A Syrian refugee in the UK has expressed hopeful disbelief and optimism for the future following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.  

Syrian rebel forces announced the country’s liberation after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday and expelling regime forces nationwide.  

Dr. Hamza al-Kateab, a 37-year-old doctor and human rights activist, gained recognition through the BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary *For Sama*, which was narrated and directed by his wife, Waad.  

Between 2012 and 2016, Dr. al-Kateab provided critical medical care to thousands while managing Al-Quds Hospital in eastern Aleppo, remaining one of the last doctors in the area.  

He and his family fled Aleppo in December 2016, eventually relocating to London in 2018.  

He now dedicates his time to advocacy efforts around ending the targeting of hospitals in Syria, and along with Waad is the co-founder of the Action for Sama campaign.

Dr al-Kateab told The i Paper: “We are happy to the level that I can’t believe it. If you asked me two weeks ago if I dreamed about going back to Syria, I would say ‘I can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel’.

“We were just hoping for some accountability one day.

“In just 11 days, everything has changed. There are so many concerns about the future, but those concerns weren’t there two weeks ago because there was no hope at all.”

He added that his daughters, aged nine and seven, cannot believe what has happened, having never known a Syria not at war.

He said that there is a “long history” with rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and “most of it” is negative, but in recent days the group has “gone by international humanitarian law, not harming civilians. They controlled cities without any shelling or bombing.”

“Yet, we’ve learned through these 13 years [of civil war] not to be optimistic,” he added.

“I truly believe that there is no era for Syria that can be darker than the Assad family era, with all the human beings slaughtered, the chemical weapon attacks, sieging cities, bombing hospitals, bombing schools.

“But that doesn’t mean that we need to settle down and accept just anything else.”

Dr al-Kateab said that Syria is “our home” and “we risked our lives to stay there,” so if it was solely up to him he would “be back there now”.

He told The i Paper that it would be complicated to move his life back to Syria, but would love to take his family there for a visit “as soon as possible, and then hopefully see how we might shift our lives again”.

He said that there is “so much to do,” but for now, he would like “some time to enjoy the moment; 13 years of suffering have come to an end, the people who dreamed of change and sacrificed their lives didn’t do so in vain.”