The Syrian War From the Perspective of Damascus Residents
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: After more than four years of bloody conflict, is support for a negotiated solution growing in Syria?</s>FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What you would usually find here when we came in the past to Damascus is that people were very optimistic that he civil war would be over very soon. And when you speak to them today, they are a lot more cautious.</s>ANDERSON: Tonight, we are live in Damascus with the very latest for you. Also ahead, new U.S. military hardware arrives in Turkey as the country steps up its role in the fight against ISIS. But there's growing trouble at home after another day of deadly attacks. We'll ask a leading Iraqi Kurdish official about Turkey's handling of its Kurds. And violence erupts once again in Ferguson in the United States. We'll take you to the American town as it marks one year since Michael Brown was killed.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.</s>ANDERSON: Well, the U.S. stepping up its firepower in the fight against ISIS. A very good evening. Half a dozen F16 fighter jets have been deployed to Incirlik Air Base in Southern Turkey along with 300 personnel and support equipment. Now these additional six planes join Turkish assets like these already at the base. The deployment will make it easier for the U.S. to strike ISIS targets in Syria and comes after Turkey officially entered the war against the terror group a month ago. Well, CNN's own Fred Pleitgen is in Syria where he's been talking to ordinary Syrians in Damascus. And for many, it seems hope is fading that airstrikes like these will actually impact the overall fight. Firstly, to the news of the day. And Fred is it clear when these airstrikes will begin and what their specific targets are likely to be?</s>FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's mostly likely the targets are going to be ISIS operatives inside Syria. And I think one of the things that the U.S. wants to do is it wants to be able to be in that area of operations as fast as possible. And obviously getting there from Incirlik Air Base is something that will allow them to do that very, very quickly. Of course one of the things that the Turks say they want to do is they want to create what they call that safe zone inside northern Syria where they want to get rid of ISIS there. They say that that is for a corridor for refugees, for instance, to gather there so that they can be safe as well. And, the U.S. says it wants to start hitting these targets as fast as possible, especially on the border area, because one of the other things that the U.S. has also been trying to do, Becky, and that's very important for the U.S. is actually trying to help seal the Turkish border, because one of the things that we have heard in the past is that ISIS has been using the Turkish border, which of course is very long and very porous with Syria to get new fighters, new weapons to their territories as well, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Some are going to say this is too little, too late. Is it?</s>PLEITGEN: Well, I mean that's certainly what many people here in the government-controlled part of Damascus have told us in the past -- when we've been talking to them. They say they believe that six fighter jets are not going to make very much of a difference. They also say that they believe that it's actually their military, the Syrian army, that's the one that's taking on ISIS inside Syria. Of course, they also see that ISIS is clashing with other rebel forces as well. But one of the things that I've seen here for the first time really in such force, much more than before, is a lot of concern among many people about the advances that ISIS is making. The last time that we were here, which is a little over a year ago, you wouldn't hear anybody even fathom the fact that ISIS could enter into Damascus. Now what we've seen is in Yarmouk, for instance, which is an area that's seen a lot of violence, was that ISIS showed up there a couple of months ago. People here in Damascus have seen that the Syrian military has had to give up places like Palmyra, has had to give up another town just last week where a lot of Christians have had to flee that place. So certainly there is a lot more concern here. And very few people believe that these airstrikes are going to make very much of a difference in the overall battlefield picture.</s>ANDERSON: Fred, given the Syrian government is so guilty of so much loss of life in what has been this bloody civil war, many argue providing the fertile ground for the rise of ISIS, other arguing further still that the militants are covertly supported by Bashar al-Assad's government. How much support, if any, are you finding for the government? I know that Damascus is government-controlled, but are people prepared to voice their support or not at this point?</s>PLEITGEN: Well, there certainly are many people who will voice their support, I mean, if you go through the government-controlled part of Syria, especially here in Damascus, there's a lot of Syrian flags. There's pictures of Bashar al-Assad. There's convoys of cars going around. And also one thing that we've seen is that there's a lot of people, especially from the Syrian minorities who are actually volunteering for the Syrian armed forces. Now the Syrian armed forces, we know, has had a lot of trouble keeping up its manpower, because it's suffered some very heavy losses in the four years that this civil war has been going on, but especially I think the people of minorities are ones who more and more feel that for them it's very difficult to find any sort of alternative to Bashar al-Assad. They see that ISIS is getting stronger in the east of the country. The north of the country, of course, is very much in disarray with those many groups all fighting each other. So, if you look especially at the minorities, the Alawites, the Christians, the Druze by and large they are either trying to stay out of the conflict or they are behind Bashar al-Assad, at least the majority. Of course, there are also some among those people who are against Assad as well, but by and large that's where he draws a lot of his support as well as a lot of secular people as well, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Very briefly. I know you've been out and about. And I know that we just got some new video in from you. If you can just talk to this about your sort of impressions about what you've been finding and what was -- and I hope will be going forward -- such a beautiful city that is Damascus.</s>PLEITGEN: Yeah, I it is definitely a city with a lot of culture, of course also a city with a very long, a very rich history and also quite frankly a very proud city. Damascans (ph) are obviously very proud of the history, of the heritage and of (inaudible) that they have here in this town. The big issue that they're dealing with right here of course is that there is also major fighting going on, especially in the outskirts, but also in some places in the center of town. There's been a lot of destruction. And now what we're seeing is that there's also a lot of shortages, very difficult to get -- we actually made a run for fuel ourselves earlier today, took us a very long time to actually get to the pump. And that's something that everyday citizens contend with a lot. Also, a lot of power outages that we're seeing as well. The interesting thing, though, is that the economy here has actually still been quite resilient. There are many people who have been saying for years that this economy is on the brink of collapse, but they are still somehow still muddling through. And if you go to shops, for instance, in central Damascus, you can still get most of the items that you would have been able to get before the crisis. However, of course, much more expensive and in some places it is very difficult to get. And of course the industrial sector has been suffering a lot as well, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is in Damascus. And he continues his reporting from inside Syria all of this week. Fred, thank you, bringing you viewers a rare look inside the country that has been engulfed in war, as you know, since 2011. We're going to get updates from Fred on Connect the World in the coming days, so stand by for that. And coming up later in this show, we'll speak to the head of foreign relations for the Kurdish regional government to find out what they make of key political changes in Iraq and indeed what is going on in Syria and in Turkey at present. Plus, a live update on what has been a deadly day in Turkey. In the West Bank, a father whose child was killed in a so-called pricetag arson attack has now died of his own injuries. Thousands attended the funeral of Saad Dawabsheh on Saturday in his home village of Duma. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to find the perpetrators. I'm going to take a very short break. Back after this.