ASTON MARTINS, LAMBORGHINIS AND FERRARIS: WHAT IT’S LIKE INSIDE ASSAD’S GARAGE
Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad owned several garages full of luxury cars.
CNN’s Clarissa Ward gained exclusive access to one of them, on the compound of the presidential palace.
Aston Martins, Lamborghinis and Ferraris line the parking lot and, outside this carpark, there are more parking lots filled with dozens and dozens of armored cars.
The cars show the deep, deep corruption of the Assad regime, which is a big part of why this uprising started in the first place in 2011.
Assad ruled for quite some years, his father for decades before. The cars symbolize the levels of corruption and greed, they show the opulence and the lavish lifestyle Assad lives while so many Syrians were struggling to put food on the table.
The past 14 years Syrians have been under bombardment, they’ve been tortured, maimed, kidnapped, killed and meanwhile, Assad lived like a king with garages full of cars. With palaces, with incredible mosaics and marble.
Ward watched in the palace some ordinary people who managed to sneak in with their jaws dropped. They could not believe how he was living like this at a time when Syria was suffering so acutely.
So, this really is a metaphor for the root of the rot, for where it all started.
While many are celebrating the end of the Assad regime, Syrians are also anxious about who will control the country. The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group is at pains to show that they are different from the old guard, refusing to use or touch the luxury vehicles to show their difference from Assad.
But, Ward explains how the rebels who were guarding the palace wouldn’t look at her or talk to her until she put her headscarf on, so there are still extremely conservative tendencies from the majority of rebel forces who are controlling this country.
ON THE STREETS OF DAMASCUS, YOUNG PEOPLE CELEBRATE THE FALL OF ASSAD
On the streets of Damascus, young people have been celebrating the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad.
People held up their babies, while others took selfies and cheered. Just behind them, rebel fighters stood near weaponry.
“This is the reaction after 50 years of this regime, of this death, of this darkness… this is the new generation that will come out to the light now this is the reaction,” one young woman named Judi told CNN’s Clarissa Ward, who is reporting at the scene.
The woman stood with her parents amid the cheering, and said she felt that she was “coming to the light again.”
“This is victory. This is the happiness I have never witnessed before. I’ve been living 13 years in war, in death, in darkness and this is amazing. This is unspeakable actually. Here you can see the breath of freedom.”
Credit CNN
