On December 8, the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime was widely celebrated across Syria, but also in neighbouring countries that have been home to millions of Syrian refugees for more than a decade. Although Assad's departure has revived hopes of a return from Iraqi Kurdistan, where almost 300,000 Syrian Kurds still live mostly in camps, the question of the Kurds' place in the new Syria is not yet clear. They have high expectations of the negotiations with Damascus, at a time when a union is taking shape between Kurdish political groups, which had until now been deeply divided. FRANCE 24's Josh Vardey, Marie-Charlotte Roupie and Stella Martany report.