TALBISEH, Syria — Former Syrian rebel commander Omar Melhem has nearly come full circle. He was a colonel in the Syrian army when the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in 2011. He defected a year later and joined the armed revolt against the Syrian leader. Then, when Assad’s forces marched into Talbiseh, he was among the rebels who handed over their weapons and agreed to a surrender deal that would allow them to stay in their hometown instead of a life of exile in the country’s north. As the Syrian government reasserts control over opposition strongholds, such co-existence between the military and former rebel fighters like Melhem is the new reality. The 51-year-old former rebel commander now serves as a liaison between residents and other ex-rebels with the Syrian government, helping some rejoin the military and negotiating with top security officials about services in the town. He says war brought only death and destruction to his town, and the deal he and other rebels reached with the government aimed to end the years-long misery of its residents. “People got tired of war, got tired of the fighting, got tired of the destruction.