JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Again to Syria - a coalition of Syrian rebel groups is negotiating with the regime they just violently overthrew. Having deposed the government of President Bashar al-Assad, who fled the country, the opposition must now set their own administration. With us now is NPR's Emily Feng in Lebanon, bordering Syria. She's been monitoring the latest. Hi, Emily.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: Emily, if you could, just start by telling us a bit more about how the transition of power in Syria is going.
FENG: Well, it's going tentatively. Overnight, the head of one of the rebel groups met with the Syrian regime's prime minister in Damascus - this is Syria's capital. And this rebel commander, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, he has headed one of the main fighting groups, called HTS for short. And they're the group that's made these head-spinningly fast territorial gains against government forces these past two weeks. They have to figure out who is going to take power and how. So far, a senior HTS officer is going to lead this transition, but it's important to remember, HTS is not the only ones who want a seat at the table. There are numerous armed factions, each controlling different parts of Syria. They have competing interests and different backers, and they all want a slice of power.
SUMMERS: Right. So has this rebel group indicated how they want to govern Syria?
FENG: Not quite yet. They are an Islamist group whose leader is considered a terrorist in the U.S. Their roots are in al-Qaida as well, though they say they broke with the group in 2016. And today, HTS said they would not force women to dress in a more conservative Islamist fashion. They've also said they want democratic reforms in Syria, but it's just too soon to say whether their promises are going to materialize. This uncertainty, however, is not stopping displaced Syrians from around the world from rushing to return to Syria. These long lines have formed in Turkey, neighboring to Syria, where at least 3 million displaced Syrians live, and they're crossing to Syria as we speak. And they're crossing also from Lebanon as well, where I am, where more than 1 million Syrians have been living. And so the Lebanese border with Syria is where NPR went when news of the regime's fall came in because we wanted to meet these returning Syrians.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)
FENG: Freedom, they chant, as they ride by motorbike and drive by car towards Lebanon's border with Syria.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
FENG: By the thousands, Syrians displaced and living in Lebanon are now trying to go back to Syria. The regime they fled has now crumbled when the Assad family was ousted from power by rebel groups this week. And with the regime collapsed, those who fled, starting in 2011 during the Syrian civil war, want to go home.
MOHAMMED ABDEL HAQ: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "It's like a dream. I still can't believe it," murmurs this Syrian man, Mohammed Abdel Haq.
ABDEL HAQ: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: He spoke to NPR producer Lama al-Arian in Beirut, still trembling with sleepless energy. He's been glued to his phone, tracking updates.
"Everything that's happening is in front of our faces, thanks to technology," he says.
ABDEL HAQ: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: And now he's planning to return to his home in northern Syria and see his mother for the first time in 14 years. He's hoping she will meet his children, born during his displacement, for the first time ever. The civil war displaced some 6 million Syrians, and their forced exodus across Europe to Turkey and the Arab world created one of the worst refugee crises of this century.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: (Shouting in non-English language).
FENG: More than 1 million of them ended up here, in refugee camps scattered across Lebanon. And as news of the Assad regime's end hit, Syrian children cheered in these camps. Many were born here in these camps, far away from their parents' homeland. But now, the Syrian exodus may be reversing, bit by bit, as Syrians head home.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (Chanting in non-english language).
FENG: Near the one working border crossing from Lebanon into Syria, Syrians are dancing in the streets. Many of them are streaming into Syria already, on the road to Damascus, its capital.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: One of them drove his car to Syria with eight mattresses strapped to the roof.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: Another Syrian man showed NPR producer Jawad Rizkallah the falcon he had captured in Lebanon and was now driving into Syria...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: ...Saying he was bringing the falcon, called the shaheen in Arabic, to commemorate the Syrian rebels. They use Shaheen drones to battle forces aligned with the ousted Assad regime. But as jubilant as these Syrians all are, they face an uncertain future.
ABDEL HAQ: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: Mohammed Abdel Haq, the Syrian man in Beirut, says he hopes Syria will become a democratic state where he can speak freely, without fear. But he is intensely aware of the sectarianism and violence that followed other revolutions in the Arabic-speaking world.
ABDEL HAQ: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "Let us build a state," he declares.
But that is the monumental task ahead of them. They must rebuild a destroyed country still being fought over by various competing armed groups. Getting back home is just the first step. Emily Feng, NPR News, Beirut, Lebanon.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLARISSA BITAR'S "HOMELAND SECURITY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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