Syria: “Right Now I Am Not Afraid”

Many of us wanted change but couldn’t express it because of our extreme fear.

A woman waves the flag of the Syrian rebels as people gather to celebrate the fall of the government, in Umayyad Square on December 8, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. Rebel forces in Syria claimed that they had retaken the capital from longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was reported to have fled the country. © Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images

We feel an immense happiness. We have been waiting for this for so many years and now almost don’t believe it ourselves.

When the revolution started, it created divisions among many Syrians, including within my own family. Many of us wanted change but couldn’t express it because of our extreme fear of arrest and torture.

I was supportive of the revolution but I have always been very careful, always expressing my opinion within a legal framework. I did not participate in any protests or opposition activism, which is why I’ve been able to continue living in Syria.

The Syrian regime hid behind a pretty picture of a young medical doctor and his good-looking, internationally educated wife – but behind it there was real horror.

Like everywhere else in the region, the regime used the fear of Islamists to maintain power, while at the same time opening the borders to them and collaborating with them. Assad even released them from prison.

Right now I am not afraid, although my feelings might change in the future. I’m still euphoric. It’s really important that all the fighters who freed the country were Syrian. There were no foreigners. Syrian Islamism is more balanced.

The worst case scenario is that they will require all women to wear hijab, but the Syrian legal framework is based on sharia anyway so what are they going to change? I am a Christian and many of us have been forced to leave over the decades, it's not like we had benefits. So how much worse can it get?

Prisons like Sednaya have been opened up and prisoners freed, some of whom have been held for more than 40 years. Even if just for that, this victory has been worth it.

Rahada Abdoush, 52, lawyer, mother-of-one, lives in Damascus.

Locations Syria

Topics Conflict, Regime