Elias al-Maari opens his Damascus restaurant every morning, knowing the authorities could walk in at any moment. His license expired months ago. The governorate will not renew it. He serves alcohol anyway.
"The violation is theirs, not mine," he says.
A few neighbourhoods away, a shop owner who asked to be remain anonymous for security reasons has survived two kidnapping attempts and a stream of threats since the new administration came to power.
He once ran something resembling a bar. Now he sells bottles quietly over the counter, after police warned that he and his customers could face charges of public drinking.
In mid-March, the Damascus Governorate banned the serving of alcoholic beverages in restaurants and nightclubs across the capital, restricting sales to three predominantly Christian neighbourhoods and requiring shops to sit at least 75 metres from mosques, churches, schools, and cemeteries.
The decision triggered a protest of more than 1,000 people in Bab Touma and forced the governorate to issue a public apology.
But for Elias, Kenan, and others working in the trade, the apology changed nothing. The decision laid bare a deeper contest over personal freedoms, sectarian geography, and the direction of governance in post-revolution Syria. A ban dressed as a regulation Along the road from the Seven Fountains Square to al-Marjeh Square, liquor stores and nightclubs had spread for years. The nightlife scene had long clashed with the capital's conservative character, and local pressure had already reduced it to a handful of venues.
The governorate said the ban came after complaints from the local community and was aimed at eliminating behaviour that violates public decency.
It confined alcohol sales to Bab Touma, al-Qassa, and Bab Sharqi, in shops that hold original commercial building permits. Shops were given three months to comply.
Father Jihad Youssef, head of the Monastery of Mar Musa al-Habashi, said he supports regulation and equality among citizens while respecting the needs of different communities. But he questioned the logic of the restrictions.
If someone in the Mezzeh neighbourhood meets every condition, he asked, what prevents granting them a license? He rejected dividing areas on moral grounds.
"It is unacceptable to label a certain area as being for drunkenness and low morals while others are righteous areas," he added.
He believes some individuals within the state, not the state itself, are seeking to impose Islamisation by finding loopholes in the law. That behaviour, he said, will harm Christians and others.
Boulos Hallaq, a civil activist and co-founder of the Bidayatuna initiative, agreed, calling the decision arbitrary and in violation of the constitutional declaration.
"The governorate is an executive authority, not a legislative one," he said. "Their justifications based on old laws may be correct, but they cherry-picked parts to suit their purposes."
He added that the announcement was timed to distract from the rising cost of living. Allowing sales only in Christian areas, he said, amounts to an insult.
"It is as if they are dividing neighbourhoods into pure ones and ones for sinners. Sorting areas on a sectarian basis is a grave mistake that deliberately harms national unity."
After the uproar, the governorate issued a clarification insisting the purpose was regulation, not prohibition.
Boulos rejected that framing. Regulation, he said, is usually done differently. Some countries ban sales after ten at night or prohibit selling to minors. He pointed to Turkey and Dubai as Arab and Muslim countries that allow alcohol sales without these complications. Licenses frozen, threats rising Elias, who also owns a second restaurant in Saydnaya, said his shops meet all the governorate's conditions, "even the unreasonable ones regarding distance from other shops and places of worship." None of that mattered.
"I have not faced direct problems with the new administration, but rather indirect ones," he said. "The license used to be renewed automatically every year. My shop was also shut down for 24 hours over a minor violation worth 50,000 Syrian pounds ($10)."
Since the new administration took power, he said, they have not renewed anyone's license, even for those whose shops meet all the conditions.
"They want to ban alcohol but do not know how."
Kenan's shop sits outside the designated areas. After the kidnapping attempts and the police warning, he has received no formal notice about the new decision, and does not know if one is coming.
In his view, the decision was not made by anyone with expertise, or its intent was not patriotic. Still, he stressed the need for regulation.
"We are the ones calling for it. We are tired of paying high taxes and fees while others sell on the black market."
The product is in demand whether the governorate bans it or allows it, he said. The difference is whether the money goes to the state treasury or into the pockets of profiteers and the gangs that will inevitably form to smuggle the goods. The street pushes back The decision sparked a wave of anger on social media and a state of rejection countered by support from those aligned with the new authority or conservative currents in society.
The debate spilt into the streets. Opponents organised a protest in Bab Touma. Days later, supporters held a demonstration in Abbasiyyin Square.
Boulos helped organise the Bab Touma protest. He said it was a rejection of the infringement on personal freedoms and the sectarian sorting of the city.
"We were surprised by the turnout, which exceeded a thousand people, the vast majority non-Christians. The most beautiful moment was the Damascene woman who spoke out, rejecting the planted sectarianism."
He added, "Today, they ban alcohol. Tomorrow it will be interference in clothing, how you walk, and more. We did not launch a revolution to end up restricting individual freedom. Syria needs partnership and freedom, not rigidity and a stick."
Elias called the movement wonderful and civilised.
"It should happen regularly. We should always say no when our rights are violated." The issue, he said, is not about alcohol. It is about rejecting interference in freedoms.
Despite the governorate's clarifications and apology, workers in the sector have not felt at ease. Elias sees the suspension as a warrior's rest.
"I believe they will continue their efforts until they achieve a full ban on alcohol sales." Mawada Bahah is an independent Syrian journalist with bylines in local, regional and international outlets This article is published in collaboration with Egab