'Do we go back or not?' Syrians now living in Germany weigh up return to homeland

Reem Alali is still reeling from the news that the brutal regime she fled eight years ago has collapsed, leaving her and her family with feelings of both excitement and trepidation.

- Kate Connolly

Reem Alali is still reeling from the news that the brutal regime she fled eight years ago has collapsed, leaving her and her family with feelings of both excitement and trepidation. There is a sense that important decisions have to be made - but perhaps not just yet, and only with great caution.

"We didn't sleep for two nights," she said on Monday, a day after Bashar al-Assad, the former dictator, fled Syria following rebels' lightning-speed advance into the capital, Damascus. "We have been glued to our phones, speaking to Syrian friends and relatives, crying and drinking glühwein with our German friends."

Alali and her husband, Amin, have been "constantly talking to each other about the one big question: do we go back or not?", she said. The 38-year-old from Suwayda, in south-western Syria, lost her father, uncle and two cousins in the war and then sought refuge in Germany in 2016.

After the astonishing events of the past few days, she eventually came to a conclusion. "I will not take my children to Syria until I really know the situation is a lot better," she said.

That caution was echoed by the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, who told reporters yesterday that while many Syrians were eager to return, prudence was essential: "There are livelihood challenges still. The humanitarian situation is disastrous. The economy has collapsed."

Amin, 40, a journalist in Syria who now works as a company technician, arrived in Germany in 2015 as one of the large number of Syrians given sanctuary under Angela Merkel's decision to keep the country's borders open to them. He made the perilous journey by car via Turkey, then a boat to Greece, and finally a month-long trek on foot from Greece to Germany.