Syrian Canadians return home with some optimism after Assad's fall

Now or Never51:22Mission accomplished. Now what?

A week before the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December, Amrou Nayal found his old Syrian passport, driver's licence and ID among a stack of documents. It was a painful reminder of the life he had left behind. 

"I remember looking at them with sorrow and grief and wondering, should I keep them or would the day never come where I'd be able to use them and go back to my home country," said Nayal, who lives in Mississauga, Ont.

"I eventually left them out of nostalgia more than the belief that I'd actually use them one day."

Now, 16 years after leaving Syria in 2009, he's preparing for a journey he once thought impossible — a visit to his homeland this month. 

Nayal knows the experience will be emotional when he walks on streets of Aleppo again, the city where he grew up. "I'm going to shed a tear for sure," he said.

"I know [my house] has been raided a number of times, but it's still my room, my bed."

The cost of supporting the Syrian revolution has been steep for Nayal. He paused his financial business economics studies between 2012 and 2015 to dedicate himself to activism and humanitarian work. He led major fundraising efforts with the Syrian community in Ontario to support those suffering under the Assad regime. 

His activism was leaked to the Syrian regime, which put his family — who were doing other humanitarian work in the country — at risk.

Nayal is one of many Syrian Canadians who have decided to travel to Syria for the first time after being deprived of the opportunity for years under the Assad regime.

For 54 years under Assad's rule, Syrians who spoke out or acted against him faced the risk of detention as soon as they landed back in the country.

'A lot of uncertainty'

Canada continues to advise against all travel to Syria and urges Canadians already in the country to consider leaving if it is safe to do so.

According to Global Affairs Canada, 1,467 Canadians are currently registered in the Registration of Canadians Abroad system as being in Syria. 

It's not exact because registration is voluntary, and the real number may include individuals who have already left but have not updated their profiles.

Bayan Khatib, co-founder of the Syrian Canadian Foundation, highlighted the excitement among Syrian Canadians now able to return. She said that many are eager to support Syria's rebuilding, adding that the Foundation is working alongside the Canadian government to explore reconstruction efforts.

"There's a rebuilding that needs to happen from scratch," Khatib, explaining that the Assad regime left Syria's sectors and systems in ruins.

She hopes the many sanctions other nations have levied against the country will be lifted, "so the rebuilding of Syria can take place."

"We all wonder about the paperwork required for return, as many of us don't have valid Syrian passports," Khatib said.

While she described the country as safer for those opposing the Assad regime, she cautioned that it is far from stable.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, the infrastructure is very poor, and families are living without electricity and water. It's not really a friendly environment, and you don't really know what could happen."

Optimism and hope

Mohammad Diyaa Ammori, a Syrian Palestinian, fled from Syria to Lebanon, then moved to Canada in 2017. But he had been in Damascus since late last year, and witnessed the fall of the Assad regime first-hand.

"On the morning of 8th of December, the air smelled differently. The morning was different," he said. "People before the 8th of December were walking in the street talking to themselves, like they were driven crazy. But after... people are very optimistic."

Ammori lived in Lebanon with his mother and brother before coming to Canada. They fled the war from Syria to Lebanon without their father, who was forced and threatened to continue working as an air traffic controller with the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority. 

Ammori arrived in Canada on a full scholarship to attend Pearson College UWC in Vancouver, and later studied international development at York University in Toronto. While Canada offered him opportunities, he never stopped longing for home — but he also desperately wanted to see his sick father. 

The journey back to Syria risked him being caught at checkpoints in the country as men were still being forced to fight in the Syrian Army against Anti-Assad revolutionary forces — even though he had paid a $7,000 US ($10,000 Cdn) military exemption fee. 

Ammori found himself grappling with the harsh reality of seeing how his homeland had changed after 14 years. "I felt that home is not a place, home is a feeling. And I really felt that when I landed in Damascus," he said. 

His reunion with his father, who he hasn't seen since he was 11 years old, was deeply emotional.

"I still pictured him as I left him, younger, but now he's older," said Ammori, who is now 24.

The moment was filled with tears and hugs, but tempered by the devastation awaiting him in Damascus's Yarmouk Camp district, the place he grew up.

"I kept walking in the street, walking and walking, until I saw a sign of a business that was next to our building," he recalled.

"I kept climbing up the stairs, and I didn't distinguish whether it was the third or the fourth floor. And then I find drawings of my sixth grade exams, and my brother's kindergarten graduation gown. It's our house. The place that held our childhood memories is destroyed," he said.

Despite the destruction, Ammori says Syrians' resilience and optimism give him hope. It's made him question whether he should return to Canada, as he feels a growing responsibility to stay and help rebuild the country he still calls home. 

For Nayal, who raised his daughter in Canada, the trip is not just a homecoming but a deeply personal moment of reconciliation with his roots, only now possible after the fall of the Assad regime.

"What hurt most is that I wouldn't be able to show my daughter where I grew up. The country that I come from, we come from," said Nayal.

"We're Canadian, but at the same time, we shouldn't give up our history and our culture."