After Assad Stalled justice threatens restless Syria

Lying in bed, recovering after his latest surgery, Ayman Ali retells the story of Syria's revolution through his wounds.

- William Christou Damascus

His right eye, lost in an attack on a rebel observation post he was manning in 2012, is covered by yellow medical tape. A cane he uses to walk is propped against the wall, after a rocket attack in 2014 left him with a limp.

For 14 years, Ali dreamed of freedom and justice. A year after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, he has his freedom but not his justice. The man he was dreaming of holding accountable - a member of his extended family who was a part of an Assad militia - had already fled the country by the time Ali returned to his home in Damascus.

A year ago today, the 53-year-long rule of the Assad family was ended after a stunning 11-day rebel offensive that took Syria and the world by surprise. The toppling of Assad finally ended a ruinous 14-year civil war that left 620,000 dead and banished the fearsome security apparatus that gave the country its moniker as the “kingdom of silence”.

Syrians flocked to the capital in the tens of thousands for the anniversary, but lurking behind the celebrations were painful questions about the country's future.

“We know who committed massacres against us - they’re still present in our homes. But to file a complaint you need evidence, and who has that?” says Ali, the former rebel who now works in digital media.

Lack of evidence did not spare Riham Hamouyeh. Late last October, attackers vaulted the garden wall of her home in Homs, central Syria, and hurled a grenade inside, killing her in front of her two young children. The 32-year-old Alawite schoolteacher had faced frequent harassment since her husband, a former mechanic in Assad’s army, was arrested two months earlier.

“None of us are comfortable, we're all exhausted. My wife has collapsed, she won’t open the door any more,” said Mohammed Issa Hameidoosh, the 63-year-old father-in-law of Hamouyeh, as he swept broken glass from her home, chunks of the floor still missing from where the grenade hit.