Syria: Joy and Sadness
In this week’s update, read about Syrian joy and sadness on the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime.
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Syria: Joy and Sadness
In this week’s update, read about Syrian joy and sadness on the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime.
Welcome to IWPR’s Frontline Update, your go-to source to hear from journalists and local voices at the front lines of conflict.
THE BIG PICTURE
The first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria this week saw jubilant celebrations in Damascus marking the end of decades of oppression.
But as the country attempts to heal, fresh focus is being thrown on the importance of justice and accountability for long-term peace.
VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE
“Syrian people are still seizing every opportunity to celebrate their liberation,” said Yasmine Merie, a Syrian journalist and IWPR consultant. “After years of hardship, they deserve moments of happiness. I am finally back in my hometown after 13 years of forced exile, and I walk through the streets of Homs as if I had never left.”
“Syrians are allowed to hope again,” added Dahlia Khoury Sader, IWPR Syria and Lebanon country director. “Hope for a country where justice prevails, where every citizen is protected, and where a fair political transition is possible through true transitional justice.”
For Thanaa Jebby, IWPR Syria programme manager, joy mingled with what she described as “the disappointment of delayed justice”.
“A year after the regime’s fall, its top criminals remain unpunished,” Jebby wrote in a moving piece for IWPR this week. “Some figures involved in grave violations are being publicly rehabilitated. Meanwhile, Bashar al-Assad likely lives comfortably in a luxurious residence in Moscow, while we continue to carry the scars of imprisonment, torture, and displacement on our bodies and in our daily lives.”
“Amid all the joy, the sense of home, and the feeling of return, there are also moments of deep sadness—remembering our loved missing ones, wishing they could have been here with us, and thinking about the enormous challenges ahead,” agreed Merei.
WHY IT MATTERS
Accountability is essential to build a stable, free and inclusive Syria. Hundreds of thousands were subjected to crimes against humanity by the regime, both before the 2011 uprising and during the war that followed. Armed opposition groups also committed atrocities.
IWPR has long worked with Syrian journalists and civil society to build a foundation for peace and security. Most recently, IWPR partner Alshare launched a virtual Syria Prisons Museum which commemorates notorious detention centres and collates survivor testimony.
“Without transitional justice, there can be no true stabilisation, no healing and no lasting peace,” said Khoury Sader. “Building a strong Syria rooted in justice and the protection of all Syrians is essential—not only for unity and national recovery, but also for countering extremist groups.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
IWPR was founded amid the Balkan wars of the 90s, and accountability has always been core to our work, from reporting on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to current programming on war crimes justice in Ukraine.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and IWPR board member Oleksandra Matviichuk was among Ukrainian civil society leaders who travelled to Syria last week to show solidarity with their shared search for accountability.
“Syrians who survived crimes against humanity all spoke about the importance of justice and of holding the leaders of the Assad and Putin regimes accountable,” said Matviichuk. “This must be one of the crucial tasks of a new Syria – and our duty is to support it.”
