“The former regime exploited my brother’s blood to survive, and now the new government is punishing me for it—blood that I am almost certain was shed by a bullet from behind, perhaps because he refused to carry out an order that would have harmed a fellow Syrian,” says teacher Dalia Breik, who was recently dismissed from her position as a school principal in the Sweida countryside. If the Syrian government can find some justification for its decision against Breik, how can it possibly justify dismissing the wife of an opposition figure who was tortured to death in Assad’s prisons—because he refused to stay silent about supporting the blood of the Syrians who once rose up?
Kholoud Shaya stared at a document bearing an administrative order for the dismissal of several insurance and pension workers in Syria. Her name was among them, as if searching for a keyword that would explain why she was let go after five years of hard work. “I am the wife of an officer who has been missing for 12 years” she said. “The previous government hired me to help meet my children’s needs. Now, I have been dismissed from my job, even though I have never missed a single day.”
Shaya did not expect that she would go from being a “victim” of the former regime to a “victim” of the new administration. The Assad regime had given her the job as “compensation” for losing her husband in its battles, while the current administration views her as part of a “corrupt legacy” that must be erased. This led her to say to Syria, which has not been forgotten: “Bashar al-Assad killed my husband, while the new administration killed the hope that I could live with dignity.”
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Kholoud is not the only one in the city of Sweida. On 9 January 2025, between banners reading “A job is not a favor” and “Firing is revenge,” Tariq (34 years old, a pseudonym, a worker in a shoe factory that used to produce military boots for the Syrian army) stood holding his young daughter and said in pain: “The former regime exploited us as tools to achieve its goals, and the new government is betraying us by displacing us.” Thus, the Syrian city of Sweida is once again witnessing a renewed escalation in the pace of protests, as crowds gather weekly, raising slogans against the arbitrary dismissal policies that affect a number of employees, whom the caretaker government deems undeserving of the job, based on its previous association with the employment policies pursued by the fugitive Assad regime.
In a similar context, teacher Tijan Shalhoub told SyriaUntold about her husband, teacher Khaled Qarmousha, whose name appeared among those dismissed in the decision issued by the Ministry of Education in the caretaker government on 29 December 2024, and ratified on 15 January 2025.
“My husband is an Arabic language teacher. He was suddenly dismissed from his job based on the recent decision, only because he was appointed through his success in a competition called 'For Discharged Persons and Families of Martyrs' in 2018.”
She pointed out that her husband is an opponent of the Assad regime and that his military service was mandatory. He was discharged in 2012 and did not participate in shedding the blood of Syrians. In recent years, the regime’s security forces have pursued him due to his opposition to its policies. “Why is he being punished now?” she wondered. “The job was a right he earned through his hard work and certificate.”
These recent decisions do more than create unemployment; they reinforce the idea that a job in Syria has never been a basic right but rather a commodity—one that can be liquidated, used as a tool for punishment or reward.
“Khaled’s story is not an exception,” Shalhoub added. “He is one of 112 teachers who were recently dismissed in the Sweida Governorate under the pretext that their appointment was linked to the employment policies of the former regime. But the irony is that some of them, like my husband, paid the price for their opposition to the regime twice: once with the threat of arrest and job deprivation, and once with dismissal from their jobs.”
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The anger here is not limited to those who were dismissed but extends to their fellow employees who still have their jobs yet live in daily fear of an unknown fate. Maha (a pseudonym for a nurse at Sweida National Hospital) says, “Every morning, I browse social media pages anxiously, anticipating a post about a dismissal decision that might affect me. This is the price of staying in the job: living in insecurity and a never-ending nightmare.”
The current scene in Sweida reflects a shift in the demands of the Syrian street as a whole—from the chants of freedom that began 14 years ago to cries against hunger and the fear of losing a job that neither alleviates poverty nor satisfies hunger. These recent decisions do more than create unemployment; they reinforce the idea that a job in Syria has never been a basic right but rather a commodity—one that can be liquidated, used as a tool for punishment or reward. Once again, the public squares become a mirror reflecting the wounds of Syrians, who find themselves trapped between a past where they were used as fuel for war and a present that threatens them with the complete loss of even the most basic elements of a dignified life.
The reward for his blood that was shed for those who recently reached the helm of power was the dismissal of his wife, who worked in the shoe factory affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, supporting her children with a salary of no more than 20 dollars a month. “The previous regime killed my husband because they knew about his opposition, and now the government is killing us with hunger.”
“Poisoned Jobs”: How Assad Turned the Job into a Tool of Repression... and Has This Become a Governmental Approach in Syria?
Under the fugitive Assad regime, government jobs transformed from a means of building the state into a tool for consolidating power and suppressing dissenting voices. Since its inception, the former regime adopted systematic mechanisms to turn public office into a “currency” to buy loyalties and turn citizens into hostages within the system of corruption and repression.
Issam Khaddaj, a physics teacher who was dismissed as a result of his political positions under the former regime, told SyriaUntold, “It pains me that the previous approach is being repeated against people whose only crime was that they were affiliated with an opposing political party. We did not revolt for that; we revolted for justice, and in order for justice to be achieved, we must adopt an approach of forgiveness and pardon.”
