The Syrian public mood is no longer bound by old slogans or dominated by the mobilizing rhetoric that shaped collective consciousness for decades. What is emerging instead is a subtle but significant shift in how Syrians perceive their political landscape; a quiet change that speaks volumes about widespread fatigue with conflict and a deep desire for stability, even if it requires rethinking long-held assumptions.

A recent YouGov survey, commissioned by the Council for a Secure America, reflects this shift clearly. Nearly 66 percent of Syrians expressed a positive view of U.S. engagement in Syria, while opposition remains limited, and the remainder of respondents are split between caution and neutrality.

Perhaps the most sensitive finding concerns Syrian attitudes toward peace with Israel. A clear majority (59%) now sees peace as a realistic possibility and supports security arrangements that reduce risk. At the same time, many of the surveyed ( 47%) link any normalization with Israel to a broader resolution of the Palestinian issue.

Another striking finding: 70% of Syrians said Hezbollah has had a harmful effect on the country.

Prominent Syrian sources told kataeb.org that these results are unsurprising to those following domestic sentiment. Widespread rejection of Hezbollah is no longer a position held only by the elite or a temporary expression of anger; it has become a deeply rooted conviction among a large segment of the population. This perspective was shaped by harsh experiences with militias that Syrians never saw as allies, but rather as forces of lawlessness and violence, associated with killings, displacement, and the destruction of local communities.

From al-Qusayr, whose human and social fabric was erased long before the town disappeared from the map, to the rural areas of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Qalamoun, these militias have been perceived as indiscriminate instruments of violence. This reinforced the belief that the brutality was not aimed solely at political opponents, but at the Syrian people as a whole.

According to the same sources, politics may tolerate disagreement and absorb conflict, but once it turns into the wholesale violation of human life, it loses all moral legitimacy. Hezbollah, they say, has overstepped political boundaries, becoming deeply entangled in killing and corruption from Syria to Lebanon and Yemen, including transnational drug networks and organized crime. Its public image has shifted from a resistance movement to a force associated with destruction.

The sources concluded: after everything Syrians have endured, they have redefined their allies and adversaries according to a single clear criterion: who protects their lives and who destroys them. Today’s attitudes are not a sudden reversal of beliefs, but an explicit reflection of a population exhausted by war and a genuine desire to live simply, free from illusions.