Sentiments Among Syrians in the Netherlands
By Luna Lampikoski | News | February 16, 2025
Cover Illustration: Iraqi-Syrian citizens in Erbil celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, 2024. Shvan Harki / Unsplash.
With the brutal al-Assad rule over, how do Syrians in the Netherlands feel about this historic moment for their homeland? Luna Lampikoski reports.
The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime in Syria on December 8, 2024, left a mix of emotions in its wake. The militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had launched a major offensive two weeks prior in north-western Syria, capturing several other cities before the capital, Damascus. The country’s former dictator, Bashar al-Assad, fled to Russia and was granted asylum.
Following the news that al-Assad had fled the country and that his regime had fallen, Syrians both in- and outside of the country celebrated their freedom, with dreams for a better future more apparent than ever before. President Bashar al-Assad, and his predecessor, his father Hafez al-Assad, ruled Syria for over 50 years under a brutal dictatorship. Under his rule, Bashar al-Assad subjected his people to grave human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially during the past 13 years of civil war. This includes attacking them with chemical weapons, indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure, as well as carrying out torture and enforced disappearances.
Scenes of celebration echoed around the world. Syrians in Greece, Denmark, Lebanon, Turkey and many others gathered together to commemorate the historical moment. In the Netherlands, Leila and Linda discuss the impacts of this moment on their lives as Syrians living away from their homeland. Leila is a 21-year-old double masters student at the University of Amsterdam and University of Leiden. Linda is a 30-year-old Syrian lawyer, and is also doing her second master in European and International Human Rights Law at the University of Leiden.
Initial Feelings
Both Leila and Linda describe the mix of emotions they felt both leading up to and after the fall of the regime. They kept up actively with the rebel offensive when it began. “At first I wouldn’t say I was happy or even hopeful because such attempts have been made before during the war, and they were never successful,” says Leila. On December 8th, after days of following the news, struggling with sleeplessness, and anticipation, the regime finally fell. “I looked at my partner and I said to him, is that it? Like he just fell? Really?” says Linda. She described her initial shock, as she never expected to witness this moment in her lifetime. The initial shock then turned to anxiety. “I was thinking, is he manipulating us? Is he saying he’s got out, but he’s going to bomb us with chemical weapons?” she continues.
However, feelings of joy and celebration gradually took over, and tears of relief and joy were shed. “The Syrian people have suffered a lot for the past 13 years so this is something we have really been waiting long for,” says Linda. “When the revolution started 13 years ago […] we just wanted our rights, our basic freedoms like electricity,” she continues. “For people living in Syria, they know best how oppressive and scary the regime was. This is really a new beginning,” says Leila.
Living Away from Home
Speaking on how it feels to be a Syrian living away from home during such a historic moment, Leila longs to share the moment with her family. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, especially with the videos I’m seeing, people celebrating in the streets and doing things I’ve wished I could do,” she shares. Leila is from Deraa, where Syria’s 2011 uprisings began. She has not been back since she left in 2013. “I saw the very first start [of the revolution]. So I wanted to see the end, be back in my city, have this full circle moment and share the happiness with my people.”
Similarly, Linda left Syria seven years ago and has not been able to go back since, as she wrote papers criticizing the regime during university. One of her first reactions to the fall of the regime was the realization that she could return to Syria to visit her family. “I just want to go because to be honest I never thought I’m going to be able to go back,” she says. “The idea of not seeing my family was so hard that I deleted Syria and the idea of seeing them [her family] from my mind. Now, reopening this idea, it makes me feel happy, but also scared because it’s new and I don’t know how to process it.”
What reassures Linda during this time, being away from Syria during such a pivotal moment in the country’s history, is her work at Syrians for Truth and Justice, an organization documenting violations happening to Syrians in- and outside the country. “I want to hold them [the regime] accountable, but I can’t do it alone” she says. She calls on her fellow countrymen to go to the streets and collect IDs and other documentation, which she states is laying on the ground after the liberation of the country’s many prisons. “Please get these documents, it’s really important for showing [proof that] the regime did these crimes and also for reconnecting loved ones.”
Ongoing Concerns
HTS, the group responsible for ousting al-Assad, has appointed a caretaker government to provide stability until a transition of power on March 1, 2025. Some analysts have cited concerns over HTS not complying with a transition of power. Linda’s role as a legal expert informs her concerns on the ongoing situation. While she and her family are all happy at the prospect of a new Syria, in discussing HTS she says, “I’m seeing this group like, thank you that you liberated the country, but I see now that your role is finished. I don’t want them to rule to be honest.” The group’s ties to Al-Qaeda concern her. Linda states: “there’s a responsibility for those outside Syria, especially legalists, to go and have a conversation with them […] to show them the actual road we want.”
“I’m also afraid that refugees will now be forced to go back [to Syria], like those who don’t have any nationality or permanent residence” Linda continues.“It’s against the law because refugees have to voluntarily go back.” This follows after some European countries announced suspensions of asylum applications from Syrians, citing uncertainty in the political developments in Syria. This includes the Netherlands, which announced a 6-month pause in decisions for Syrian asylum applications on December 10, 2024. Applicants can await asylum decisions in the Netherlands as deportations are not enforced during this period. Linda hopes the international community will not make the lives of Syrians harder after years of struggle by forcing refugees to return when it is still unsafe.
“I want to hold them [the regime] accountable, but I can’t do it alone” she says.
A Future Syria
Leila highlights the importance of remembering who really is impacted by the events in Syria: that being Syrians, not the international community. She emphasizes that Syrians know the future of the country is still uncertain, that things are not perfect, and how much work needs to be done to rebuild the country. “But at the same time we are celebrating the fall of a regime that has been ruling the country for more than 50 years. We are seeing our family being freed from prisons […] these things matter to us, we are happy that we are finally free.”
Linda hopes for a Syria where transnational justice is possible, and where the people can elect their government knowing that they will be served, not controlled. She hopes for democracy and respect for all religions. “I hope someday that will happen. We never thought al-Assad would fall, so maybe this is possible too.”
To support efforts towards justice for Syrians, explore the impactful work of Syrians for Truth and Justice.
Luna Lampikoski is a university student in Amsterdam. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Amsterdammer.