Khaddaj continues, “I and 16 of my colleagues were dismissed from the teaching profession, including 11 teachers from Sweida and five from other governorates, in the aftermath of the Damascus and Damascus-Beirut declarations opposing the Syrian regime in 2005. We were dismissed because we criticized the practices and violations of Assad, his army, and his party with our pens, and I do not believe any employee should be dismissed based on their position, whoever they may be.”
This policy became more entrenched after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011. The first of these mechanisms was employing the families of soldiers and officers who were killed in battles, including opponents, under the name of “martyrs' families.” This step was not to honor the victims but rather to contain the anger of the families and transform them from resentful to silent supporters by linking their economic fate to the regime. The second category consists of those discharged from the army, who were forced to fight in the regime's wars and were then given government jobs as a reward—concealing an implicit threat to return to the front lines if they rebelled. The most dangerous mechanism is what is known as “party-discharged,” referring to members of the Baath Party who held administrative positions without qualification, with the aim of ensuring their loyalty to the regime and the party's control over the state's apparatus, turning institutions into obedient tools.
“The Assad regime did not just turn jobs into gifts, but also turned them into prisons for their owners. They were given to buy silence or to turn citizens into hostages in the hands of the authorities,” human rights activist Lina Abu Hamed told SyriaUntold. “These policies not only weakened the efficiency of institutions, but also turned employees into silent machines, fearing the loss of their only source of income if they criticized the regime. Thus, the job was transformed from a civil right into a tool of oppression, constantly reminding the employee that loyalty is the only price to pay for remaining in the job.”
The former regime exploited my brother’s blood to survive, and now the new government is punishing me for it—blood that I am almost certain was shed by a bullet from behind, perhaps because he refused to carry out an order that would have harmed a fellow Syrian.
In one of the schools in the countryside of Sweida, teacher Dalia Breik served as the school principal after being nominated for the position by the teaching staff and students at the beginning of the year. They believed she deserved the role due to her competence and the affection everyone had for her. However, she now faces an uncertain fate after being included in the dismissal decision. “My employment was based on a ministerial competition, but the new government dismissed me because I am from a family of martyrs. The former regime exploited my brother’s blood to survive, and now the new government is punishing me for it—blood that I am almost certain was shed by a bullet from behind, perhaps because he refused to carry out an order that would have harmed a fellow Syrian,” says Breik.
The arbitrary decision that targeted teacher Breik, the sister of one of the victims who fell during his compulsory service in the ranks of the regime, may be justified by some opponents of the regime, although it is indefensible from a humanitarian standpoint. However, what no one can justify is the decision to dismiss the wife of an opponent who was killed under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime because he refused to remain silent about supporting the blood of the Syrians who rose up one day. The reward for his blood that was shed for those who recently reached the helm of power was the dismissal of his wife, who worked in the shoe factory affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, supporting her children with a salary of no more than 20 dollars a month. “The previous regime killed my husband because they knew about his opposition, and now the government is killing us with hunger,” she says sadly.
300,000 Employees on the Brink of the Abyss!
Syrian websites and platforms circulated news about the expansion of the campaign to dismiss employees, threatening nearly 300,000 workers with losing their jobs. This move only worsens the already dire economic and social crisis, creating a stark contradiction between the government's justifications and the reality of public institutions.
In the details of the documents that SyriaUntold was able to verify as an example of this large number of decisions, the caretaker government issued decisions to dismiss 700 employees in the Daraa Health Directorate, 183 employees in the Palace of Justice in Latakia, and 300 employees in the Ministry of Information in Damascus, including journalists who had worked for decades. Here, the paradox lies in the gap between the slogan of “fighting disguised unemployment” raised by the government and the reality of the service collapse suffered by vital institutions. In Sweida, for example, schools are suffering from a severe shortage of teaching staff, and despite this, 112 teachers were dismissed. Teacher Rabie al-Debs wonders, “How can the new administration justify the dismissal of dozens of teachers in a governorate where some classes are run by one teacher for more than 60 students?” He points out that the procedures lack objective standards and undermine employee stability without addressing structural crises.
While teacher Tijan Shalhoub believes that these decisions ignore the fact that there is a shortage of staff in the educational sector, for example, while others are being laid off in sectors that are already overcrowded, she argues that such decisions “consecrate the policy of collective punishment and transform public service from a right to a fragile privilege, based on loyalty rather than competence, as was the case with the ousted regime.” She believes that this not only threatens the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families but also deepens the service crisis and exacerbates the economic disaster.
I did not fire a single bullet against any citizen. I was a guard in a barracks in Sweida, so why am I being punished today because the former regime forced me to serve?
The Hidden Face of Decisions: Revenge or Reform?
In a modest house, Omar Hamza, a 36 years old graduate of the Industrial Institute, sits discussing the recent dismissal decision that affected 44 employees at the electricity company. He tries to explain how he will transform from an employee to an unemployed person, and from a father struggling to feed his three children to just another number in the “administrative reduction” file.
