“I’m very excited, but also very overwhelmed. It’s an incredible feeling.” When Sawsan Abou Zainedin fled the rule of Bashar al-Assad more than a decade ago, she thought she would never return. Now, after the fall of the regime, she is traveling to her hometown in southern Syria to see her father again for the first time in seven years. While celebratory scenes like this are playing out across the country, there is also concern about what is to come. “We cannot overthrow one dictatorial regime to fall under another. These few months are fundamental, not only for our lives as individuals, but also for the life of this country.” Abou Zainedin says her political activism against the previous government got her into trouble and narrowly avoided arrest. She applied for asylum in the UK as part of the six million Syrians who fled during the 13-year civil war. Today she leads a network of organizations that advocate for the legal and political rights of all Syrians. “Syria belongs to us and is not the property of the Assad family. We will not rest until we reclaim our state of citizenship and democracy.” Abou Zainedin grew up here in Suwayda district, home to a large Druze community, one of Syria’s many religious minority groups. It was also one of the first places where the uprising against Assad began in 2011. Many here want a secular state that protects the interests of Syria’s diverse population. In early December, rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) overthrew five decades of rule by the Assad family. HTS is an Islamist group formerly linked to al-Qaeda. Since the fall of the Assad regime, the group’s leader, Ahmed al-Shara, has signaled openness to a more inclusive government. People in Abou Zainedin’s hometown remain cautious. During a meeting with the Druze spiritual leader in Syria, concerns about the new chapter quickly emerge. “We have achieved something that we all thought was impossible. But there is still a lot of work ahead of us. We will definitely work with the interim government and hope that they will respond to this.” What will happen next under the leadership of HTS is unknown, but for now the celebration continues.
