Rastan's Complex Post-Assad Transition

Interviews with two former FSA fighters in northern Homs

The city of Rastan was once the center of opposition activity in northern Homs. The commercial and administrative hub of the norther countryside, Rastan was home to a large number of career soldiers and officers before the war. Most of these men defected between 2011 and 2013, forming a strong core of opposition fighters both in Homs and across the country. Rastan’s revolutionary activity made it one of the earliest targets of Assad regime military operations, beginning with the May 2011 siege of Rastan. Between May 29 and June 2, regime forces indiscriminately shelled the city and executed at least 75 residents while also conducting widespread detention campaigns.

Rastan would be the epicenter of several more battles throughout 2011 and 2012 before the opposition eventually carved out a swathe of liberated territory across the countryside. In May 2018, the Assad regime fully recaptured the city following a multi-year siege and “reconciliation agreement.” Most of the city’s residents fled to Idlib or out of the country at this time. Rastan was not liberated again until the regime’s collapse in December 2024.

The fall of the Assad regime has ushered in a new period of intense transition for Rastan. The city has suffered significant material and economic damage, and pre-war and even war-time social structures have been broken and built anew (Dr. Aymen al-Dassouky has an excellent report on the evolution of local social structures following the regime’s takeover).

Following is a detailed assessment of Rastan’s conditions post-Assad. I have combined two interviews that I conducted in March 2026, one with a former Free Syrian Army commander from Rastan and the other with a former opposition fighter from Talbiseh who now does aid work across northern Homs. The topics include post-Assad social divisions in the city, local actors involved in mediation, and challenges facing the economic and education sectors.