For exiled Syrians, this is their Berlin Wall moment—the doors to a homeland they thought they'd never see again are suddenly swinging open. The heady days following December 8 and the fall of Assad's seemingly immovable regime have brought an unexpected Christmas gift: a return to Damascus. But as the initial euphoria fades, clear-eyed Syrians know better than to declare "and they all lived happily ever after". The lessons of the Arab Spring loom large, and the challenges ahead are daunting. How to navigate a landscape shaped by heavily armed factions: sometimes allies, sometimes rivals?

What to do with thousands of Syrian civil servants and state security employees left unpaid since Assad’s fall?

And as the international community moves to lift sanctions, the bigger question remains: how to channel money and efforts toward rebuilding a Syria that is not just revived, but reimagined?

Produced by François Picard, Théophile Vareille, Guillaume Gougeon and Ilayda Habip.