Omar tells SyriaUntold the story of his misery, saying, “I served in the army by force. I was ordered to review the recruitment department when I tried to obtain a passport. The regime took me hostage to serve it. After I was discharged from the army, I entered a job competition to support my family.” He adds, “My salary was barely enough for a week's food, so I used to work after hours in freelance jobs. And with the dismissal, I lost even this meager salary. I was hoping that the retirement salary would support me after I got old and decrepit, but it seems that this dream has dissipated.”
The story is not limited to dry numbers. Omar, who performed his military service in Sweida and did not fight on the battlefronts in other provinces, confirms. “I did not fire a single bullet against any citizen. I was a guard in a barracks in Sweida, so why am I being punished today because the former regime forced me to serve?”
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The government justifies the dismissal campaigns by “restructuring institutions,” but Omar believes that the measures target ordinary employees: “The former regime stole my youth through compulsory service, and the new government is stealing my future through arbitrary dismissal. Where is the justice?” The young man considers himself a model for thousands of Syrians who have transformed from victims of the regime's policies to victims of “reform” decisions that perpetuate exclusion.
Amidst the chaos created by arbitrary dismissal decisions and compulsory leave for employees in Syria, questions that worry the public surface: Do the recent measures hide a real desire for reform, or are they merely tools for political revenge and settling scores? How can employees in vital sectors such as health and education be dismissed, at a time when these sectors are suffering from a shortage of personnel, while hundreds of them are being forced into unemployment?
The deeper question is related to the absence of a constitution, even a temporary one, that clarifies the mechanism of functional management and human resources management in government institutions, and limits the termination of contracts without clear legal reasons.
In this regard, an activist working in the human rights field, who preferred to remain anonymous, comments: “The caretaker government is violating international human rights standards and laws, first by freezing work according to a constitution, even if it is temporary, that clarifies the mechanisms of its decisions, and second by violating logic. If it was really aiming to combat corruption, it would have started by holding accountable those who looted millions of dollars and were the decision-makers in killing Syrians, not by firing simple employees, even if they were soldiers who served in the regime’s army or relatives of those killed by the regime.” He adds: “Turning simple employees into sacrificial lambs confirms that reform is an empty slogan that carries nothing but the principle of revenge against those who have no power or strength.”
In Sweida, for example, schools are suffering from a severe shortage of teaching staff, and despite this, 112 teachers were dismissed.
He stresses that “the decisions are turning into a cover to eliminate opponents and establish chaos, while citizens' rights are crumbling under slogans that do not find their way to implementation.” He wonders whether the new administration can answer the community's question about whether what is happening is reform or revenge?
Moein (a pseudonym), a teacher from Sweida Governorate, who was dismissed from his job by the Assad regime 19 years ago for criticizing violations against civilians and the suppression of freedoms, and was arrested by security forces during the outbreak of the Syrian revolution several times, says: “The decisions to dismiss employees based on their previous political position are no different from what happened during the Assad era, and are a blatant violation of human rights and a major contradiction to the goals of the revolution.”
Today, the man expresses great disappointment with the policies of the current government, which, according to him, is “uprooting” everyone associated with the former regime, without distinguishing between the executioner and the victim. He notes that most of those dismissed cannot be classified as anything more than “victims” of the former regime.
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Moein adds: “We did not make our revolution to replace faces to repeat the same approach. Revolution is about ethics, not revenge. We revolted against the oppressors to be a moral alternative, not a formal alternative that carries the same oppression with a new signature. Arbitrary dismissal is not justice, but revenge, and it is likely to waste the opportunity for national reconciliation.”
On the other hand, those interested in the economy are raising their warnings of catastrophic repercussions that could turn the recent government decisions into a spark for an unprecedented collapse. According to Ramzi (real name of an economics worker and graduate who requested to hide his last name), dismissing 300,000 employees will exacerbate unemployment rates to more than 60%, and will inevitably lead thousands of families to slip into extreme poverty. Speaking to SyriaUntold, he explained: “The promise of a 400% salary increase for those who remain in their jobs is a dangerous trick, as the decision excludes those who were dismissed, who will inevitably face hunger. The government justifies this by the poverty of the public treasury and its inability to support these male and female employees, while ignoring that the main cause of the problem is not them, but rather the halt in investments for years, which has made the economy unable to absorb these numbers.”
History warns that neglecting these cries will turn reform into a great illusion, while the dreams of the revolution are buried under the rubble of decisions with uncalculated results. Will the current authority realize this?
Ramzi points out that “the most cruel irony is that many of those dismissed are victims of the same policies of the former regime. Those discharged from the army who were forced to serve under the threat of dismissal are now being dismissed on the pretext that they are a product of a corrupt regime.” He believes that if the “New Syrian Administration” continues with arbitrary dismissals, it will be on its way to producing the same old oppressive system under the guise of reform, calling for the activation of a fair and honest institutional reform law.
He concludes: “Here the question remains: Will Syria be built on the remains of the torn past? Will this suffering be recorded as chapters in Syria's modern history, or is it just a spark for a new war, a war of the hungry? History warns that neglecting these cries will turn reform into a great illusion, while the dreams of the revolution are buried under the rubble of decisions with uncalculated results. Will the current authority realize this?”
