In the Syrian city of Homs, authority comes clad in a range of outfits. Along the main highway, the armed men monitoring vehicles at a checkpoint are dressed head-to-toe in black, their faces hidden behind balaclavas.
Inside the city, the forces who stop drivers and inspect IDs are dressed in camouflage uniforms. A few blocks away, the men and women directing traffic are decked out in scout uniforms.
This is the haphazard face of the security apparatus in the new Syria. For five decades, it was an oppressive police state; today, it has no national police force, army or intelligence service. During a lightning 12-day rebel offensive that toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria’s army of up to 200,000 troops, mostly conscripts, the police and feared mukhabarat agents melted away.