Syrian expats celebrate Assad fall with hope and cautious optimism
Syria’s Syrian expats in the UAE rejoiced, on both sides, when rebels announced the deposing of President Bashar Al Assad and the end of the 50-year Assad regime. A lot of people stayed up all night on their TV’s, salivating over the action.
"We didn’t sleep all night," said Faten (name changed at request, 37 years old). ‘My parents and the whole family were up late watching. This morning at 4am the troops marched into the capital and took power sacramentally. We are finally free. This is like our new national holiday.
Rebels on Sunday declared their overthrow of president Bashar Al Assad, ending a nearly 25-year regime. Rebels said they’d conquered Damascus with a lightning attack, and Assad had reportedly left the capital by plane, never to be found. Its demise follows a bloody 13-year civil war that started in 2011 with peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms crushed by the regime.
Festivities went up among Syrians in the UAE, but concerns about the future lingered. The diplomatic advisor of the UAE, Anwar Gargash, opined that Syria’s instability could make it a target for extremism and terror. The crisis in Syria, he warned, remarked how lethal political failure and war could be.
"What is unfolding in Syria is also an expression of political inadequacy and the destructive power of war and disorder," the President's diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash said, saying that Assad had never taken advantage of the "lifeline" extended to him by other Arab nations such as the UAE.
For the first time ever, the UAE official stance on the issue warned against allowing non-state actors the space to exploit political vacuums. The Syrian people, he continued, need free elections where the Syrians decide who they want. ‘Syrian must be the locomotive in Syria’s future.
Uncertainty about the future
There were many Syrian expats whose future the country still didn’t seem certain about: Mohammed, a 32-year-old translator in Dubai. ‘It is like I woke up from a dream,’ he told me. "After 13 years of persecution, now I hope that maybe I can see my country and my homeland again".
‘But I also know that we’re not finished fighting yet. ‘Until the new government is formed, everything is on the rocks,’ he continued.
Mohammed said he was afraid of internal strife because the country is still split in half. ‘There are many Syrians who have backed Assad and there are some who did not,’ he said. "The anti-Semitics were battered during the past 13 years. They have to shed their grudges and agree to live with one another. Unless they do, violence will get more and more violent everywhere".
More than 500,000 have been killed and millions displaced by the Syrian civil war, which began 13 years ago during the Arab Spring. The end of Assad provides a light bulb moment, but Syrians in the UAE and elsewhere know full well that it is not over yet.
Jubilant scenes of reunion
At the same time, happy photos of reunited loved ones were shared on social media and the news media, evoking relief among those affected. ‘A lot of political prisoners were released,’ Faten wrote. "So many refugees that lived in surrounding countries have started returning home. And it’s a day that is so great for us.
But the shift to peace will not be smooth. Mohammed spoke of the intensive rehabilitation that would be involved in those coming home after decades behind bars. "Some political prisoners were rehoused in overcrowded prisons, where there has been no sunlight for years," he told me. Hospitals are gearing up for what’s coming in the months and years to come for these patients, physically and mentally.
And while Syrians in the UAE and beyond are reflecting on the defeat of the Assad government, they are hopeful but also cautious for the future of their country.
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