Talbiseh's Rebirth After Assad

Rebuilding life and inter-faith relations in northern Homs

The northern countryside of Homs is famous for its role in the Syrian revolution and the regime’s brutal response. The cities of Rastan and Talbiseh in particular were early sites of protests and regime massacres, including one of the regime’s earliest major military operations in September 2011. Talbiseh, which sits along the M5 Highway just 20 minutes north of Homs City, spent more than 5 years as the southernmost point of opposition control in what became the northern Homs pocket. While opposition factions were largely defeated within the city of Homs by 2014, Talbiseh and this pocket would remain until mid-2018 when a Russian-brokered deal saw the regime take control.

While a bedrock of the opposition, this area also contains many non-Sunni communities from nearly every sect. The two closest towns to Talbiseh, for example, are majority Christian and Alawi. To the east is Mushrefa, a mixed Christian, Alawi, and Sunni town which saw a gradual exodus of Christians throughout the war due to the violence and harassment from local regime fighters. Umm Sharshuh to the west was a Christian town, destroyed through regime looting and airstrikes. Enab Baladi profiled Umm Sharshuh in 2020, detailing its takeover by regime militiamen from local Alawi villages, the eviction of its residents, looting of their homes, and later regime airstrikes which destroyed the town entirely.

These three towns have a long history of integration dating back decades. Their personal and economic relationships were strained through the war, but never fully disappeared. They now serve as the foundation of renewed inter-communal ties as the region rebuilds. I visited Talbiseh, Umm Sharshuh, and Mushrefa earlier this week to learn about their history, interfaith relations, and life after Assad. Below is an edited interview with a businessman from Talbiseh who works in Mushrefa and whose family has ties to all three towns. He had moved to Turkey briefly late in the war but returned to Talbiseh in 2022 and remained in the town through its liberation.