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 cities 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 grip on power.
The damage done to the country in that period, to the economy, to the social fabric and to the psyche of generations of its people, is colossal.
Repairing the destruction, healing wou
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