Syrian Refugee Advocates for National Rebuilding and Unity

A Syrian refugee residing in Gloucestershire has stated that people in his home country “just want to live” following the recent fall of the government there. Ali Abi Zaid, who currently lives in Cheltenham, fled his native country after being incarcerated by the Bashar al-Assad regime in 2012. The 35-year-old reports that “everyone” within the local Syrian community is pleased after the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied rebel factions overthrew the government in a matter of days. He asserts that Syrian people “love life” and must now commit to rebuilding their country “again and again and again”. Mr. Abi Zaid hails from Idlib, a city located in the north-west of Syria, and claims his arrest 12 years ago was due to his origin. He recounted, “They treated people from Idlib as terrorists”. He was held for “months” in the infamous Sednaya military prison in Damascus, describing the experience as unbearable. He stated, “I saw a lot of things. I saw people die at the side of the road.” His release came after he successfully won his case in court. This ordeal served as the breaking point for Mr. Abi Zaid, who escaped to Lebanon before being brought to the UK with the assistance of the United Nations in 2019. He departed with his family as the civil war in the country claimed thousands of lives, and he attributed the suffering of his people to Assad. He commented, “We had no freedom. If you said anything [against the Assad regime] they would arrest you.” He conveyed that he “knew in his heart” the regime would collapse once rebels began seizing cities across the nation, and he holds optimism for the future. He has family in Syria whom he has not seen for 14 years and expresses hope that Assad’s fall will not lead to renewed conflict between rival factions. He concluded, “We need to stay away from sectarianism. We just want to live.”