Atwo-week old truce in Syria is just barely holding. In the coming days and weeks, it should become clearer whether this “cessation of hostilities”, brokered by the US and Russia, has any chance of lasting, and what hopes may still lie ahead for diplomacy to produce a negotiated settlement including a political transition. Yet while those crucial questions remain unanswered, there has been one striking, yet little noticed, development: Syrians have made use of the truce to come out on the streets to demonstrate in many localities, demanding the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.
They did so last Friday, one week into the truce, brandishing a central slogan: “The revolution continues.” And they are likely to do so again, after the prayers this Friday. Crowds gathered last week in dozens of towns, mostly in northern and southern rebel-held territory, but also in a Damascus suburb. It was a strong, symbolic way of rekindling the spirit of the 2011 popular uprising against the regime. It was also a powerful rebuke to all those who claim that the only issue inSyria now is violent jihadism, and the only question how to combat it.
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