In September 2015, the image of two-year-old Alan Kurdi’s small, helpless body washed up on the shores of Turkey shocked the world. The photograph prompted immediate global outcry for the Syrian refugee crisis, an increase in donations for refugee agencies, and, from my vantage point as a fresh college graduate, an urgent decision for many of those around me to volunteer at Greek island refugee camps, devote their early careers to the refugee aid sector, or otherwise help Syrians.
For weeks, months and even years, the image of little Alan forced attention to the plight of Syrian refugees. Why, then, does it seem like there was a black hole of public memory between the peak of the refugee crisis and the end of Bashar Al Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024? How did Syria go from headline-defining to largely forgotten outside the region except by those still personally tied to its daily tragedies?
In the early months of 2011, as the Arab uprisings were just beginning, the news cycle itself was undergoing a transformation with social media defining in large part what made the news. Live-tweeting was a prime news source, and anyone with a camera phone could influence global newsrooms’ daily priorities.
At the time, I was in my first year of university. I can still remember my mornings in a large auditorium, attending the introductory course “History of the Modern Middle East” and watching students and faculty alike react in real time to events unfolding before our eyes on phones and laptops. Almost as quickly as they started, it felt, the hope of mass protests in Syria turned into the horrors of bloody crackdowns.
Syria wasn’t alone – around it were other timelines in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and elsewhere. And closer to home for me, a left-wing populist movement called Occupy Wall Street was starting across many US cities, and the news was filled for what felt like ages with protest footage from around the world.
When I moved to Istanbul after completing my Masters’ degree in 2016, Syria was still a constant feature in the news, and helping Syrians was the centrepiece of local NGOs and a priority for many visitors. During this time, the conflict became more personal for me as I married a Syrian musician from Latakia in 2017.
As the war dragged on, as Syrians became more tired and as the status quo seemed to become more intractable, this attention started to fade. The Covid-19 pandemic was, understandably, the new focal point, but the national economies that were shattered were harder for people to relate to. Syria was one such example.
Covid-19 changed daily lives of Syrians still living in the country. There were fewer explosions and the war had ebbed somewhat, but hundreds of thousands remained imprisoned and disappeared, and the economic reality was punishing. Refugees were still getting on boats, but it was no longer global news. As the quality of goods went down, prices rose steeply. Electricity was barely available. Water was not enough to consistently shower or do dishes.
When I joined The National last year, I was touched that there were still reporters checking in on Syria, reporting on its inflation and its energy crisis. It helped me feel less insane for burning inside while the rest of the world seemed to have moved on.
And then, all of a sudden, it was back. Syria was in the headlines as rebel forces started taking back cities from the Assad government one by one, culminating in the ousting of its long-standing president last December.
After so many years of Syria’s pain constantly on my mind while the news cycle did not reflect this reality, it feels unreal to see Syria back in the trends almost every week. How is it that the world cares so much again? Will this story finally have a happy ending?
For the past 15 years or more, we have been seeing a non-stop flow of tragedy, horror and moments that make us lose faith in humanity – not just in Syria, but around the world. Social media has gone from being empowering to becoming overwhelming. To hold the news cycle for more than a few hours takes an exceptional, and often devastating, alignment of facts and imagery. But that sustained momentum, the ability to see outrage turn into action, is getting harder to achieve.
Trends about Syria now are a mixed bag of reactions to current President Ahmad Al Shara’s meetings abroad, partisan misinformation accounts, Israeli land grabs and sectarian violence from the remnants of the division driven for years by the previous establishment.
There are positive developments, too. I hear from people on the ground reporting electricity improvements, fridges that actually work to keep food cold, a dramatic shift in the quality of cars on the street, the ability for a household to take multiple showers a day, green energy, higher-salaried jobs and, perhaps most importantly, real hope for the future. It is critical to highlight the good, along with the bad, to paint a full picture of the new Syria.
There is a real chance now for Syria’s next chapter to be a happy one. The ousting of the Assad regime represents the chance of a generation – and the fact that Syrians of all backgrounds are working hard every day on the little changes that will hopefully create a better future must be recognised.
