Until last year, a country at the heart of the Middle East was known for enduring one of world’s largest population displacements. About half of Syria’s 23 million were forced to flee their homes during a 14-year civil war. Since the ouster of a dictator nine months ago, however, more than 2 million citizens have returned. Most go back to pick up old lives and recreate a democratic country.
“When we were expelled, it felt as if our souls had been torn from our bodies,” Mamdouh al-Sattouf, a former school principal, told Al Jazeera. “Now that we have returned, it feels as if we have regained our souls.”
The rising pace in the number of Syrian returnees is due in part to a new government’s efforts to hold elections this month, revive the economy with foreign help, and restore Syria’s former social harmony between diverse ethnic and religious groups.
“Most people will want to participate in the new Syria, provided the government respects their regional and local interests,” Birgit Schäbler, a historian of the region at Germany’s University of Erfurt, told Deutsche Welle.
In a recent visit to the country, a top United Nations official for refugees found many returnees were busy replanting family and community roots. “I saw up-close how people have preserved their will to return, stay and rebuild despite the harsh reality of destruction,” said Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner of UNHCR.
Parts of Syria have recently seen extreme violence between groups, highlighting the ongoing task of the interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to build trust with all Syrians. A parliamentary election scheduled for Sept. 15-20 will be a crucial test along with his efforts to bring justice for past atrocities and reconcile a torn society.
The president’s task has been made easier given the almost-daily convoys of vehicles bringing Syrians back to their hometowns. To many people in the Mideast, home is not just a place but a religious obligation of hospitality – a “generosity of spirit … which defines humanity itself,” states Mona Siddiqui, professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Or, as one returnee, Mustafa al-Hajj, told Le Monde as he crossed the border from Lebanon: “It’s the first time I’ve entered my country with love in my heart.”
