Published TUESDAY July 22, 2025: 'Syria: Between Fear and Hope' by ZUMA Press award winning dpa photo-journalist Moawia Atrash: Just eight months after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, many Syrians fear they have merely exchanged one autocrat for another. Confronted with a battered economy and sectarian opposition to his rule, President Ahmed al-Sharaa governs a fractured country still reeling from drought and the aftermath of the country's 13-year civil war. A surge in sectarian violence in southern Syria and Israeli airstrikes reaching central Damascus have pushed the war-scarred country into a volatile juncture, a senior UN official said on Thursday, warning that renewed violence could shatter prospects for peace and fuel wider regional instability. Welcome to 'Syria: Between Fear and Hope'
© zReportage.com Issue #997 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY July 22, 2025: 'Syria: Between Fear and Hope' by ZUMA Press award winning dpa photo-journalist Moawia Atrash: Just eight months after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, many Syrians fear they have merely exchanged one autocrat for another. Confronted with a battered economy and sectarian opposition to his rule, President Ahmed al-Sharaa governs a fractured country still reeling from drought and the aftermath of the country's 13-year civil war. A surge in sectarian violence in southern Syria and Israeli airstrikes reaching central Damascus have pushed the war-scarred country into a volatile juncture, a senior UN official said on Thursday, warning that renewed violence could shatter prospects for peace and fuel wider regional instability. Welcome to 'Syria: Between Fear and Hope'
An aerial view shows the city of As Suwayda or Sweida, with smoke rising from burning houses amid clashes between tribal fighters and local Druze factions in southern Syria. Fear and shock grip the province following the escalation of isolated clashes into one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence the region has seen in years.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A displaced Bedouin Syrian woman ices her bruised eyes as she resides in a school in the village of Jbab, west of Daraa, after the Syrian government evacuated about 600 people from the city of As Suwayda this morning following an agreement with Druze factions to remove them from the city and transfer them to various shelters in the countryside of Daraa Governorate.
© Maowia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Bodies lie on the ground amid clashes between tribal fighters and local Druze factions in southern Syria. Fear and shock grip the province following the escalation of isolated clashes into one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence the region has witnessed in years.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A tattered Syrian flag waves at the Syrian General Staff Headquarters, after it was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Damascus.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Armed Syrian security forces stand near the earthen berms they erected near the town of Busra al-Harir in the Daraa countryside to prevent tribal forces from advancing towards the Druze villages in the As Suwayda Governorate, After an agreement between the Syrian government and the Druze forces.
© Maowia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A view of the heavily damaged building of the Syrian General Staff Headquarters, after it was hit by Israeli airstrikes on Damascus.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Displaced Bedouin Syrian families reside in a school in the village of Jbab, west of Daraa, after the Syrian government evacuated about 600 people from the city of As Suwayda this morning following an agreement with Druze factions to remove them from the city and transfer them to various shelters in the countryside of Daraa Governorate.
© Maowia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
An injured man waits in the corridor of Al-Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus following Israeli airstrikes on the General Staff building near Umayyad Square in central Damascus.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A woman mourns during a funeral at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood, following the suicide bombing on Sunday 22 June, which killed 22 people and injured 59, according to the Syrian Ministry of Health.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrian Christians hold candles during a protest in front of the Umm al-Zannar Church in Homs Governorate, central Syria, against the backdrop of the suicide bombing that took place at the Mar Elias Church in Damascus, which left more than twenty dead and 52 injured.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrian President AHMAD AL-SHARAA (C) looks on as JOSEPH DAKKAK, regional director of the French shipping firm CMA CGM, and QUTAIBA BADAWI, director of Syria's General Authority for Land and Sea Ports, sign an agreement granting CMA CGM operational control of Latakia Port.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrian President AHMAD AL-SHARAA (R) receives JOSEPH DAKKAK, regional director of the French shipping firm CMA CGM before signing an agreement granting CMA CGM operational control of Latakia Port.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A boy holds spent cartridges in his hands at Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, following deadly clashes between members of the Druze minority and pro-government fighters.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Burnt out cars are seen in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, following deadly clashes between members of the Druze minority and Syrian pro-government fighters.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrians celebrate in the Clock Square in the center of Idlib city, after US President Trump's decision to lift trade sanctions on Syria.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Revellers dance in the B Bar & Lounge while Berlin-based DJ Nuria plays her first set in Damascus after the fall of the Assad regime.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A boat passes over the aquamarine colored ocean in Latakia. Since the beginning of summer, hundreds of families from various Syrian governorates have been flocking daily to the beaches of Latakia and its countryside. This year the beaches are crowded, after many Syrians were deprived of access to the sea for 14 years due to the war and dangerous roads.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrian Christians celebrate Good Friday at the Maronite Cathedral of Saint Elijah. Syrians practice their religious rituals in all churches under the protection of Syrian security forces to prevent anything that might destabilize the country.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrian Christians celebrate Good Friday in Farhat Square in the center of Aleppo. Syrians practice their religious rituals in all churches under the protection of Syrian security forces to prevent anything that might destabilize the country.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
SHEIKH HAMMOUD AL-HINNAWI, a prominent spiritual leader of the Druze community in Syria, holds the title of Sheikhl, one of the highest religious authorities among the Druze in As-Suwayda Governorate.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
Syrian book vendors ADALLAH HAMDAN (L), who sells religious books, and ADHAM AJAMJA, who sells political books, browse through their collection at an outdoor book market in Damascus.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A military engineering team works to clear and detonate minefields in the village of Umm Rajim in the eastern Idlib countryside. The 103rd Division of the New Syrian Army continues efforts to dismantle mines planted by Bashar al-Assad's forces on former battlefronts in the Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama countrysides.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A tanks drives over unexploded mines as a Syrian military engineering team works to clear and detonate minefields in the village of Umm Rajim in the eastern Idlib countryside. These mines have killed more than 200 people in the first three months after the fall of the Assad regime. The teams, working with primitive equipment, face slow and dangerous conditions, having already lost several members in the process.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
A military engineering team works to clear and detonate minefields in the village of Umm Rajim in the eastern Idlib countryside. The 103rd Division of the New Syrian Army continues efforts to dismantle mines planted by Bashar al-Assad's forces on former battlefronts in the Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama countrysides. These mines have killed more than 200 people in the first three months after the fall of the Assad regime. The teams, working with primitive equipment, face slow and dangerous conditions, having already lost several members in the process.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
SULEIMAN SHAB from the village of Qaminas, sits at home after losing his right foot in a mine explosion while entering agricultural land in the village of Dadikh in the southeastern Idlib countryside. Military engineering teams of the 103rd Division of the New Syrian Army continue efforts to clear mines planted by Bashar al-Assad's forces, which have killed more than 200 people in the first three months after the fall of the Assad regime.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
SULEIMAN SHAB from the village of Qaminas, walks on crutches after losing his right foot in a mine explosion while entering agricultural land in the southeastern Idlib countryside. Military engineering teams of the 103rd Division of the New Syrian Army continue efforts to clear mines planted by Bashar al-Assad's forces, which have killed more than 200 people in the first three months after the fall of the Assad regime.
© Moawia Atrash/dpa via ZUMA Press
