‘My father never dreamed he would see me again’

Abdulkafi, an English teacher from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, saw his father for the first time in 20 years on Monday.

“He is 85, an old man. He never dreamed he would see me again before he died,” Abdulkafi told the BBC.

A video of the encounter, seen by the BBC, shows the two men embracing and sobbing with emotion.

Their long separation began when his father, who had been working in Saudi Arabia, returned to regime-held territory, when Abdulkafi had already moved to opposition-controlled areas.

The emotional reunion was made possible by a surprise opposition offensive, which saw the armed rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allies seize swathes of territory, including Aleppo, from forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Abdulkafi is one of several people inside Aleppo who have spoken to the BBC.

They described being treated with respect by HTS fighters and increased supplies of electricity and water, but also fears at war returning to Aleppo and distrust that the former al-Qaeda-linked group’s professed moderation would last.

Many requested anonymity for their own safety. Some details of individual accounts could not be verified due to the difficulty of reporting independently from Syria.

Many people in Aleppo are scared of renewed fighting, the locals the BBC spoke to said. Air strikes by regime and allied Russian forces have already killed dozens, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.

One man told the BBC his main worry was the bombardment that he feared could hit the city at any point. He said he had stopped his family from even going to the corner shop.

“We’re living in complete apprehension,” he said. He added that the air strikes that have hit the city over the past few days reminded him of earlier periods in the war.

Aleppo, which had been captured by rebels in the early years of the Syrian civil war, was retaken by Syrian government forces backed by Russia in 2016 after a gruelling siege. Since then, the city has mostly avoided direct warfare. The Syrian government claims credit for what it says is the ongoing reconstruction of the city, which until the war was Syria’s commercial hub.

But NGOs and independent journalists accuse the government of widespread human rights abuses there, including torture and killings of civilians and non-existent democratic rights.

Abdulkafi said some of his relatives were afraid to be seen with him for fear of retribution were regime forces to retake the city once again.

“Nineteen Eighty-Four is applied in Aleppo. Assad’s image is on every building, streets, on every corner. He is controlling their minds,” he said, referring to the George Orwell novel about totalitarianism.

One woman said people in Aleppo were “confused and scared” following the rebel takeover. She said she hadn’t left her house at first, but later went for walks and drives with her family after hearing that civilians were not being harassed by the rebels.

“Everywhere was relatively calm. But everyone looked scared and anxious, you could sense it in their faces and their reactions. No-one looked comfortable.

”People are scared, because we don’t trust anyone or what their reaction might be to what’s happening now.

“We feel let down by everyone. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us

George Meneshian, a Greek-Armenian political analyst who is in contact with Armenians in Aleppo, said Christians in the city had not experienced any problems since the HTS takeover.

“On the first day, an HTS fighter knocked on the door of an Armenian neighbour and assured them that they would definitely not harm them,” he told the BBC, adding that his sources were afraid to directly speak to the media due to fear of retribution.

“They said they would respect them and allow them to do whatever they want, as Christians and as Armenians.”

But he said Christians were suspicious of HTS promises, saying minority groups in Syria had previously been persecuted by jihadist groups which at first said they would not harm non-Muslims. He said many had grown used to Assad’s rule, which was authoritarian but at least did not actively persecute Armenians.

“There are precedents for Islamist militias initially not harming anyone, but afterwards committing crimes against minorities. Hopefully this will not be the case.”

But Abdulkafi, who lives in the HTS-controlled city of Al-Dana in Idlib, said that minorities had nothing to fear from the group, which he stressed he disagreed with.

“They are showing much more flexibility, because the highest achievement that HTS can get is acceptance from the world. This doesn’t mean that I like them.”