Syria’s Civil War
Syria’s Civil War
Civilians in Syria
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The more than one million Syrians who fled to Germany have celebrated the end of war in their homeland, but some fear it could mean losing their refugee status.
By Melissa Eddy
Melissa Eddy reported from Gross Schönebeck, Germany, a small town outside Berlin, where she visited a Syrian refugee family.
When she learned that Syria’s dynastic dictatorship had fallen, Iman Mohammed, a Syrian refugee living in Germany, felt a surge of joy at the thought of returning to her homeland.
But that joy temporarily faded when another idea occurred to her: Returning to Syria might simply mean abandoning everything she and her family had built in Germany since the damaging adventure of arriving there just ten years ago.
“In the cold light of day, when we really looked at everything that had happened, we realized, not just yet,” Ms. Mohammed, 41, said of the idea that her family might permanently return to Syria.
The resolution may not be yours.
After rebel groups toppled President Bashar al-Assad’s government on Dec. 8, the prospect of returning home opened for the first time in more than a decade for the many Syrians who fled during the civil war that ravaged the country, including 1.3 million in Germany.
Many of them worked hard and overcame immense challenges to improve their circumstances. Some, like Ms. Mohammed, are not keen to give up their new lives.
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