That Syria would undergo its most dramatic change of direction since at least the beginning of the country’s civil war in March 2011 could not have been anticipated even in the weeks leading up to last December. Perhaps not least of all by the nearly three million Syrians who have reportedly been able to return home in the past year – including from overseas or being displaced within the borders of their own country.
It has been a year since a rebel offensive captured the city of Homs and Damascus shortly thereafter, leading to the stunning and swift fall of former president Bashar Al Assad and his family’s five-decade-long grip on power.
The damage done to a country during that period, to Syria’s economy, to the social fabric and the psyche of multiple generations of its people is colossal. Repairing the destruction, healing wounds and rebuilding a flattened nation is a demanding and long-term project by any measure. The solutions to the extent of the country’s diverse problems are neither easy nor will be quick to implement.
The interim government of President Ahmad Al Shara would have realised this in the past year. The Syrian people, the diaspora and returnees, after the initial elation of a brutal regime dismantled, have learnt this all too well. But even as the challenges are vast, so is the potential of the country.
Syria has cast itself into a new chapter, however imperfect and laden with deep, systemic problems. Besides lack of infrastructure and restrictive sanctions, the reality of ethnic tensions and violence among different sects and minority groups is never far from the surface. Restoring the social fabric of the country is vital.
A year since Al Shara gained power is not enough to heal every division and fix deep-seated problems
This is apart from the regional complexities borne out of Syria being situated in a restive neighbourhood. There are problems to the south that the Israeli government almost unfailingly presents, despite US President Donald Trump urging an extremist Israeli cabinet to not impede Syria’s “evolution into a prosperous state”.
While Mr Al Shara has called for unity and vowed to counter fragmentation and violence, he has more to do and everything to prove. Certainly, a year since he gained power is not enough to heal every division and fix deep-seated problems. But steps towards addressing those ills, including the holding of free and inclusive elections with regularity, are necessary to convince millions of Syrians – including some of the brightest minds, who had to flee the Assad establishment, and have built lives elsewhere – that returning home and becoming active members of civil society is a viable option, were they to choose to do so.
In as little as a year, there have been several silver linings that have begun to take shape and that need to be supported. Financial investment from the Gulf, the US and Europe is entering the country, and sanctions may soon be a hurdle of the past, as the international community accepts the return of Syria and its re-induction on the global stage.
As Syria continues on its path of national rehabilitation, despite the obstacles along the way, worthy attempts are being made to plug the country back into the global economic and financial system. To sustain these efforts, it is imperative that the interim government presses ahead with rehabilitating the country in a transparent, fair and inclusive manner, free from the shackles of the past, while tempering expectations of its people, as well as the watching world, that this will require grit, a singularity of purpose and enormous patience for, after all, even Rome was not built in a day.