Suche
Mein Konto
After Assad's fall: Syria in chaos - return impossible!
Following the fall of Assad's regime in Syria on December 10, 2024, Syrians in Austria are expressing concerns about security and return.
After Assad's fall: Syria in chaos - return impossible!
After the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was in power for more than 15 years, the consequences of years of civil war are obvious. The country is in a critical condition, as Abdulhkeem Alshater, chairman of the Free Syrian Community in Austria, emphasizes. "Syria is a field of rubble. Nobody can live there, let alone return," he reports, describing the catastrophic living conditions of the people in his homeland, who live in extreme poverty and are confronted with a collapsed health system.
Amid this chaos, thousands of people are flocking to the notorious Saidnaya prison north of Damascus to search for relatives, some of whom have been imprisoned for years. The desperate relatives wait hoping for news. Prison doors are reportedly denying access while aid groups such as the White Helmets search for secret exits. Aida Taha, a 65-year-old woman, said she ran to the prison "like a crazy person" to find her brother, missing since 2012, highlighting the desperate plight of families still living in the shadow of the Assad regime.
The reactions to the fall
The fall of Assad is seen as a milestone, but Syria's future remains uncertain. Abdulhkeem Alshater emphasizes that despite the joy over the fall, the country's fundamental problems have not been overcome. The leader of the Islamist group Hajat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Mohammed al-Jolani, announced that he would publish a list of officials involved in torture and plans to release all those unjustly detained. International reactions have been mixed, with Western leaders such as Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron signaling a willingness to work with the new rulers as long as basic human rights are upheld.
However, uncertainty about Syria's political future continues. Israel's military activities in the region show how tense the situation remains as Hezbollah turned against Israel, highlighting the complexity of the situation in the Middle East. The challenges facing Syria are enormous, and the country will face a long and arduous journey to reconstruction if it ever comes to that, as Alshater strongly warns.