Hundreds of Syrians from the US capital region gathered on Sunday to mark one year since the fall of Bashar Al Assad’s regime. For many, it was the first time in years they had come together simply to celebrate Syria, rather than protest for it.
Mozaic, the non-profit behind the Echoes of Freedom event in Fairfax, Virginia, transformed a local meeting hall into a tapestry of the country’s 14 provinces. Textile patterns hung alongside old photographs, maps and handwritten labels that described the histories of the towns many of the attendees had fled long ago.
Near the stage, dabke dancers stomped in unison, a Mawaliya dancer performed the traditional rotational dance, and children, many born in the US, sang for peace in Syria. Videos highlighting the history of the war-torn country were played to a crowd of about 200 people.
On December 8, 2024, the Assad regime was overthrown by rebels led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham. Relations between the US and Syria have improved over the past year, and President Donald Trump met Syrian leader Ahmad Al Shara at the White House in November. The US announced during the visit that it was renewing a waiver of Caesar Act sanctions imposed on Damascus.
For Mozaic’s founder Raghad Bushnaq, the day carried profound weight.
“Syrians lived through five decades of oppression under the Assad regime, and finally, we got our freedom,” she said. “Usually, we gather to advocate, to protest or to demonstrate for Syria. Today, we are gathering to celebrate the victory.”
She highlighted the message of unity and noted that every province holds its own memory of resistance and loss.
“We need to present all of Syria together. Secondly, we want to educate Syrians and non-Syrians about our country,” Ms Bushnaq said.
Throughout the hall, booths were decorated with flags, photos of historic landmarks and carefully prepared dishes that carried the taste of home.
In the corner dedicated to Deraa, the southern province widely recognised as the birthplace of the 2011 uprising, Nour Al Huda displayed traditional sweets.
“We came to the US in 2016 as refugees to escape the war,” she said. “We first arrived in Arizona, then we moved to Maryland and finally to Virginia.”
On the table beside her rested the portrait of her brother, Mohammed Esam, 19, who was killed by the Assad regime.
Mozaic helped Ms Huda start a small salon in her home, one of the many quiet stories of rebuilding scattered throughout the room.
Visitors were served a tasting menu featuring kibbeh dir‘awiyyeh, a regional variation of the classic kibbeh, from Deraa; ouzi – spiced rice with beef – from Damascus; kibbeh sajieh from Aleppo; Latakia’s sayadieh, or fisherman’s rice; and the mountain apple stew tabeekh al tuffah from Suweida.
Even the desserts, Homs’s creamy halawet al jibn and Idlib’s syrupy shaabiyat, tasted like freedom.
For Izza Hussami, representing Homs, the day stirred emotions she had long tried to bury.
“We are feeling freedom. We are feeling proud. Without all those sacrifices, we won’t be celebrating today,” she said.
She pointed to a booklet she had created about Homs’s landmarks, including the clock square, once a site of peaceful protest, then of violent repression.
“Syrians gathered here in April 2011 demanding freedom and they were shot at,” she said.
Her own family home in Homs was struck by a rocket during the war. “We were lucky as my mother wasn’t home, and my brother had left the house just to go pick up something to eat.”
They rebuilt what they could. Sixteen years have passed, and she still hasn’t been able to return to Syria. But she hopes to visit in future.
“I’m so happy for them. They deserve those moments,” she added.
Near the stage, applause broke out as Tareq Rabee, 19, was honoured. His family had arrived to the US as refugees in 2016. Now he is taking to skies as a private pilot.
“When we left Syria, we were kids. So, it’s a different feeling,” he said. “I want to go back and visit, see how my country has changed.”
Learning English, he recalled, was the hardest part of resettlement.
The hall buzzed with stories like these, of grief held close and memories of family members lost in the fight for freedom. Yet there were smiles too, of children getting their faces painted with Syria’s flag and families capturing selfies in front of provincial displays.
For one afternoon, Syria felt whole again.
Ms Bushnaq noted the need for reconstruction.
“The hope now is to turn celebration into reconstruction. We are building the infrastructure in Syria gradually and waiting for the last vote on the Caesar Act,” she said.
By evening, visitors began to leave with a sense of collective relief that the war had shaped their lives, but no longer defined their future. For many, this celebration was a way to hold tightly to the identity, provinces and heritage of a nation imagining a future beyond war.
