HomeWorldAs a post-Assad Syria reopens, Syrians ask: Can we go home?

As a post-Assad Syria reopens, Syrians ask: Can we go home?

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The collapse of the Assad regime is opening an opportunity for Syrians to return to their homes – if they have one left standing – and to hug long-lost relatives.

Before the civil war, Syria had a population of 23 million. More than half were displaced within the country. Seven million became refugees. A burning question for host nations in Europe and the Middle East now is whether they will return. For Syrians, the question is still: Can we?

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As the barriers to movement into and inside Syria have come down, Syrians are racing to reunite with loved ones and visit their former homes, or what is left of them. It is an emotional time, and the destruction they are finding is often vast.

London-based businessman Adnan Shaaban dashed back to get a first taste of freedom in Syria. He believes millions will return to rebuild the country, drawing on entrepreneurial skills honed abroad. He says he finally feels safe in Syria now that Bashar al-Assad and his security apparatus are gone.

To pray on his first Friday back, he chose a mosque in a Damascus neighborhood that witnessed some of the first anti-government demonstrations in the capital in 2011, as well as attacks on worshippers by Syria’s security services. The mood was joyful.

“I think within a few weeks we are going to see a lot of changes,” Mr. Shaaban says. “Within three years, we are going to improve. Within five years, we are going to have a great country.”

Ghalia al-Asaali stands tall in prayer over the grave of her son, while her husband fights back tears.

This moment of private mourning, eight years after their son died fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, was made possible only because rebels seized the capital, Damascus, less than a week before.

The roads leading to the local cemetery where Ms. Asaali’s son is buried were sealed off until now.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

As the barriers to movement into and inside Syria have come down, Syrians are racing to reunite with loved ones and visit their former homes, or what is left of them. It is an emotional time, and the destruction they are finding is often vast.

Mr. Assad’s ouster is reopening the country for Syrians to visit from outside and for internal travel. The reopening extends to the mourning of fallen rebels, who typically used a nom de guerre to avoid government acts of revenge against loved ones.

“This is the first time that I can say my son is a martyr, that I can say his full name, that I am his mother,” Ms. Asaali, dressed in a black coat, says behind sunglasses.

With pride, she recounts how her son kept fighting in the Jobar district even after being wounded three times, until a mortar round killed him in November 2016. It was a battle that brought rebels to the gates of Damascus.

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