She doesn't think al-Assad is to blame.

"I like him. He's a young man," she said, echoing a sentiment some Syrians have expressed about 47-year-old al-Assad. They see -- or, at least, saw -- his youth as a sign of modernity and progressivism.

Since taking power in 2000, al-Assad has been praised for opening Syria's market to the oil sector. He did open the country to foreign investment and introduced private banking. But in tandem with these advances, Syria's record on human rights was consistently abysmal. People were imprisoned for political reasons. The government blocked access intermittently to the Internet between 2008 and 2011.

"Maybe there is problem in our regime, but all regimes in countries over the world, they have problems," the pharmacist said.

"Assad has improved Syria over the past several years. We have everything new in the country. We have many things -- private university, private banks, private schools, Internet."

Alaita also longs for the way life seemed before the violence.

"We have a lot of freedoms as a woman in Syria," she said. "I used to walk 3 a.m. at night and nobody would disturb me. I would travel to another (village) at night and not (be) worried. Now I cannot go to the countryside without the army stopping me."

They always ask: Which side are you on?

"What answer should I give?!" she says.

The rebels and al-Assad's forces should stop fighting.

"I say, very bold, 'Stop it!' " Alaita insisted. "What the hell we are doing? Where did we get ourselves to?"