Syrian students in Groningen are celebrating the fall of the al-Assad regime, after thirteen years of civil war. However, they’re worried about what could happen next for their country.
It was 5.30 in the morning, and Widad Wirdi, a pharmacy student, was peacefully asleep when her sister suddenly woke her up and shouted, ‘Syria is free!’ She couldn’t believe it at first, but then she saw an Instagram post about it as well and that’s when it hit her. ‘I realised the president was gone and I started crying.’ Happy tears, though.
Rawan Altakriti, a recent UG master graduate, also cried. ‘Of course. It was the happiest day of my life ’, she says, tearing up again. ‘We can finally dream of having a country.’ She had been following the news all night when the opposition forces took over Damascus and announced the fall of the regime early in the morning on TV.
Historic day
That was on Sunday, after rebel groups had taken control over other major cities in the past week. President Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than fifty years, fled to Russia. It put an end to the civil war that started in 2011.
It was a historic day for modern Syria, the students agree, because it was the first time in decades that Syrians felt free. ‘To us, this is like the fall of the Berlin wall’, Rawan says. And that gives her hope.
After eight years away, she can finally dream of walking freely again in her hometown of Damascus. She hasn’t been there since 2016, when she fled to Turkey because of her civil activism in Syria. ‘Everything was a secret. I felt like I was living a double life’, she says.
Out of fear the regime could find out, she didn’t return to the country once, though she missed her family greatly. ‘Now I can finally go back and we can reunite again.’
Uncertain future
For Widad too, going back is something she could only dream of since her family fled the country when she was eleven. ‘Every Syrian person is thinking of that now. The Netherlands will be empty this summer’, she says, laughing. Though she doesn’t remember a lot of Syria, Widad misses the places she grew up around. ‘But they’re not there anymore, and that makes me conflicted.’
There’s more to it that gives her mixed feelings. ‘It’s a relief that the president is gone. And it’s overwhelming to see so many people being freed from prisons’, she says. ‘But I’m scared, because the future is uncertain. We don’t know who the people coming to power are.’
Rawan, too, feels afraid. Her biggest fear is that a civil war could break out between the armed forces if they can’t decide on a government. ‘I fear that freedom, democracy, the things we fought for, won’t stay for long’, she says. ‘I don’t want to see a scenario like in Afghanistan, or Libya.’
Rebuild the country
Hanze student Ahmed Alhelo shares that concern. ’Of course I’m happy the dictator left’, he says. ‘But I don’t think it will be better. Everyone is now going to fight against each other to govern.’ He is worried this might lead Syria into a regime like the one in Afghanistan, while also putting religious minorities at risk. ‘We’re a diverse country. And I hope we stay that way.’
Between the joy and the fear, there’s hope, and that’s what Syrian students in Groningen are hanging onto. ‘I hope we’ll have a democratic, free country, where everyone feels safe’, Rawan says. ‘Once it’s possible, I want to go back and help rebuild Syria.’