“These are wonderful times. I’ve never experienced so much freedom, so much freedom of speech,” Osama Muhudi said with a smile and shaking his head in disbelief.
The Syrian entrepreneur spoke to Euronews from his brand new office in Damascus, the city he was forced to flee just over a decade ago.
He is now one of more than 1 million Syrians who have returned to Syria since the regime of notorious dictator Bashar al-Assad collapsed after nearly 14 years of brutal war.
Since 2011, nearly 7 million Syrians have left the country. Most left for neighboring countries, but more than 1 million went to Europe.
New authorities are now ruling from Damascus under interim president Ahmed al-Sharah, and many are considering whether to return.
First return “dream”
By the end of 2024, Syria appeared to be at a stalemate, with a mosaic of militias in control, but al-Assad, the successor to the al-Assad dynasty that took over power from his father Hafez in 2000, maintains tight control over the capital and about 70% of Syria’s territory.
“We had reached a point of disappointment where we had given up on the Syrian regime. We felt that it would never fall, that we had lost it forever,” Muhdi said, shaking his head.
At that point he was living in Liverpool and had no intention of returning to his home country.
However, all that seemed to change on December 8, 2024, when forces affiliated with the Islamist umbrella organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched an operation to overthrow al-Assad’s regime.
Muhdi was able to book a flight to Syria. He returned to Damascus within days of the fall of the al-Assad regime.
He wasn’t the only one. Kefa Ali Deeb is a Syrian human rights activist, artist, and writer who was imprisoned multiple times by the al-Assad regime during the revolution. Like Muhdi, she fled Syria in 2014 and ended up in Berlin.
“After President al-Assad fell, I booked a ticket and went back immediately. I thought I could go back and I would not be detained at the border,” she said.
“I spent a week in Damascus. It was like a dream for me.”
Destroyed infrastructure and destroyed society
Will Todman, chief of staff for geopolitics and foreign policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, recently returned from Syria.
Todman told Euronews that he also met Muhdi and Ali Deeb, who were dual nationals and had the means to visit first when the regime collapsed.
“They have returned to assess the situation in Syria. I have spoken to several who have decided to invest in new businesses and move their families back to Syria. However, most of them maintain the ability to leave even if the situation worsens,” he explained.
Muhdi moved permanently to Syria to start a charity and new business projects, while Ali Deeb immediately returned to Germany and remained there.
She told Euronews that she would like to return, but having a young child “made it very complicated for me”. Her Syrian husband was also reluctant to return.
“He told me to slow down. ‘Let’s wait and see. What’s going to happen? Everything is chaotic right now,'” she recalled.
Most of Syria was destroyed. More than a third of the country’s hospitals remain closed, leaving millions of children without access to education.
Hundreds of thousands of former homes were reduced to rubble. The World Bank estimates that repairing the physical damage alone will cost more than 90 billion euros.
Years of international sanctions and domestic corruption have also left Syria’s finances in tatters.
Many questions, few answers
Mohammad Harastani helped found Syria Meets Europe, an NGO that supports Syrian returnees. He told Euronews that these factors are preventing many Syrians from moving.
“For the doctors currently working in German hospitals, if we close everything and go back to Syria, where will we work? How much will we get paid? Where will we leave our children?” he asked.
Todman argues that the sentiment is often shared by both parties. “Many Syrians I spoke to say they don’t want many refugees to return yet because public services are already overburdened and housing is in short supply.”
It’s not just about money. Ali Deeb was also wary of how much freedom she had as a woman, writer and activist. The Sunni jihadist past of many of the new authorities has caused widespread alarm.
Although secular, she is originally from the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam from which al-Assad also hails.
She cited the outbreak of violence in the Alawite district of coastal Latakia, where she was born, in March.
Alawite groups claim that government-backed Sunni forces carried out targeted attacks against them. More than 1,600 civilians have been killed, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
And in July, similar deadly clashes occurred in the southern province of Suweida, which is dominated by the Druze minority, also an offshoot of the Shiite sect. The reported death toll was 1,200.
Syria’s President al-Shalah has vowed to hold accountable those who harmed civilians in both incidents, but he has been met with skepticism from Alawite and Druze leaders.
Euronews has contacted Syrian authorities for comment.
Ali Deeb said he was shocked but not surprised by the attack. “It is very difficult for a dictator like Bashar al-Assad, with all his roots, to fall bloodlessly.”
However, Todman explained to Euronews that these events are having an impact on the demographics of returnees.
“The minority was worried about returning, and when the new government came to power there was a large-scale exodus of Alawites to Lebanon,” he said.
“I can’t leave the country to have someone else fix it.”
Many Syrians in Europe also find little solace in remaining on the continent, as countries harden their attitudes towards the status of migrants and refugees.
Earlier this year, the Social Democratic Party-led Copenhagen government began offering Syrians up to 27,000 euros to return to Syria.
Denmark was also the first EU country to declare certain areas of its country “safe” after the fall of the al-Assad regime, prompting a Europe-wide reconsideration of how Syrians are recognized as refugees.
Britain’s centre-left government also recently changed its long-standing refugee policy, allowing countries to revoke refugee status if deemed safe.
Germany, which took in more than 1 million Syrians during the war, has also hardened its stance.
Earlier this month, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said of Syrians: “There are no more grounds for asylum in Germany. We can therefore start with repatriation.”
On his return to Damascus, Muhdi was upbeat, highlighting the country’s attractions and the opportunities it offers for those returning home.
He said he is working on renovating properties for the expanding global market as sanctions are lifted and authorities embark on an international appeal offensive.
The entrepreneur touted the authorities’ generosity to returnees who want to set up businesses. “You have direct access to any minister. You knock on the door, you walk in, you just say what you want to discuss and you get what you want from them,” he claimed.
While he says he maintains strong ties with the UK, he has never looked back and encouraged other Syrian refugees to do the same.
“I think everyone needs to come back when they can. They’ve lost a lot, they’re missing out on rebuilding their country. They can’t just leave the country for someone to fix it,” Muhdi concluded.
