Families voice concern over treatment of Assad's former soldiers

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00:00Are we supposed to sleep on the streets? We need to go home.

00:04We're going home. Don't be afraid.

00:10I was wounded in my first operation.

00:13He was hit by a shell. He's blind now.

00:15I didn't take part in any operations. I didn't do anything.

00:19He was demobilized, but we kept the flat.

00:21This former officer in Bashar al-Assad's army is trying to convince this HTS fighter to let him go home.

00:31Thank you, thank you. May God protect your children.

00:36For fear of retribution, the family fled its staff accommodation when the regime fell.

00:41It's okay, they let us in.

00:43This compound is home to the officers of the infamous 4th Division.

00:47The elite unit headed by Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher was feared for its brutality

00:52and accused of committing crimes against humanity.

01:01These officers' wives are Alawites, the same religious minority as the Assad family.

01:06They cower in these flats, afraid of revenge attacks.

01:10We are afraid there be blood. We are afraid of sectarism.

01:15Our husbands were officers in that idiot's army.

01:18But our husbands didn't do anything.

01:20If they had, we wouldn't have returned to our apartments.

01:23My husband hasn't killed anyone. We want to know what will happen to our husbands.

01:30All the flats in the compound have been broken into.

01:33The door is smashed and all valuables are gone.

01:38They stole the TV.

01:44When HTS took Damascus, we were frightened.

01:47We took a few of our belongings and fled.

01:50We were told they would slit our throats because we are Maher al-Assad's 4th Division.

01:56The compound is practically deserted.

01:59Some officers have fled abroad.

02:01Others are hiding in their villages, waiting to hand their weapons to the new authorities

02:05and hoping to be granted a taswiya, a certificate that they have no blood on their hands.

02:11In the meantime, these HTS fighters tell us they're here to protect the residents from potential attacks.

02:19It's strictly forbidden to touch a former regime soldier.

02:22The taswiya are being investigated and delivered.

02:24They'll join the army under the new government's control

02:27after the HTS is suspended to become the defence ministry.

02:30Then everything will be in order.

02:32This is an example of the challenge that lies ahead for the new authorities here in Damascus.

02:37They are going to have to achieve national reconciliation

02:41while delivering justice for the victims of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

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