'It's a new frontier': Voices of Syrian refugees

Scattered in their millions across the world, Syrians have been watching the seismic change taking place in their homeland with disbelief and joy but also anxiously wondering how the ripples from the radical shift will affect their futures.

After rebels took control of the capital Damascus on Sunday, European countries paused processing asylum claims by Syrians and a number of politicians are already talking of repatriations and deportations.

It is an uncertain time for the millions who fled the nearly 14-year war and sought to build new lives elsewhere.

Here are the voices of some Syrian refugees now in Europe.

Hanna Bakhash, 33, a civil engineer from Aleppo, left Syria in 2015 and was granted asylum in Britain in 2017.

His parents and one sister are in Austria, where the government has ordered a halt to processing Syrian asylum applications and is considering deportations. Another sister is still in Aleppo.

Hanna, a specialist in water infrastructure, works for a private engineering company in London. When he heard about the fall of Assad, he went to Trafalgar Square to celebrate with friends.

On whether he will return

It's really hard to give a concrete answer to this. But we all feel an urge and a calling to help and support. But how would that look? It's still too early to tell. A visit is definitely a must to begin with. I would say it's not a decision whether to stay or to go. It's more like, let's build something sustainable and beneficial for everyone.

It's a new frontier for us to go and help and maybe do some projects over there and then come back here and have a bit of a two-way street.

Before the weekend, we were refugees with no home. And now we do have a home. But we have also established ourselves here. And it's not necessarily going to be here or there. It can be both.

On European governments' response

It was very concerning and frustrating to see how all European governments stopped their asylum applications. We need to manage the response carefully. Even if you've been here a year or two or whatever, I think all Syrians should have the right to choose if and when they want to go back to Syria.

The situation is still very volatile. It just almost feels like it's in poor taste. They've acted very hastily. I was really surprised. Yes, it feels rude.

However, it is very exciting. I can't lie and say we don't feel like we have a calling and we want to go and help. For me personally, I feel I could try to make contact with the water municipality in Aleppo and just offer my expertise from here to begin with.

The point I'm trying to get across is I'm thinking of Syria as a new strong partner for economic development and prosperity for the Syrian people here and the British companies here and the people living in Syria now.

On the Austrian government's reaction

My sister got citizenship, so she's fine. But for those like my parents, they're 60, 70 years old, it's very difficult (for them) to achieve all the criteria to get citizenship. They have residency, but we don't know if it's going to get revoked. They've been in Vienna for seven, eight years now.

They have their communities. It just doesn't feel humane to force them to go back. I don't know why (Syrians) are being seen as a burden. A lot of us work and pay our taxes, and we're contributing to society.

Yazan Miri, 23 and from Aleppo, has been living in Britain since 2021. He was studying mechatronics engineering in Syria, but left before he graduated.

He now lives in the northern city of Sheffield and is a researcher on climate migration with a British charity. He is particularly concerned about land degradation during Syria's civil war, including deforestation caused by people chopping down trees for fuel.

On Assad's fall

I felt happiness, joy, hope, but also a lot of fear and concerns. It's hard to describe really because this is beyond words for me.

On calls for Syrians to return

It's childish, very immature and reactionary. No Syrian person has fully understood what happened in the last few days, so how can these politicians from other countries claim they have understood, on behalf of Syrians, that they need to return?

Over half of the country got displaced and you want to force people to suddenly return? That will create a massive shock, economically and socially, and also possibly massive instability.

These things don't happen immediately. Look at the Second World War, people did not return to their homes overnight. People took a very long time, based on their situations.

Half of Syria is destroyed and the economy has been crumbling for the last 15 years. Infrastructure has also been destroyed and that won't be rebuilt in one day, or even one year.

The first priority should be to help people who are internally displaced to return home, and the second priority should be to help people who are in surrounding countries, many in very bad living conditions, to return home.

On whether he would return

It's not sensible to make a decision based on emotions.

It's yet to be seen to what level people can speak out and share their political opinions and thoughts.

Thousands of different factions with different names – and I'm not exaggerating when I say thousands - have been involved in Syria's war which makes understanding what happened really hard for Syrians, let alone for other people. The potential for internal fighting between these factions is very worrying.

On the environmental challenges facing Syria

Around Aleppo and Damascus ... the sand and desert have basically taken over. If you look at Google Maps you can see it very clearly. Farming stops the expansion of the desert, but people could no longer run their farms because of the bombing.

Maen Elhemmeh, 50, was a social activist in Syria where he founded the Yalla Let's Bike initiative to encourage women to cycle, winning U.N. recognition for his work.

He fled Syria in 2016, leaving behind his father who is now 83 years old and whom he has not seen since. Elhemmeh now lives in Essen, Germany, and works as an IT program manager.

On Assad's fall

We were tracking the news in Syria, but I hadn't had any thought that it would develop like this. I stayed awake until six o'clock in the morning (on Sunday) and I had calls from friends here in Germany and other places in the world, Syrian friends who were just calling each other and congratulating each other. We were unable to believe that this regime has fallen.

On not seeing his father

I know people (who visited) who were unable to leave, or they were killed, or they were just captured for maybe one year or more. And I have two children here in Germany. I still think it's my own responsibility to take care of my kids, not just to see my father for maybe one week and then leave my responsibility with my kids. So for me, I was completely afraid.

On whether he will return

I think I will visit Syria, maybe for one week or two weeks in February or March if we start to have flights there, and the embassies start to open.

It's amazing to (be able to) go back to these places. First of all, to see my father, to have lovely, warm nights with my family where we have conversations, where we all cook together.

I had a lot of friends who were killed through this war, or kidnapped by the intelligence systems, and to go to these places where my friends were killed or kidnapped, and to see where they were, is also for me a very meaningful thing.

Interviews have been shortened for clarity and brevity.

(Reporting by Emma Batha and Sadiya Ansari; Editing by Jon Hemming.)