Sara, Executive Manager at Peace Direct’s Syrian partner Swaadna Al Souriya, shares her story of the liberation of Syria and their plans for peacebuilding. She calls for long-term support to local organisations, humanitarian relief, media coverage and support for justice.
When rebels liberated Syria from the devastating regime of Bashar Al-Assad in 2024, Sara’s disbelief gave way to utter joy.
But now, the reality of that suffering must be reckoned with. The joy of the team at Swaadna has been tainted with sadness as the liberation of Syria’s notorious prisons reveals the extent of state-led torture and disappearances.
Saidnaya prison where thousands of Syrians were killed under torture. Syria, 12 December 2024.
“The Syrian people suffered from lot of war crimes, hundreds of thousands were detained or forced disappeared by the Syrian Security branches, most of those men, women and children were killed under torture. Cities and towns were bombed and destroyed, many massacres were committed by different weapons, and many people forced to displace their houses and their properties were stolen,” Sara says.
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The liberation has enabled Swaadna to access more areas of Syria, and to reconnect with their teams in towns that had been controlled by the Assad regime.
With Bashar Al-Assad, “the root of the Syrian crises”, gone, Syria’s peacebuilders are focused on justice and recovery. “We need to recover from the 14 years of war and 54 years of oppression and fear, so we need all efforts to build the peace between the Syrians from different ethnics, religions, cults, and areas,” Sara explains.
“The local peacebuilders now can participate in avoiding any possibility of new civil war in Syria, by supporting the efforts of Justice and accountability of war criminals, participating in national dialogue among the different groups of Syria about the Syrian constitution, promoting the efforts of empowering the vulnerable groups as women, children, IDPs, PWD, youth to have their rights, and creating new livelihoods for poor families.”
Across Syria, communities have begun forming local committees to manage their areas and provide key services, and young people have led local initiatives to clean the streets and public parks.
Sara says “Now, the situation inside Syria is very fragile so the Syrian needs all efforts inside and outside to overcome the current difficulties and challenges.”
Swaadna is calling for long-term, organised support for local Syrian organisations and initiatives. Crucially, Sara says, “any support in Syria [should] meet Syrian’s priorities, not the supporter’s priorities.”
The war destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, community spaces and infrastructure, so humanitarian support is vital: “For now, the needs are food, hygiene, and heating items and the support must target most Syrian families especially the IDP families who were displaced from their areas during the last month during the hostilities,” Sara explains.
But the needs are not only short-term. In the medium and long-term, the team at Swaadna believe international support must focus on education, livelihoods, justice and peacebuilding. And the media must end their neglect of Syria. Sara calls on journalists to “speak about Syria and highlight the Syrian efforts to rebuild their country, not to forget it as the last 5 years”, and “give space to Syrians” to share their voices and efforts.
Finally, Sara shares: “I want to thank everybody around the world who supported or still support the Syrian people even if the support is only one word. I believe in the Syrian People, and in their strong will to rebuild a peaceful and democratic country for all Syrians.”
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