Rehab Alkadi and her husband, Feras, fled Syria in 2013 with their 1-year-old son. “I felt like in dream and I informed them if I’m in dream, do not wake me up,” she mentioned, of studying of the top of Bashar al-Assad’s rule.
Rehab Alkadi
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Rehab Alkadi
When Syrian insurgent forces took management of Damascus, Rehab Alkadi may hardly imagine it. Never in her wildest goals did she think about the collapse of Syria’s authoritarian regime in her lifetime. It’s why she fled her homeland over a decade in the past.
But on Saturday evening, Alkadi mentioned her cellphone was flooded with messages from mates again in Syria, all with the identical astonishing phrases: “We are free now.” In that second, Alkadi lastly began to imagine it.
“I felt like in dream and I informed them if I’m in dream, do not wake me up,” she mentioned.
Many Syrians, each at residence and overseas, have been overcome by shock and jubilation on the information that President Bashar al-Assad fled the nation — bringing an finish to greater than 50 years of brutal rule by him and his household.
In interviews with NPR, some Syrians within the U.S. mentioned they lastly felt snug to speak to the press or share their full names as a result of they not feared their households again residence would face punishment in the event that they spoke out.
Much is but to be seen with how the Islamist rebels now largely answerable for the nation will govern. The group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which led the offensive that toppled Assad’s authorities, was beforehand linked to al-Qaida however has lately publicly disavowed worldwide terrorism and tried to current a extra reasonable face. Leaders now face a myriad of challenges in making an attempt to convey the nation collectively.
Still, refugees within the U.S. informed NPR that for the primary time in years, they felt hopeful and appeared ahead to the opportunity of returning to Syria, whereas others expressed extra cautious optimism as the way forward for Syria continues to take form.
“We thought that is the top of the story, however truly it wasn’t”
Rehab Alkadi and her husband, Feras, fled Syria in 2013 with their 1-year-old son. They had watched close by properties lowered to rubble and spent numerous nights sheltering of their basement on account of a bloody civil struggle that broke out in 2011.
When they bid farewell to their family members, they thought it was perpetually. “I did not dream to return ever due to the struggling that we have seen,” Feras mentioned. “We thought that is the top of the story, however truly it wasn’t.”
Today, Rehab and Feras have constructed a brand new life within the U.S. and at the moment are dwelling in New York City. Rehab works as a case supervisor with the nonprofit Syrian Community Network, whereas Feras, who was a doctor in Syria, is now pursuing a residency program to proceed his medical profession. The couple mentioned they not see themselves as refugees they usually really feel comfortable calling Syria their residence once more.
“We felt like we do not have dignity anymore once we left our nation,” Rehab mentioned. “When I had my citizenship right here [in the U.S.], I felt I’ve my dignity again now. And with Syria now I’ve my dignity completely now.”
Rehab and Feras mentioned they’re anxiously ready for all of the prisoners who had been detained throughout Assad’s repressive rule to be freed, together with in Syria’s infamous jail Saydnaya, recognized for its hidden cells.
For years, their son — who left Syria as a child — would ask if they might ever return to their homeland, to which Rehab would reply, “by no means.” But now, Rehab reassures her son it would occur and tells him about all of the issues to stay up for. “It’s not simple to neglect,” she mentioned. “The folks, our mates there, our life there.”
“All the martyrs and individuals who died … I want they’ll come again alive, simply to inform them we’re free now”
In Chicago, Samira Alhamwi instantly known as her mother and father who nonetheless stay in Syria when information broke out of Assad’s departure.
“I known as them on the primary day they usually had been leaping of happiness,” she mentioned.
Alhamwi left Syria in 2011 after it grew to become more and more tough to search out medication and meals for her child. At the time, Alhamwi mentioned her father was additionally arbitrarily arrested as a part of a crackdown by the regime in opposition to the neighborhood the place the Syrian revolution started. Alhamwi fled the nation earlier than her father’s launch.
Samira Alhamwi teaches citizenship courses with the Syrian Community Network in Chicago. She says her mother and father in Syria had been “leaping” with happiness when listening to about Assad’s ouster.
Samira Alhamwi
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Samira Alhamwi
For the primary time in years, Alhamwi feels a renewed sense of hope for her nation. She feels assured the Syrian folks can rebuild efficiently. But she additionally carries a deep grief for many who misplaced their lives throughout the civil struggle or whereas making an attempt to flee Syria.
“I want they’ll come again alive, simply to inform them we’re free now,” she mentioned.
“Syrian persons are drained. They don’t need extra killed folks. They don’t need struggle”
In Albany, Syrian refugees with the nonprofit New York for Syrian Refugees informed NPR they’ve been praying for peace and stability of their homeland over the previous few days.
They are assured within the resilience of the Syrian folks, however they’re additionally involved about forces exterior of Syria.
Following Assad’s departure, Israeli forces have been making actions in Syria, coming into a demilitarized buffer zone in addition to launching lots of of airstrikes in an try and destroy Syria’s navy capabilities. Meanwhile, some preventing persists in northern Syria between U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and a insurgent group backed by Turkey.
“Syrian persons are drained. They don’t need extra killed folks. They don’t need struggle. They need peace,” mentioned Lubna al-Sharifi, who left Syria in 2013 to guard her new child son and now lives in Albany.
Most of her household fled Syria to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, however Sharifi has not too long ago begun speaking to them about reuniting in Syria as soon as the nation is secure and the airport reopens.
For Thouraya Ibrahim, she mentioned she was initially glad that Assad was gone however she continues to be ready for indicators of stability in Syria. Thouraya left in 2013 after an airstrike hit her home. All of her household, together with her mother and father and siblings, nonetheless stay in Aleppo. Part of her nonetheless needs that they might transfer to the U.S., particularly given that there’s nonetheless preventing taking place in northern Syria.
Mohammed Al-Shaneif, who fled Syria in 2012 when he was 11 years outdated, mentioned: “Syrian folks like to stay in peace and love, however the world hasn’t been letting them.”
He mentioned he nonetheless vividly remembers the meals and the scent of jasmine flowers in Damascus. Since transferring to the U.S., he has tried to develop them himself, however they didn’t stay lengthy. He appears to be like ahead to the prospect to see them again residence.
