After years of pain, destruction, and displacement, Syrians today dream of a new state founded on law, justice, and dignity—a state that honors the sacrifices of its people and opens the doors of the future to its coming generations.
Therefore, Syrians do not view this new phase as merely a political change, but rather as a historic opportunity to rebuild the Syria for which they have paid such a heavy price in blood, lives, and years.
This explains the sensitivity of a large segment of the Syrian population to certain recurring scenes, such as the reappearance of certain figures at conferences, gatherings, and public events, despite their association in the collective memory of many Syrians with the era of the former regime and its history of arrests, killings, displacement, destruction, corruption, and tyranny—a period that left deep wounds and scars that remain present in the Syrian consciousness to this day.
For many Syrians, it's not simply about individuals who lived through that era, but about figures associated in their minds with defending the former regime, benefiting from its system, or working within the networks of influence and vested interests that emerged under it. These associations have led a large segment of the Syrian population to view the return of these figures to the public sphere as a continuation of images and practices they had hoped would become a thing of the past.
Therefore, their repeated appearances in the public eye reopen wounds that have yet to heal, raising questions about the extent to which the sacrifices and suffering of Syrians over the past years are reflected in the image of the new era and the faces that are leading it.
For many Syrians, the problem isn't with any measures or solutions the state might take within its national responsibilities. These matters are subject to complex considerations and issues that cannot be reduced to a single image, post, or comment.
Nor is the problem about condemning everyone who lived, worked, or achieved success under the former regime, or holding them all equally responsible.
Among Syrians are businessmen, merchants, doctors, engineers, employees, and professionals who lived under a reality they neither created nor chose. Their choices were often dictated by compelling circumstances and the complexities imposed by the nature of the era. Therefore, justice is not based on generalization or holding people collectively responsible, but rather on distinguishing between those who were involved in injustice, corruption, or supported and benefited from the system of tyranny, and those who lived through that period without being part of those practices or responsible for them.
It is no secret that many Syrians view with reservation or objection some of the settlements or agreements that have been or are being made with figures associated in their minds with the years of the former regime. Nevertheless, many understand that the state may be dealing with some of these cases within the framework of complex national, legal, or economic considerations related to recovering public funds or addressing a heavy legacy of corruption, tyranny, and economic and administrative distortions that accumulated over decades—considerations whose details may not all be available to the public.
However, this understanding does not negate the question on the lips of many Syrians: If some of these cases are being addressed within the framework of considerations the state deems necessary for the public good, why do some of these figures continue to appear at conferences, forums, events, and in public photographs, sometimes alongside officials or public figures, despite their association in the memory of many Syrians with years of pain and tyranny? And what impact does this have on the feelings of the families of martyrs, detainees, and displaced persons who made immense sacrifices during the years of the revolution?
For Syrians are not a people without memory.
In every city, village, and neighborhood, there are families who have lost their loved ones, detainees who have spent long years behind bars, mothers and fathers who still await news of their missing children, displaced persons who have endured the bitterness of refuge and displacement, and entire generations who have grown up amidst the sounds of shelling, fear, hunger, and siege.
Therefore, seeing some of these figures in the public sphere evokes feelings of sadness, questioning, and anxiety in many people, because people remember actions more than images, and because history is not written with slogans but with the actions that remain etched in the national memory.
Thus, respecting the feelings of the victims and the memory of the Syrian people does not contradict state-building; rather, it strengthens trust in the state and grants it greater power and credibility. A state governed by the rule of law is not based on revenge, but neither is it based on ignoring rights or abolishing justice. Instead, it is based on balancing the requirements of stability with the demands of justice and respect for the rights of victims.
These are the principles to which the state has repeatedly affirmed its commitment, emphasizing that any economic or administrative settlements or solutions do not absolve legal responsibility or close the door to accountability before the judiciary. Justice is not an obstacle to stability, but rather one of its fundamental conditions, and building the future is incomplete without preserving rights and respecting the sacrifices made for it.
The new Syria does not suffer from a shortage of honest and capable national talents, nor of those with experience, knowledge, and achievement. On the contrary, it possesses thousands of men and women capable of contributing to building the state, restoring trust, and consolidating its values and institutions.
The greatest tribute to the sacrifices of the Syrian people lies not in speeches, but in building a state where people feel that the blood of the martyrs, the suffering of the detainees, and the plight of the displaced have not become mere fleeting memories, and that the sacrifices made were a step towards a better, more just, and more dignified future.
People may endure, and they may forgive, but they do not forget.
When a state respects the memory of its people, the people's respect for their state increases, their trust in its institutions grows, and the path towards stability and progress becomes stronger and more steadfast.
Syria has the right to build its future, and the Syrian people have the right to see in this future faces that reflect their sacrifices and hopes, not faces that remind them of the years of pain from which they paid a heavy price to escape.
Imad Ismail - Zaman al-Wasl
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