MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
First, though, to Syria, where rebels have overthrown one of the world's longest ruling dictatorships. Former president Bashar al-Assad left the country for asylum in Russia. It has been a long struggle against the regime. It began with mass protests and escalated into more than a decade of a brutal civil war. NPR's Jane Arraf has just crossed over the Jordanian border into Syria, and she is with us now. Jane, good morning.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So I understand that you've just crossed into Syria. Tell us what you're seeing.
ARRAF: Well, we're in the countryside of Daraa. Daraa province is where the civil war, where the spark of the uprising in 2011 began, with the arrest and torture of teenagers. And it's where people here are hoping that this will be a very different future. At this border crossing, we're not seeing a lot of Syrians coming back yet. First, there was the euphoria that al-Assad had fallen, and now there is the hesitation and fear.
On the Jordanian side, just a few minutes ago, we met two Syrians who run a little coffee shop there, Muhammed (ph) and his brother, Hassan (ph). Muhammed was telling us that he hadn't been home in 13 years. He's from Ghouta province. Let's listen to a little bit of what he said.
MUHAMMED: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: We were asking him what he tells his children, because he's had four children born in Jordan since they left, about Syria, about their homeland. And he says, there nothing like your own land. There's sweet water there. There, they were farmers. They had sheep and chickens. In Jordan, they're refugees. And they haven't gone back yet, because like all other refugees, once they cross back into Syria, they lose that refugee status. And they're still not sure that it's safe for them.
MARTIN: So Jane, you know, Bashar al-Assad, as we've said, has fled to Russia. But who appears to be in charge now locally?
ARRAF: Well, the rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who took - who led the coalition that defeated, essentially, the regime forces in an astonishing two weeks, has been negotiating a transition with Bashar al-Assad's prime minister, the deposed president. They're trying to secure the country. They've called for - they've said they've issued an amnesty for all army soldiers. And they have reached out to reassure Syrians that everyone will be welcome in this new Syria.
But we're already seeing that fraying, Michel. In the northeast, for instance, Kurdish forces have been driven out of Manbij, one of the centers that they had control of, by the Arab-led opposition forces. And that is one of the big fears of Syrians, that even though Bashar al-Assad is gone that, that doesn't mean things will be peaceful.
MARTIN: And Israel says it is bombing Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria. They're saying that those bombings helped the rebels topple the regime. But Israel is still bombing military sites, at least it seems so. Can you tell us why?
ARRAF: Yeah, Israel says it's trying to destroy those chemical weapons sites, like the ones that the refugees in Jordan that we spoke with from Ghouta had fled in 2013. So they've been bombing military bases of the regime. They're trying to degrade potential threats, they say. But all of that is another reason why there's a lot of apprehension from Syrians and surrounding countries about what happens next.
MARTIN: And before we let you go, the rest of the region, how are they reacting to Israel bombing these targets?
ARRAF: With deep concern. I mean, this is a very complicated conflict, very complicated country. And there's a lot of worry about what happens with Israel.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Jane Arraf. She has just crossed over into Syria from Jordan. Jane, thank you.
ARRAF: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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