One year ago, the armies of Hay’at Tahrir Al Sham entered Damascus with very little resistance from the military of the former regime. Then the news came down – Assad had fled Syria. Everyday Syrians flooded into Assad’s palace and into the streets in celebration. I felt a unique kind of hope for my home country. Could this be the breakthrough that Syria needs?
Now, one year later, our enthusiasm is quiet, our hope more measured. We have seen atrocities committed by the forces aligned with the new government in Damascus against the Alaawites and against the Druze. We have seen attacks against Christian churches, and militia members arriving at the border with Northeast Syria – the Euphrates River – to try to engage the Syrian Democratic Forces in hostilities.
For decades, all Syrians – Arabs, Kurds, Christians, Druze, Alawites, Assyrians, and others, lived under a system that allowed little room for dissent, diversity, or dignity. No Syrian community emerged untouched by the repressive regime that ruled our country with an iron-fist for decades. Arab Syrians endured political repression and economic decline. Kurdish Syrians faced cultural suppression and systematic disenfranchisement. Christian communities experienced insecurity and marginalization. And every group, regardless of identity, suffered from corruption, war, and the erosion of institutions.
The Syrian crisis that raged over the past fourteen years left deep scars on our country. It also showed the world just how deeply Syrians yearn to be free, and how much we are willing to sacrifice for it. Syrians want dignity. Syrians want stability. Syrians want an inclusive government.
As Syrians, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to emerge from this transition process with something that is better than Assad. We can achieve a unified, democratic Syria. But we must pull together into a system that works for all Syrians.
We have to honestly ask ourselves, is that what we are seeing in Syria today? Are we seeing the birth of the Syria that we hoped for during so many years of pain and struggle? Or are we seeing the beginnings of a reversal into authoritarianism and one-party rule. And if we are indeed seeing that, how can we avoid the mistakes of the past and build a truly inclusive government?
In terms of inclusion, I would like to be optimistic about my country and my people, but the circumstances on the ground give me pause. The draft constitution that was proposed by the new government was not inclusive, and the selection of parliamentarians was done by a process tightly controlled by Damascus. Now the new parliament in Damascus is only three percent women, whereas women’s representation in governance in Northeast Syria has stood at nearly 50 percent for nearly a decade. Minorities are a similar story. Representation of Kurds, Alaawites, Syriac Christians, Druze, and Yezidis in the new Damascus government is nearly non-existent.
A decentralized federal model, one that distributes some powers to regions while keeping the country unified, offers the best way out of this cycle. It prevents domination by any single group, ensures cultural rights, and lets each region govern its own local affairs while contributing to the national as a whole.
Some resist this idea out of habit or fear, but the truth is simple: Syrians do not trust each other because the old state taught them not to. A federal structure can rebuild that trust. Decentralization gives local communities control over their own affairs, while keeping the nation unified. It enables some governance functions to be taken on by the regions, while other functions remain in the hands of the national government. It prevents domination by any single group, and it ensures that diversity becomes an asset rather than a threat.
The United States offers a powerful example of how federalism can unite diverse regions and communities into a strong, stable whole. It is culturally diverse, geographically vast, and politically decentralized. Its federal system doesn’t weaken the union – it strengthens it by giving every region a stake in the larger project.
Syria is fragmented by war, exhausted by authoritarianism, and rich in diversity. It needs exactly that kind of structural solution. Syrians do not distrust each other because they are different. Syrians distrust each other because they were forced to live under a system that weaponized those differences.
If anyone doubts whether a diverse, decentralized, inclusive system can work in Syria, they simply need to look at the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES).
It has already shown what is possible when governance is built around participation, coexistence, and local empowerment. It stands as living evidence that the country does not have to return to old models of domination or centralized control to survive.
It has already shown what is possible when governance is built around participation, coexistence, and local empowerment. Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians, and others share political roles. Women hold leadership positions at every level. Local councils give communities direct say in decisions that affect their lives. And the system functions without replicating the hierarchy, centralization, and fear that destroyed the rest of the country.
This is not too much to ask. In fact, it is the foundation of any functioning country.
As Syrians commemorate the end of a painful era, they also face the responsibility of shaping what comes next. The future will require courage, compromise, and imagination. We need a Syria in which every citizen has dignity, every region has a voice, and every community sees itself in the nation’s future. That is the Syria this anniversary must inspire.
The fall of the old regime opened the door. Now Syrians must decide what the new house will look like.