The warlords of Syria have a daunting to-do list

Ousting Assad may turn out to have been easier than rebuilding the country

A view of the destruction after end the 61-year rule of the Baath regime at Harasta and Cobar districts in Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, Syria on December 21, 2024
|22 min read

By Wendell Steavenson

For miles around, as far as the eye can see, the eastern suburbs of Damascus are a sea of undulating rubble and skeletal ruins. Part of this razed moonscape was once the bustling neighbourhood of Jobar, close to the city centre. For seven years it lay on the front line of a civil war.

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