‘The tyrant is gone and the nightmare is done’: Syrian exiles hope for a brighter future

Torn posters show the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad and his son, the recently ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, on 14 December 2024. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP

Shortly after the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Jihad Abdo, a well-known actor in the Arab world, left his home in Damascus.

After being quoted criticizing government corruption in a Los Angeles Times article, he had been targeted by a string of threatening phone messages from callers claiming to be senior officers in the Syrian army. Leaving Syria would also mean leaving his younger brother and ageing parents. But amid the mounting intimidation, Abdo felt he had no choice.