After Trump Strikes Syria, Syrians Wonder ‘What’s Next?’ Photo A research center near Damascus that was hit by the American strike on Saturday. Credit Youssef Badawi/EPA, via Shutterstock BEIRUT, Lebanon — The day after the United States and its allies launched missile strikes against the Syrian government, very little had changed for most Syrians who have spent years suffering through their country’s civil war.
In Damascus, hundreds demonstrated in support of President Bashar al-Assad, whose grip remained unchallenged. In Raqqa, which was recently liberated from the Islamic State, teams defused mines the jihadists had strewn across the destroyed city. Thousands of people from Douma, the site of the reported chemical attack that prompted the American strikes, looked for shelter after joining the millions of other Syrians who have been displaced from their homes.
And on the front lines separating hostile parties throughout country, fighting continued as it has for years.
Now that the du..