Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

More than a decade of civil war in Syria came to a stop when Syrian opposition forces seized control of Damascus, ending the repressive 50-year rule of the Assad family. Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia.

Rihab Naheel lives in Shoreview, and was born in Aleppo, Syria. Naheel moved to Minnesota in 2005 after growing up in Germany. She’s a teacher who is also involved with grassroots organization CISPOS: Committee in Solidarity with the People of Syria. 

Naheel sat down with MPR News senior reporter Sarah Thamer to talk about the news and plans to visit her home country in the future.

What was your reaction when you heard the news about Syria?

Well, first of all, I was ecstatic. I mean, you can’t even describe the feelings. There’s so many emotions. It was a roller coaster of emotions, and it’s just like hysteria. You cry and you laugh, you cry and you laugh, and then your thoughts are everywhere, and they’re also filled with sadness. 

So on one part, you do a happy cry, like finally, after all these years, we’ve been waiting for this the whole time and then it’s also filled with with crying, crying and sadness, because you remember all those people who died, who were not able to to see and hear that experience that they were waiting for. 

And you also remember all those thousands of people who have been kidnapped and tortured in prisons.

You mentioned that you still have family in Syria. Are they still in Aleppo? Have you heard from them?  What are they telling you?

Yes, so my grandmother is there. I have some aunts, I have cousins. I have kids of cousins, and they’re very ecstatic. They are very thankful for everybody who supported them, who prayed for them. 

And right now all you feel is enthusiasm and hope for a better future. And I have those who needed to flee to Turkey and they are very excited that they will return back. Even my dad, who wants to return back, is like, ‘Oh, I’m going back, I want to rebuild my country again.’ So it’s a lot of enthusiasm, it’s a lot of excitement. Let’s hope for the best.

For folks who might not have been aware or don’t have a lot of context, what should people know about the Assad regime?

Well, the Syrian regime is a dictatorship. So it started with the father, Hafez al-Assad, who came into power through a coup in the ‘70s, and when he died, he just gave the position to his son. So it’s kind of like a monarchy, but it’s a regime that interferes with everything in your life. 

So they controlled TV and media, they have all the propaganda in their hands. They controlled all the educational system, so all the books, all the history, all the facts — controlled by them. They had an upper hand of how much religion was allowed. So they control everything. I mean, it’s just basically a family who also had control in the economy.

So you said you have not been to Syria since 2011, are you already looking at the next opportunity, the next chance that you can now go? 

Oh, yes, absolutely. I was planning to go to Germany because my family is there, and my friends, and it’s kind of like my second home right now. I think I’m redirecting my destination to Syria. 

I want to see my grandma. I always have this worry inside of me, what if my grandma dies, and I was never able to say goodbye or hug her for the last time? So I was like, I want to go and see my grandma. So hopefully this will work out.

Do you feel hopeful about the international community’s response to Syria or what might happen next?

I would want the international community to actually come and invest because that’s what happened when Germany fell, you know, after the Nazi regime, it was only able to be built up with the economic help of the international community. 

And that’s what I really want, I hope, good companies, humanitarian companies and even anything that could help the infrastructure, would go to Syria and be encouraged to sponsor and to put some money in.

What do you want people to know about your country and about your people?

I want everybody to know that Syrians are very proud of their country. They are very proud of their history. They are aware of the diversity of religions and ethnicities and languages we have. They love their country. They want to show the world that we are capable of rebuilding our country.

Shows

All Things Considered

NewsPartners

Homepage

International

Sarah Thamer

Author

Shoreview resident Rihab Naheel was born in Aleppo, Syria. She says she looks forward to finally visiting her home country again. 

‘So many emotions:’ Local Syrian woman feels hope for her country after Assad flees

A woman wearing a headscarf poses for a photo outside

‘So many emotions:’ Local Syrian woman feels hope for her country after Assad flees

Go Deeper.

Like this?