In her pharmacy in downtown Damascus, Lara Inaya served her customers while checking in on her relatives living in the Gulf, caught up in the regional war while Syria is, for once, spared.
“I just follow the news on Instagram,’ the 35-year-old told AFP. “For the first time, we’re the ones calling our relatives and friends in Dubai, Riyadh and Doha to make sure they’re okay.”
“It’s a real paradox: today we’re safe, while everyone around us is in danger,” she said, slipping her phone back into the pocket of her white coat.
“We have lived through war and we don’t wish it on anyone,” said Inaya, who experienced the long civil war that devastated Syria from 2011 until the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad in December 2024.
While Iran was one of the main backers of Al-Assad’s regime, the opposition coalition that overthrew him is firmly hostile to the Iranian republic.
Syrians are now spectators to the regional conflict, with Israel even intercepting missiles fired by Iran toward its territory in Syrian airspace.
On Sunday a man and his three daughters were wounded in Damascus province by debris from an Iranian missile intercepted by the Israeli army.
In response, Syria closed its airspace and the national carrier has cancelled all flights to and from Damascus airports until further notice. Despite this, life is relatively normal in Damascus, with shops staying open late into the evening during the fasting month of Ramadan, when many Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
“I follow the news 24/7, I’m addicted to it,” said Adel Al-Aqel, who sells socks. What is happening in Iran is “divine punishment,” the 59-year-old said.
His phone’s background picture is a portrait of his son, killed during Syria’s civil war.
“The Iranians killed him when they were fighting alongside Bashar Al-Assad,” he said bitterly. “At the same time,” Aqel continued, “Israel is our historic enemy. We must not get involved... we just have to watch as spectators.”
Exhausted
The Syrian army announced Wednesday it was reinforcing its military presence along the Lebanese and Iraqi borders.
Both countries have been dragged into the regional war. Thousands of Syrians who had fled to Lebanon during their country’s war are once again fleeing violence — this time heading back home, and causing heavy congestion at the border between the two countries.
In Damascus the lines outside petrol stations are growing longer as residents stock up on fuel, in anticipation of supply disruptions if the war stretches on.
Electricity rationing has also become more severe in recent days, due to a drop in the amount of natural gas arriving via Jordan, following a halt in pumping “because of the regional escalation,” according to the energy ministry.
“What matters to me in all of this is that we are not affected economically or militarily,” said Abu Raed, a 59-year-old trucker waiting in line for fuel. “The war has exhausted us; we cannot endure another one.”
