George Sabra, in Qatana, Syria, on June 19, 2025. (Credit: Stéphanie Khouri/L'Orient-Le Jour)
“I was like a lost bird that suddenly finds its nest again,” George Sabra says with a breath. Relatives, acquaintances, even strangers came out to greet him that day. “A real festival,” he jokes. “The Sunnis were especially numerous. To them, I represented the Christian minority that supported their struggle.”It wasn’t just a man who returned, but a symbol — hunted, imprisoned, tortured, Sabra is a survivor of Assad’s “barbarity.” The emotion of that moment, he says, was overwhelming. “I wanted to say something, but nothing came out.”Sabra was a member of the Syrian Democratic People's Party. He was elected president of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group in Syria, in 2012 and later was acting president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces before resigning in 2018.Seven months...
“I was like a lost bird that suddenly finds its nest again,” George Sabra says with a breath. Relatives, acquaintances, even strangers came out to greet him that day. “A real festival,” he jokes. “The Sunnis were especially numerous. To them, I represented the Christian minority that supported their struggle.”It wasn’t just a man who returned, but a symbol — hunted, imprisoned, tortured, Sabra is a survivor of Assad’s “barbarity.” The emotion of that moment, he says, was overwhelming. “I wanted to say something, but nothing came out.”Sabra was a member of the Syrian Democratic People's Party. He was elected president of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group in Syria, in 2012 and later was acting president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces before...
