Bar owners fear attacks in Damascus

Bars in the Christian areas of Damascus have been on high alert after recent attacks that targeted establishments serving alcohol.

Juice bottles adorn the windows of bars on the old streets of Bab Sharqi in the Syrian capital. Instead of bottles of whisky and vodka, the bars are putting soft drinks and juice boxes on display.

In late April, surveillance footage outside a nightclub in Damascus went viral showing men and women fleeing the establishment with masked gunmen standing outside hitting them as they ran away.

Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the gunmen were from government-aligned militias, who raided the restaurant and fired warning shots.

Days later on May 2nd, unknown gunmen opened fire at another Damascus nightclub in the morning killing a woman and wounding others.

Local television network Syria TV said the perpetrators were five men in military garb, and their identities and motives were unknown.

At a bar in old Damascus, co-owner Alaa said the attacks affected his business. He acknowledged that the attacks are singular or lone attacks, but said it caused people to be fearful. “But after the recent events in Karawan (nightclub) and other places, people got scared, so our customers are not going out at night or staying out late anymore,” he said.

Alaa is worried he might have to shut down his establishment if things don’t change soon. Business is also down because the government is not issuing alcohol licenses at the moment.

What bars have resorted to doing is allowing customers to bring their own alcohol into the bar, while they serve them mixers and water.

“We were very comfortable going out at night and going to bars … we were carefree, we would go out until three or four or five in the morning, we were happy,” said Rami , as he sipped on his drink at a bar stool.

“Right now this isn’t happening, you have to worry about everything.”