Oft-repeated mantra in Damascus: 'We're tired of this'

1/21

A wounded Syrian woman walks with her children after airstrikes on a rebel area of the war-torn northern city of Aleppo. (Mohammed al-Khatieb / AFP/ Getty Images)

2/21

Mourners attend a funeral for men killed during battles with members of the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (Mahmud Al-Halabi / AFP/ Getty Images)

3/21

Rebel fighters carry a man’s body at the Aleppo headquarters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria after he was allegedly killed by the AlQaeda-linked group in January. (Medo Halab / AFP/ Getty Images)

4/21

A Syrian man helps an injured resident following an airstrike in Aleppo’s Maadi neighborhood. (Mohammed al-Khatieb / AFP/ Getty Images)

5/21

A Syrian man reacts after an airstrike by government forces on the city of Aleppo. (Mohammed al-Khatieb / AFP/ Getty Images)

6/21

Rebel fighters inside a building during clashes with pro-government forces in the Sheikh al-Said neighborhood of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. (Medo Halab / AFP/ Getty Images)

7/21

An opposition fighter runs through a hole in a wall to avoid sniper fire by regime forces during clashes in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. (KARAM AL-MASRI / AFP/Getty Images)

8/21

Opposition fighters open fire from behind a car during fighting in the Salaheddin district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce fighting in Damascus province between rebels and troops backed by pro-regime militias and fighters from Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah. (KARAM AL-MASRI / AFP/Getty Images)

9/21

A Syrian rebel aims his weapon during clashes with government forces in the streets near Aleppo international airport in northern Syria. (Stephen J. Boitano / AFP/ Getty Images)

10/21

Rebel fighters duck as they run behind a barricade to avoid being fired at by Syrian government forces in the Old City of Aleppo. (JM Lopez / AFP/ Getty Images)

11/21

A fighter allied with Syrian President Bashar Assad runs across the street after fighting with rebels in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the capital, Damascus. (Anwar Amro / AFP/ Getty Images)

12/21

A fighter of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, allied with Syrian President Bashar Assad, jumps through the window of a destroyed building in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus. (Anwar Amro / AFP/ Getty Images)

13/21

An opposition fighter runs in front of a sniper curtain in the industrial area of Syria’s eastern town of Deir Ezzor during clashes with government forces. (Abo Shuja / AFP/ Getty Images)

14/21

Free Syrian Army fighters clean their weapons and check ammunition at their base on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. (Khalil Hamra / Associated Press)

15/21

Syrian government forces patrol the Khaldiyeh district of Syria’s central city of Homs. The Syrian government announced on July 29 the capture of Khaldiyeh, a key rebel district in Homs. (Joseph Eid / AFP/Getty Images)

16/21

A Syrian national flag is waved in Damascus to show support for President Bashar Assad. (Louai Beshara / AFP/Getty Images)

17/21

A rebel fighter takes aim at regime forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (Louai Abo Al-Jod / AFP/Getty Images)

18/21

A man stands near destroyed buildings after reported airstrikes by Syrian government forces in the rebel-held northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. (Abu Amar Al-Taftanaz / AFP/Getty Images)

19/21

Mustafa Abu Bekir, 23, second from left, meets relatives after crossing the Turkish Cilvegozu gate border. Abu Bekir said he was severely wounded by a bomb dropped from a Syrian army warplane while fighting with the Free Syrian Army in Idlib. (Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)

20/21

A man carries a boy who was severely wounded during heavy fighting between Syrian rebels and troops last year in Idlib. (Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press)

21/21

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrives at a dinner event in Damascus on the last week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (Virginie Nguyen Hoang / AFP/Getty Images)

By Patrick McDonnell

Sept. 29, 2013 6 AM PT

DAMASCUS, Syria — At a makeshift bus stop across from an expanse of bullet-riddled buildings, three elderly women stepped onto a packed van destined for the Syrian capital’s northeastern suburbs, neighborhoods largely under the sway of anti-government insurgents.

The trio faced hours of delays at army and rebel checkpoints — between patches of no man’s land and buffer zones under threat of fire — as they returned to their homes in Duma, a heavily contested town barely five miles away.

That morning, the women had made the four-hour-plus journey into the government-controlled city to shop and run a few errands, escaping the claustrophobic confines of Duma, where gasoline is scarce, cooking gas is a luxury, electricity is unavailable and prices have skyrocketed as essential supplies have been choked off.

“We’re tired of this,” said one of the women, a grandmother who gave her name as Um Yaman and clutched a bag of bread in one hand and a stack of personal documents in another. “We just want this to end and for everything to go back to where it was before.”

