Souheil Hamawi is presented with a cake by his grandchildren in Chekka, northern Lebanon, on Dec. 9, 2024, after spending 33 years in a Syrian prison. (Credit: Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP)
Dec. 3, 1992. Lebanon has been under Syrian occupation for 16 years. Syrian army checkpoints across the country monitor movements, while the intelligence services of Hafez Assad's regime, both in uniform and plain clothes, control the Lebanese population through fear. It is a rainy day in Chekka, northern Lebanon. Souheil Hamawi is at home when men knock on his door, asking to speak with him. That Thursday, 29-year-old Hamawi disappears. It took just over a week for the armed Syrian opposition, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), to overthrow the Assad dynasty, which had ruled for 54 years. On Dec. 8, 2024, following the liberation of Aleppo, Homs, and Hama, Damascus was freed from the “butcher” Bashar Assad, who fled the country. Rebels opened prisons, freeing hundreds of detainees. Among them was Souheil Hamawi, the first Lebanese...
Dec. 3, 1992. Lebanon has been under Syrian occupation for 16 years. Syrian army checkpoints across the country monitor movements, while the intelligence services of Hafez Assad's regime, both in uniform and plain clothes, control the Lebanese population through fear. It is a rainy day in Chekka, northern Lebanon. Souheil Hamawi is at home when men knock on his door, asking to speak with him. That Thursday, 29-year-old Hamawi disappears. It took just over a week for the armed Syrian opposition, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), to overthrow the Assad dynasty, which had ruled for 54 years. On Dec. 8, 2024, following the liberation of Aleppo, Homs, and Hama, Damascus was freed from the “butcher” Bashar Assad, who fled the country. Rebels opened prisons, freeing hundreds of detainees. Among them was Souheil Hamawi, the first...
