After decades of oppression and destruction, Syria was liberated from Assad’s grip and reclaimed the life that had nearly been buried beneath the rubble of injustice. The country opened its doors to its people, and its spirit began to beat once more. However, the joy of the Syrians was short-lived, as voices quickly rose to disrupt their victory—voices that could not tolerate the success of the revolution. They began spreading division and pushing for demands beyond the capacity of the fledgling government, ignoring the immense challenges and devastation left behind by the previous regime.
But, these attempts did not come only from within; external forces also had no interest in seeing Syria succeed. Some regional and international powers viewed Syria’s stability as a threat to their interests and worked tirelessly to undermine any national project aimed at building a state founded on freedom and justice. These actors were accustomed to exploiting Syria’s weakness and feared that its resurgence would lead to a loss of their influence. To achieve their goals, they fueled discord, manipulated public opinion, and obstructed any efforts toward reconstruction—whether through politics, economics, or even targeted media campaigns.
Internally, it is striking that the very voices making urgent demands today were silent under the regime—perhaps because fear had long silenced dissent and crushed any objections. And now, despite the hardships and destruction, one of the revolution’s greatest achievements is that Syrians are finally free to express their opinions, to criticize, to demand, and to raise their voices without fear of prisons like Sednaya and others. These freedoms, once unattainable, are in themselves a significant victory.
It is true that electricity is not yet available around the clock, that water and gas still suffer from disruptions, and that reconstruction has not yet begun. But is it reasonable to expect all these crises to be resolved in such a short time? No one denies that Syrians have suffered greatly and continue to endure hardships, and their demands are legitimate. However, the difference now is that we are on a path that offers hope for a brighter future—a future that would have been impossible had the regime remained in power.
There is still much work ahead, and the road is long, but rebuilding the new Syria can only be done by the Syrians themselves. No one will come to rebuild our homeland for us. We must unite, support our emerging state, and strive with all our strength to shape a better future for us all.
