fall of the
1:34.7	cities of Aleppo and then Hamma to the Islamist rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS. I was bracing
1:41.5	myself for a bloodbath that Assad would deploy his forces to crush the opposition again.
1:47.3	It seemed impossible the rebels would succeed in capturing Homs, a key government stronghold.
1:53.1	I feared Syria would split with Damascus and the coastal cities remaining in Assad's hand.
	...

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