After ten years, political exile returns to a Syria in transition

“I’m so excited but also so exhausted. It feels amazing.” When Sawsan Abu Zein al-Din fled Bashar al-Assad’s rule more than a decade ago, she thought she might never return. Now, after the fall of the regime, she heads to her hometown in southern Syria to see her father for the first time in seven years. While scenes of such celebrations are taking place across the country, there is also anxiety about what is to come. We cannot overthrow one dictatorial regime in order to move to another. “These few months are essential, not only in our lives as individuals, but also in the life of this country.” Abu Zein al-Din says that her political activity against the previous government got her into trouble, and she narrowly escaped arrest. As part of the wave of six million Syrians who fled during the 13-year civil war, she sought asylum in the UK. She now leads a network of organizations that support the legal and political rights of all Syrians. He added: “Syria is ours and does not belong to the Assad family. We will not rest until we restore a state of citizenship and democracy.” Abu Zein al-Din grew up here in the Suwayda region, home to a large Druze community, one of the many religious minorities in Syria. It was also one of the first places The uprising against Assad began in 2011. Many here want to see a secular state that protects the interests of Syria’s diverse population. In early December, rebels ousted the leadership of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS The Levant, with the Assad family’s five-decade rule. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is an Islamist group formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda. Since the overthrow of the Assad regime, the group’s leader, Ahmed al-Shara, has signaled an openness to a more inclusive government, and people in Abu Zain al-Din’s hometown remain wary. In a meeting with the Druze spiritual leader in Syria, concerns about the new chapter quickly emerged: “We have achieved something that we all thought was impossible to achieve. But we still have a lot of work to do. We will certainly deal with the interim government, and we hope that it will respond to this.” What will happen next under HTS is unknown, but the celebration continues for now.