Reuters“I would love to go to visit, to somehow dream of a new place, of a new Syria,” Issam Kourbaj tells the BBC.
Mr Kourbaj is an artist who has lived in the UK for more than 30 years and now, aged 61, he is thinking of returning to his home country.
For decades, he has been unable to speak freely to his family in Syria, through fear there could be dangerous repercussions for them.
“This moment has been long awaited but I am really in two minds,” he said.
“In one I am relieved, and in the other one I am cautious, because one does not know what is coming next.
“It is a very, very emotional place, but also very uncertain.”
Mr Kourbaj is among many Syrians across the UK who are welcoming the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The ousted Syrian president – who Russian state media report is in Moscow having been granted asylum by Russia – fled the country after his government fell to a lightning rebel offensive on Sunday morning.
Twenty-four hours of intense emotion followed, with Syrian diaspora gathering in cities such as Belfast, Manchester and London to dance and sing.
The BBC spoke to some Syrians living in the UK about their feelings following the news.
Since 2011, Mr Kourbaj’s work as an artist has been a response to the conflict in his home country. It is part of the permanent collection in the British Museum and he has an exhibition this year at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge.
His niece, Madlen Kourbaj, teaches English in Sweida, southern Syria. She told the BBC that she too has “mixed feelings”.
“Yesterday, we were happy, of course, because he’s [Assad’s] gone,” she said.
“But we were still in shock. As my uncle said, we are in disbelief that finally, after 13 years of fighting for justice, everything just happened in 10 days.
“We’re afraid, we’re happy, we’re sad. We don’t know what to say.”
Mr Kourbaj said he and his family in Syria have had to communicate with phone calls full of “codes” and “silences” for years.
“I then need to decipher these codes and make something out of it,” he said.
“But of course, I cannot overdo it, because I am always worried how this might affect them and the how they might actually be treated, because the regime is a very brutal regime.”
Mr Kourbaj said he is now embarking on the difficult exercise of “trying to reflect on the past and think to the future”.
The BBC also spoke to Syrian national Rama Terkmani, 20, who is studying medicine at the University of Central Lancashire.
She has lived in Liverpool with her mum, dad and two older brothers for nine years.
“Finally my country is free,” she said. “I’m feeling really good. A lot of people have been under Assad.
“He kept many people in prisons – some for 13 years. They have a lot of stories to share.
“My cousin, who’s 14, lost his mum and dad in prison. He’s still in Syria.
“My brother was in prison when he was 16 up until age 20, when he came to the UK and he’s been mentally affected.
“My uncle is still in Syria. I spoke to him today and he told me a lot of things that he wasn’t able to tell me before.
“But now he can speak freely.”
Ms Terkmani said while her family “feels much better – safe”, they don’t feel they are able to go back just yet.
“We still don’t know will happen but we’re going to have a big party now,” she said.
Rim Turkmani, director of the Syria Conflict Research Programme at the London School of Economics, also dreams of visiting her home country again.
She hasn’t seen her family in Syria for 14 years.
“I haven’t been allowed in,” she said. “You know, just seeing my family, my town that I grew up in…I was dreaming of this every day.
“To go back and also to be able to take my children back. My children, now 19 and 16, they grew up not knowing their country – only watching pictures and videos.
“To be able to relate, to see where I come from, means the world to me.”
But Dr Turkmani says there will be obstacles ahead.
“We’re waiting to see how the logistics are going to work,” she said.
“It’s still not possible to fly to Syria, so the airport is still closed. It’s extremely difficult to go through Lebanon right now.
“My Syrian passport expired 10 years ago. Can I use a Western passport? Do I need a visa? Who’s going to give me this visa?
“There are so many unclear questions, but it’s going to be very emotional for me.”
Dr Turkmani described Assad’s fall as “incredible” but said “the future is unclear”.
“I feel I need to be there to believe what’s going on,” she said.
Thousands of Syrians tried to begin the long journey back to their homes on Sunday, with huge queues forming to get into the country.
Pictures showed hundreds of Syrians with bags and suitcases gathered on the Lebanese border.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said there is already some evidence of Syrians returning.
On the influx of people returning to Syria, Dr Turkmani said “the most important demographic” needed will be young men.
“These are the men who are usually taken for conscription, and they will leave the country to avoid conscription,” she said.
“Now you can go back, and it’s going to be very important. There will be no prosperous future for Syria if people don’t go back.
“But we need to get the economy up and running so that there will be jobs for those people who are going back, so that they have money to fix their houses that have been damaged during the conflict.
“And, of course, that would ease the tension in the neighbouring countries that was arising because of the presence of a large number of refugees.”
Renad Soda took part in celebrations in Belfast on Sunday night. She moved to Northern Ireland nine years ago, when she was seven.
“We couldn’t believe it, the feeling is unbelievable,” Renad Soda told BBC News NI.
“I couldn’t sleep all night watching the news, I’m really happy and I wish I can go back as soon as possible, as soon as everything calms down.
“Where I was living was being bombed and it was was dangerous for us, my family just wanted us to be safe.
“I’m sure that everybody is so happy celebrating this amazing news after so many years.”
Mazen Haseno helped organise the demonstration in Belfast on Sunday afternoon.
He said the majority of Syrians living in Northern Ireland are “against the regime” and “had to leave because they feared for their lives”.
“[We’re] over the moon – so, so happy,” he said.
“Syrian people cannot describe the feeling. It’s like a really warm feeling inside.”
Before arriving to Northern Ireland eight years ago, Mr Haseno said he was imprisoned and “tortured by the Syrian regime” for two-and-a-half years.
He said many Syrians had been traumatised by Assad.
“Finally he’s gone now, after 14 years, hopefully we will have a democratic country now,” he said.
Mr Haseno said he intended to return to Syria “as soon as possible, when it’s safe”.
