A Syrian refugee who made Edinburgh his home has welcomed the fall of the Assad regime in his home country after his family are freed from brutal prisons.
Dr Amer Masri moved to the capital in 2007 to study a PhD at Edinburgh University in sheep genetics before marrying his wife, Marwa, 39, in Scotland in 2008. The 43-year-old stayed following the Arab Spring and applied for refuge while warring factions wreaked violent havoc across his country of birth, reports Edinburgh Live.
He was joined by his wife and their two sons, Taym, 15 and Elias, 12, on Sunday, December 8, in celebrating Bashar al-Assad being overthrown.
Amar grew up in a draconian environment despite his family’s relatively high social status because of the torment caused by Assad’s Alawaite minority regime. He said: “I grew up in Damascus and attended Damascus University before coming to Edinburgh in 2007. Life economically was ok back home.
“In terms of my family, my father was a professor and in a good social class in the community however Syria was under the rule of Assad the son. We opened our eyes and were aware of what was going on. My parents came from a city called Hama. It is a city which was bombed heavily by Assad the father and saw massacres take place throughout the 80s.
“My father always warned us not to mention the brutality of the regime as the intelligence may be listening and could come take us away. Now the regime has fallen, the media is exposing the cruelty of their reign and how bad the situation is after 53 years of Assad rule.
“We have distant relatives who were killed in a very brutal way, some of them were among the 40,000 citizens from Hama who disappeared or were buried in mass graves. So many of my mother’s uncles had to flee to different countries because they were simply born in Hama.
“My wife is overwhelmed, so many of her uncles and relatives were detained by the regime for over 15 years and they have been freed during the overthrow of Assad. Growing up I had friends arrested for kicking a ball against a poster of Assad on the wall. They would be taken away and interrogated by the authorities.
“We had a saying back home that even the ‘walls have ears.’ You learn quickly not to criticise the regime even to those closest to you. You can never tell who was the spy and cannot trust anyone. It was horrible, you were fearful of your friends.”
Throughout the civil war, Amar and his wife kept in regular contact with their family who remained in Syria. After hearing Assad had fled the country they were unwilling to accept the reality until they saw a photo of Assad in Moscow.
“It took one of my aunt’s in Damascus 36 hours to accept the regime had fallen,” she said. “They were in disbelief and described it as like having a dream. It was not until he appeared in Moscow that it became real. No one truly felt confident speaking out until it was confirmed he was gone. My family now tell me they miss me and want my family to come back and join them.”
They plan on visiting their family at the end of the month but have admitted they are observing what happens before making any long term decision about returning to Syria, as they flirt with the idea of setting up an elderly care business in Syria but both are apprehensive about giving up the careers and lives they have built in the capital.
On what the future holds, he added: “I’ve always said Syria is for all Syrians and should be an inclusive country with no discrimination or revenge for those with ethnic backgrounds. There should be accountability for other war criminals but also forgiveness for those deceived by the regime and were tricked into advocating for it.
“It is time to rebuild and not a time to fight anymore, we need peace and prosperity. There are so many positive signals from the ground and I am optimistic. For now I am observing from afar to see what happens with the power transition. I hope there is a peaceful passing of power to a civil government which will represent every Syrian regardless of sex, faith or background.
“There is a fear we could become a Libya or Iraq scenario and foreign powers like Israel are already exploiting the power vacuum of the army. My wife is worried because she received a call to say Israeli tanks were just 2km away from her family farm and they do not know if it will be taken over. We are also fearful of sleeper Isis cells or forces remaining loyal to Assad who may still be armed and can cause chaos.”
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