DAMASCUS — In Damascus, the streets have been buzzing with pleasure Tuesday as Syrians welcomed in a brand new 12 months that appeared to many to carry a promise of a brighter future after the sudden fall of Bashar Assad’s authorities weeks earlier.
Whereas Syrians within the capital regarded ahead to a brand new starting after the ousting of Assad, the temper was extra somber alongside Beirut’s Mediterranean promenade, the place residents shared cautious hopes for the brand new 12 months, reflecting on a rustic nonetheless reeling from conflict and ongoing crises.
Battle-weary Palestinians in Gaza who misplaced their properties and family members in 2024 noticed little hope that 2025 would carry an finish to their struggling.
The final 12 months was a dramatic one within the Center East, bringing calamity to some and hope to others. Throughout the area, it felt silly to many to try to foretell what the following 12 months would possibly carry.
In Damascus, Abir Homsi mentioned she is optimistic a few future for her nation that would come with peace, safety and freedom of expression and would carry Syrian communities beforehand divided by battle strains again collectively.
“We will return to how we once were, when people loved each other, celebrated together whether it is Ramadan or Christmas or any other holiday — no restricted areas for anyone,” she mentioned.
However for a lot of, the brand new 12 months and new actuality carried with it reminders of the painful years that got here earlier than.
Abdulrahman al-Habib, from the japanese Syrian metropolis of Deir el-Zour, had come to Damascus in hopes of discovering family members who disappeared after being arrested below Assad’s rule. He was on the capital’s Marjeh Sq., the place family members of the lacking have taken to posting images of their family members searching for any clue to their whereabouts.
“We hope that in the new year, our status will be better … and peace will prevail in the whole Arab world,” he mentioned.
In Lebanon, a tenuous ceasefire introduced a halt to preventing between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group somewhat over a month in the past. The nation battered by years of financial collapse, political instability and a collection of calamities since 2019, continues to grapple with uncertainty, however the truce has introduced at the very least a brief return to regular life.
Some households flocked to the Mzaar Ski Resort within the mountains northeast of Beirut on Tuesday to benefit from the day within the snow although the resort had not formally opened.
“What happened and what’s still happening in the region, especially in Lebanon recently, has been very painful,” mentioned Youssef Haddad, who got here to ski along with his household. “We have great hope that everything will get better.”
On Beirut’s seaside corniche, Mohammad Mohammad from the village of Marwahin in southern Lebanon was strolling along with his three kids.
“I hope peace and love prevail next year, but it feels like more (challenges) await us,” he mentioned.
Mohammad was among the many tens of 1000’s displaced throughout greater than a 12 months of battle between Hezbollah and Israel. Now residing in Jadra, a city that was additionally bombarded in the course of the battle, he awaits the tip of a 60-day interval, after which the Israeli military is required to withdraw below the situations of a French and U.S.-brokered ceasefire.
“Our village was completely destroyed,” Mohammad mentioned. His household would spend a quiet night at dwelling, he mentioned. This 12 months “was very hard on us. I hope 2025 is better than all the years that passed.”
In Gaza, the place the conflict between Hamas and Israel has killed greater than 45,500 Palestinians, introduced huge destruction and displaced a lot of the enclave’s inhabitants, few noticed trigger for optimism within the new 12 months.
“The year 2024 was one of the worst years for all Palestinian people. It was a year of hunger, displacement, suffering and poverty,” mentioned Nour Abu Obaid, a displaced girl from northern Gaza.
Obaid, whose 10-year-old little one was killed in a strike within the so-called “humanitarian zone” in Muwasi, mentioned she didn’t anticipate something good in 2025. “The world is dead,” she mentioned. “We do not expect anything, we expect the worst.”
The conflict was sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led assault on southern Israel by which militants killed round 1,200 folks and kidnapped some 250 others.
Ismail Salih, who misplaced his dwelling and livelihood, expressed hopes for an finish to the conflict in 2025 in order that Gaza’s folks can begin rebuilding their lives.
The 12 months that handed “was all war and all destruction,” he mentioned. “Our homes are gone, our trees are gone, our livelihood is lost.”
Within the coming 12 months, Salih mentioned he hopes that Palestinians can “live like the rest of the people of the world, in security, reassurance and peace.”
