On the ground in Damascus: ‘It is us who will die’

 As a US-led intervention in Syria looms on the horizon, FRANCE 24 is one of the few Western media still on the ground in Damascus. We asked locals in the capital how they feel about the potentially-devastating conflict.

As Western powers debate a military intervention in Syria, the capital of Damascus is as busy and noisy as ever. Shops are open for business, public transport is running and the streets are choked by traffic.

FRANCE 24 is one of the only remaining Western media in the city, alongside CNN and The Wall Street Journal.

Our reporters have been asking locals what they feel about an impending military intervention, which analysts say could begin within days.

Army sites and government complexes stud the bustling residential quarters and crisscross streets of Damascus, making military targets in the capital hard to reach without the risk of collateral damage.

“[An airstrike] would be impossible because there are a lot of people in Damascus,” one woman told our reporters. “How could they hit such a densely populated city? If their intentions are humanitarian, why do they want to hit us?

“It's us who will die, it's us who will pay the price,” she added.

Concern for civilian casualties in the country has led many to site the catastrophic US-led war in Iraq, which has left at least 115,000 people dead since it began in 2003.

“I don't believe the Americans will intervene because they don't want to make the same mistakes they made in Iraq,” one man told our reporters. “We shouldn't forget that Syria is different to Iraq.”

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