It’s an oft-repeated mantra in Damascus after more than two years of war between government forces and rebels seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. Residents are fed up with the constant negotiating of checkpoints and other barriers, the pervasive uncertainty and, of course, the lingering danger, highlighted by the frequent detonation of artillery and mortar rounds. No one knows how, or when, it will end.

Crossing front lines is especially problematic, but almost everyone faces monumental challenges of some kind, be they logistical, economic, personal or security-related.

Important decisions are postponed. People wonder whether to flee their homeland or stick it out and wait for an indeterminate denouement that could prove calamitous.

“My mother wants me to get married, but how can I get married in this situation?” asked Bassel, 30, a banker in the upscale Abu Rummaneh district who, like others interviewed, asked that only his first name be used for security reasons. “I can hardly be responsible for myself these days. How can I be responsible for a wife and children?”

Many have grappled with the dilemma of whether to remain or face an uncertain welcome abroad. With more than 2 million people now in exile, many nations are restricting the entry of Syrians or banning those who enter from working. As a result, economics can play a big role in deciding whether to stay.

“If you’re rich and can afford a nice apartment in Beirut , there’s no problem,” said a 27-year-old university graduate, who works for an international agency and has contemplated moving to neighboring Lebanon. “If you’re poor, well, maybe a refugee camp is not so bad. But if you’re in the middle, what do you do?”

Despite the prevalent sense of anxiety, life here appears mostly normal on the surface, including rush-hour traffic jams. People stick to the routines of going to work in the morning and returning home in the afternoons. Schools opened this month, sending clusters of exuberant children in blue smocks onto the streets and sidewalks. The ubiquitous presence of soldiers and armed militiamen at checkpoints and elsewhere is often the only outward sign that warfare is raging just outside the city limits.

In the bustling Hejaz area downtown, however, the stately, century-old-plus train station appears forlorn. Syria’s trains have long stopped running — victims of insurgent sabotage and attacks — and a station that stood as a lovingly restored monument to a once-celebrated rail line has now become a memorial for 132 railroad employees killed, many more injured and 60 kidnapped across the nation. Plaques inside the station commemorate the fallen railroad workers. The destruction is part of the tens of billions of dollars in damage inflicted on Syria’s infrastructure.

“It’s sad: I don’t understand why in order to bring down a regime you have to destroy the railroad and burn trains that we purchased brand new from China,” said Younes Nasser, public relations manager for the Hejaz Railroad, as he stood on the station balcony overlooking the square and a century-old German-made caboose on display outside.

Armed militiamen guard the shuttered station, its intricate interior woodwork and brass chandelier now invisible to Damascenes with more weighty matters on their minds.

“Public transport is the nerve center of the country,” Nasser said. “Now it is all destroyed.”

Across town, in the mostly Christian Qassa district, garlands of white flowers were strung along the pews and columns of Holy Cross Church the other day in preparation for a wedding. The smartly dressed guests and families of the bride and groom gathered outside, awaiting the moment when the couple would arrive and approach the altar.

“Our lives go on,” said Greek Orthodox Bishop Isaac Barakaat, seated in his office adjacent to the church. “We are in our third year living with this.”

The nation’s Christian community, like other Syrian minorities, is deeply worried about a possible Islamist takeover of Syria, one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse nations in the Middle East, and one with a tradition of religious tolerance. There is profound concern here for the fate of Maaloula, a landmark Christian town north of the capital that is home to several historic churches and the renowned St. Thecla monastery, residence for a community of nuns.

Rebel fighters, including Sunni militants with the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front, overran Maaloula this month. Fierce clashes continue as government forces try to retake the community. Residents have relocated to Christian areas of Damascus, including Holy Cross parish.

“We all know what happened in Iraq,” Barakaat said, referring to the mass exodus of Christians from the neighboring nation after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled President Saddam Hussein. “We are Syrians. We have lived with our Muslim brothers for more than 1,000 years. Maybe if the terrorists come things will be worse. But we have God.”

For now, the fate of Syria appears to be largely in the hands of non-divine outside powers, notably Russia and the United States, each backing and arming opposing sides in the civil war. Although the two major powers have orchestrated a deal to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, there is still much bickering about terms of a prospective peace process that appears illusory in Damascus.

For many Syrians, it is infuriating that their destiny appears tied so closely to decisions made in Moscow and Washington, based on geostrategic concerns far removed from people’s daily lives.

“This is a great game for Russia and America,” Barakaat said. “We Syrians are caught in the middle.”

[email protected]

Special correspondent Nabih Bulos contributed to this report.